Harvest Specialty Deli, Route 130, North Brunswick, is under new ownership and will now focus heavily on its catering business. JENNIFER AMATO NORTH BRUNSWICK — Harvest Specialty Catering & Deli will prepare for the upcoming holiday season with a grand reopening on Nov. 11.
Jason Dychus took ownership of the Maple Meade Plaza deli in May, after longtime owners Nolan and Ginny Lewin decided to sell the business. They had moved their East Brunswick-based American Harvest to North Brunswick about three years ago, occupying the former space of the Mezzaluna Deli off Route 130.
Now, Dychus and catering manager Jason DeMaio are expanding the catering side of the business, offering barbecue packages, Italian/European delicacies and holiday specials to customers. There are also private pig roasts available. The food can be simply dropped off at the client’s venue, or a wait staff can serve the food.
Dychus previously worked at Hyatt properties in New Brunswick, Morristown and New York City. He followed in the footsteps of his father, who owned a small health food store in East Brunswick years ago.
Besides adding catering to the business model, Dychus has expanded upon the bricks-and-mortar aspect of the business with personal appearances this year at North Brunswick’s Heritage Day, the Shrimp Fest in Ocean Township, Riverfest! in Neptune, the Mercer County Italian American Festival, and at Von Thun’s and Giamerese farms for their fall fests.
In addition to off-site catering, the deli is open for walkins, with homemade prepared foods, volcano apple pie, ruggelah, sauces, soups, bruschetta and fresh mozzarella available for takeout, in addition to Boar’s Head and Pastosa brands. The deli purchases its plain, whole wheat, semolina and ciabatta bread from the neighboring Scala Bakery.
Some popular old favorites are the Harvest chicken sandwich (grilled chicken, fresh mozzarella, roasted peppers with balsamic vinegar on top of seeded semolina bread), a sloppy joe sandwich (turkey, corned beef and roast beef with cole slaw and Russian dressing), an eggplant panini (eggplant, marinara sauce, fresh mozzarella and fresh basil) and the Taste of Rome Panini (prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, pesto and extra virgin olive oil.)
Also, gift baskets, fruit platters and baked goods are available.
“This place still makes everything pretty much from scratch,” Dychus said.
Harvest Specialty is located at 1892 Route 130. For more information call 732-821-4747 or visit harvestspecialty.com.