It’s rare for me to receive a pasty recommendation that I’ve never heard of, especially off US-2 in the Upper Peninsula. A reader submitted Sav-Mor IGA in Escanaba, a location I had to double check to confirm they sold homemade pasties. Fortunately, that was the case.
The Escanaba IGA is close to downtown and since it’s a grocery store, it’s open more than most pasty shops. However, I’m not positive pasties are available late at night or super early at 7 a.m. when it opens. I visited midday for lunch. They had a hotbox of food options with beef pasties from Angeline getting a special sign for $6.99.
Based off a recent article, the IGA opened in the 1940s and has had pasties since 2003 when the then-owner’s mother, Angeline, made them. New owners took over in 2018, but the pasty recipe was passed down to them.
After some easy research, I found Angeline, who seemingly is the daughter to Joseph Sayklly, the founder of Sayklly’s Candies, which also opened in Escanaba. Angeline has some children living in Sacramento, Ca., an area I know that has pasty shops (unconfirmed if there is any relation).
I learned this after eating the pasty, but that won’t change my review. The pasty I had looked fine. The handle was minimal and it tasted as plain as it looked. The crust was dry and didn’t have too much to it. There wasn’t much flavor, but simplicity doesn’t always mean bad.
The insides had a distinct flavor that I couldn’t pin down. Based on the ingredient list (listed as “spices”), I still couldn’t figure it out since I initially thought it was MSG. Nevertheless, despite being a pasty that was sitting in a hotbox, I couldn’t really tell that was the case. It tasted fresh. Props to Angeline and the IGA.
The ingredients were diced and mixed well, so every bite had more or less the same feeling. I liked the overall flavor inside, but the dry, somewhat plain crust knocked it down a level for me.
As seen in the pictures, there were carrots, something that may detract a few diehards
I don’t think these are the best pasties in town, so I won’t give full marks that I’ll return soon. Still, I enjoyed most of this pasty, something other random grocery stores can’t say.
Taste: 4 (out of 5)
Crust: 2.5 (out of 5)
Pasty Presentation: 3.5 (out of 5)
The Shop: 3 (out of 3)
Would I come back for Pasties?: 1 (out of 2)
Total Pasty Rating: 14 (of 20 points)
Reviewed Winter 2024