Local New Jersey deli serving ‘Jack’s Golden Goal Sandwich’

NEWARK, N.J. -- A picture of Jack Hughes biting down on his gold medal after leading Team USA to victory at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 was just the inspiration a renowned local eatery needed to create something even more delicious.

It gave brothers Marc and Mike Brummer, owners of the famous Hobby's Delicatessen & Restaurant situated just blocks away from the home of the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center, the idea for "Jack's Golden Goal Sandwich."

Hughes, the 24-year-old Devils center, scored at 1:41 of overtime to give Team USA a 2-1 victory against Team Canada in the gold medal game of the men's hockey tournament at the Olympics at Santagiulia Arena in Milan on Sunday.

Marc and Mike began brainstorming the idea for a sandwich at the time of the golden goal.

"(Government Relations SVP for Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment) Jim Leonard posted the picture of Jack biting into the gold medal with just showing the teeth and I sent him a message on Instagram asking, 'Is that going to be on a T-shirt?' And he said something about a sandwich, which we had been thinking about," Mike said.

Jack lost a few teeth after taking a high stick to the mouth from Canada's Sam Bennett late in the third period. Several pictures of Hughes smiling with his gold medal have been circulating over social media.

"Of course, we're all enamored with that picture of Jack with the flag draped around his shoulders and the bleeding teeth," Marc said. "A bunch of my college friends were saying, 'Marc, you got to do something about a Jack sandwich. Well, we were already on it, but what do you do?"

The first thing the brothers thought of was rare roast beef since "it had to be something easy to eat without teeth. It had to be tender."

"Easily our most underrated sandwich that includes roast beef eats like butter," Marc said. "A cheeseburger is all American but isn't really a sandwich."

It took Marc and Mike some 20 minutes to build the sandwich, which would include American cheese and "golden sauteed onions" on a soft roll. They opted against putting five onion rings in the sandwich and instead offered an 'Overtime Bonus' of fried Olympic onion rings as a side dish.

The sandwich is advertised on Hobby’s whiteboard as being ‘so tender, you don’t need teeth.’

Jack Hughes isn't yet privy to the sandwich, but he no doubt will be once he returns to New Jersey on Wednesday.

"We would love for [Jack Hughes] to come in here and have the sandwich and he could eat it even without his tooth because it's easily eaten," Mike said. "Obviously being Devil fans, we met him when he was just drafted. I'm sure he remembers that meeting too (tongue in cheek)."

The Brummer brothers are season ticket holders to Devils home games.

"We understand he's being pulled in many different directions right now and it's the end of the season, it's a compressed schedule," Marc said.

"... But the guy's got to eat, right?," interrupted Mike. "He's got to eat at some point."

Hobby's has been serving patrons in downtown Newark for over 100 years and has been run by the Brummer family since 1962. It has attracted senators, congresspeople, local politicians, and many celebrities and athletes.

"Let me tell you something, the Devils are wonderful neighbors," Marc said. "They don't have to be wonderful neighbors but they're wonderful neighbors. They support us and we happily support them. They moved to our neighborhood and are a block away.

"We love to support them and Devils' players that come in, they love it. We just had two people in here that had 'Jack's Golden Goal Sandwich'. It's a lot of fun to talk to customers."

‘Jack’s Golden Goal Sandwich’ is the latest of several sandwiches at Hobby’s named after former and current Devils players. The first was the ‘Chico Reuben’ in honor of goaltender Glenn ‘Chico’ Resch.

Hobby's is located at 32 Branford Place in Newark.