New Jersey has already lost several cherished neighborhood restaurants in recent weeks, and another deeply local institution just joined them. Annie’s Deli in Pluckemin served its final customers on Saturday, October 24, ending a 40-year run.
The family-owned deli says new fire-code requirements and the age of its building have forced the closure. That building, at 2095 Burnt Mills Road, dates to about 1820—an unusually historic home for a breakfast, lunch and catering business that became woven into everyday life in Somerset County.
A deli built from local characters
The business began in the early 1980s as the Burnt Mills Deli inside the Colonial Liquor Store. Founder Emily Stine had earned a master’s degree in art therapy but struggled to find work in her field. She did not have deli experience, either, but she knew what made a good sandwich and understood the colorful Pluckemin community where she had grown up.
That local knowledge became the menu’s signature. Instead of ordinary sandwich names, Stine honored neighbors, airport pilots, police officers, teachers, relatives and even pets. Annie, the second owner, later moved the business into its current building, renamed it Annie’s Deli and preserved the original creations while adding several of her own.
Roman and Nick Hnidj purchased Annie’s in 1994. Their bakery background brought more homemade cookies and desserts to the counter, while salads and full-service catering expanded the deli’s place in the community. Nick retired in 2009, and Roman continued the business.
More than lunch between two slices of bread
The names made ordering feel like learning local folklore. Customers could choose a Dr. Jazz, Tooth Fairy, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or Junk Yard Dog. The last of those—the deli’s most popular sandwich—piled turkey, ham, bacon, Muenster cheese, coleslaw and Russian dressing together in the kind of combination that regulars could not easily replace elsewhere.
Annie’s also became part of celebrations beyond its front counter. Its sandwich platters, homemade salads, cookies, desserts and catering trays appeared at graduations, office gatherings, birthdays and family parties. For everyday visitors, it was just as important as a familiar stop for breakfast, coffee or a generously filled sandwich.
In its farewell, the deli thanked customers for including Annie’s in both major celebrations and ordinary days. That distinction explains why the closing hurts: regulars are not simply losing a place to buy lunch, but a business that remembered the community’s people by name and put their stories on the menu.
Pluckemin will be left with four decades of memories—and a wonderfully eccentric sandwich vocabulary that belonged to Annie’s alone.
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