Local lunch mecca serves its last

By Soren Velice

After four years as one of Blaine’s lunch hour social hubs, Annie’s Place is closing its doors.

Due to the lease coming up for renewal, an upcoming baby and another restaurant, Annie and husband Ed Magner will close the deli Friday, April 13. “I’m going to miss seeing everybody,” Annie said. “Being on the corner, I’m going to miss being up on everything, being informed. It’s been a lot of fun.” Ed, co-owner of Annie’s and La Bonne Maison, said he will also miss the regulars. “It’s been a great four years,” he said. “I’ve really enjoyed being here – we’ve made a lot of new friends. I look forward to hanging out and drinking coffee with them in other places.”

The Magners cited several reasons to shut down Annie’s. “We lose the lease at the end of the month,” Ed said. “With the building for sale, we thought we’d lose the lease or look for a new location; it made sense to consolidate the overhead.”

With a baby on the way, Annie said, it made sense to take time off; she already has plans for some of the extra time. “I’m looking forward to volunteering at the school, picking up my friends’ kids and going to the beach and stuff,” she said. She did say she’d pick up Wednesday and Thursday dinner shifts at La Bonne Maison before she gives birth, so she won’t disappear from the radar of the lunchtime faithful – they’ll just have to see her at dinner instead.

Ed said the couple plans to make up for the loss of Annie’s. “In early May we’re going to start doing lunch at the La Bonne Maison, but it’ll be a little more upscale,” he said. He added customers shouldn’t suffer too much over the absence of the deli. “One of the nice things is there’s so many choices,” he said. “Portal Cafe is doing a lot of things we do and Blackberry House has really good food, so what we’ll do is provide another choice.” Lunch offerings at La Bonne Maison will include light entrees, salads and sandwiches, he said. Annie said she plans to sell her popular soups wholesale to other restaurants. Ed said another restaurant may be in the Magners’ future, but it would be at least a couple years off.

Ed and Annie both look forward to seeing loyal customers for dinner. “We’re going to have to do a good job,” Ed said. “There’ll be some people that will try it, but we’ve got to bring them back.” He said he hopes good service and good food will accomplish that. Annie was thankful for their support of the deli. “It’s been a lot of fun,” she said. “We thank everybody for all their support; we couldn’t have done La Bonne Maison without all the people here.”

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