East Side Edibles proprietor Paula Paulette will get some help cutting the ribbon for her shop's grand opening Saturday morning from US Congressman David Cicilline (D-RI).

The shop, which sells "Out of the ordinary edibles and custom gifts", officially opens for business Saturday, June 30 at 11 a.m. with a ribbon cutting ceremony at the 987 Cass Avenue location.

Paulette, 49, said she offers gifts and chocolates that might sound weird, but are really good. Her chocolates, for instance, are infused with ingredients like cayenne pepper and sea salt. "It sounds strange and you try it and say, 'Wow, this is so good,'" Paulette said.

Paulette rents the space from Dave Lahousse, owner of Kay's Restaurant, just two doors down from his eatery on Cass Avenue. She said she's been working on starting up the business since April.

Paulette, a former medical coder, said she started thinking about doing something new after her husband, Charlie Plouffe, 55, died in January of lung cancer. The work reminded her too much of medical issues, she said, and for the last few years she's been working at home. "I felt I just needed to totally get out of the house," she said. She said she knew if she didn't do it now, she never would.

Cicilline came into the picture while Paulette was putting together her plans for the business. She bumped into a man, Gary Lapierre, who used to date her sister, she said, and mentioned she was opening a business.

"He said, 'Well, you've got to have a ribbon cutting,'" Paulette said, and asked if she'd like to have Cicilline stop by for it. Paulette said sure, and two weeks ago, she got a phone call from Cicilline's office letting her know the Congressman would be attending.

"It was a strange thing," Paulette said.

East Side Edible's hours will be Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m to 6 p.m. and Sundays, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Paulette said that might change after she has a few weeks to see how it works.