Annie’s Snack Shack was a 1950s car hop style roadside burger joint located at the intersection of Route 9W and Filors Lane in the (then) small historic town of Stony Point – in New York’s lower Hudson Valley.
I grew up in that small town in the nineteen sixties and seventies. Like most kids of that time I bicycled everywhere. No play dates were ever arranged. No vans with baby-on-board stickers shuffling off to this soccer practice or that ballet lesson. No. You went to your friend’s house, knocked on the door and said “can you come out?”
Summers were Huck Finn days in old Stony Point. Down to Grassy Point in the morning with some buddies on our Schwinns to go crabbing off the Penny Bridge for blue claws. Then up the hill to the little war memorial for a slug of spring water that gushed freely from a pipe inside a stone monument, always ice cold – even in July. Next maybe a stop at Lane’s Delicatessen for a Big Buddy* and a pack of Topps baseball cards. And of course to Annie’s Snack Shack to scarf down submarine sandwiches, burgers, and baskets of french fries – eaten always on the picnic tables in the outdoor pavilion, the Hollies’ hit song Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress forever blaring from the speakers tucked up in the pavilion rafters. Drinking Coca Cola. Horsing around. Hoping girls would be there.
Back then places like Annie’s dotted the American landscape; our social network space. The Facebook of our time.
One of my favorite items at Annie’s – and the subject matter of this post was her Italian Combination Submarine (also known as a Hoagie or Grinder depending upon what part of the country you are from). I remember the lettuce on it was shredded cellophane thin. I have no idea how they did that. And just the right amount of oil and vinegar (red wine vinegar, not the fancy-schmancy balsamic stuff overused today) – sopped into the bread and lettuce.
I highly doubt that our recipe is an exact replica of Annie’s but it’s a good approximation.
Annie’s is gone now, torn down and replaced by a CVS drugstore and a bank… like we needed another CVS on this planet. I wonder if CVS would allow kids to burn the Nyack dummy behind their parking lot? Anyway, for those of us who were lucky to be born at the right time, at least we have the memories.
RIP Annie’s Snack Shack: 1951 – 2007
Need This
1 – 8 inch hero roll
3 slices of thinly sliced deli spiced ham
2 slices of Provolone cheese
4 slices of Genoa salami
3 or 4 slices of very thinly sliced tomato
Finely shredded lettuce
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Dried Oregano
Thinly sliced raw onions (optional)
Do This
Slice the roll lengthwise about 2/3 of the way through.
Brush the bottom side of the bread with the oil and vinegar – as much or as little as you want.
Tuck the 3 slices of ham in first, then the Provolone, then the salami. Tomatoes go next. Toss the shredded lettuce in some oil mixed with vinegar until soaked. Add the sopped shredded lettuce on top of the tomatoes. Sprinkle the lettuce and tomatoes with a generous shake of dried oregano. Tuck in the sliced onions last – if using.
Close the sub up nice and tight and cut in half on an angle. Reminisce.
1 Serving. My Cost… Oh who the hell cares…
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*Big Buddies were unnecessarily long sticks of bubble gum. A dentist’s nightmare (or blessing?). GMN
