![]() The whole spread cost me about $80 (I biked in and picked it up at the store, so saved on shipping), but it easily feeds four or five people. The sliced smoked fish is as sparkling fresh and full of flavor as ever, in this case a half pound of oily Eastern Nova and another half pound of rich and robust Sable.Ī giant slab of cream cheese made for a worthy companion to the fish, and the half dozen bagels, in several varieties, were decent carriers for all of the above, as well as the scallion-heavy egg salad. In other words: serious feast potential.įor a large part of my life I lived within walking distance of Barney Greengrass, and have been going there for occasions large and small since the 1980s, so it was my great pleasure to place an order last weekend for, frankly, way too much food for my current solo quarantine situation in Crown Heights. There are at least ten different kinds of smoked fish, a whole slew of salads and cream cheeses, tins of caviar, jars of pickled fish, sliced meats like pastrami and corned beef, a variety of breads and bagels, and sweets like chocolate babka and black & white cookies. Pretty much the entire Barney Greengrass menu is available for same-day delivery, pick-up, or next-day shipping. "We have been doing mail order since my grandfather's days, though back then the shipping labels said 'if not delivered in three days never mind!!' I am grateful for the work Fedex has done during this difficult time." Gary says that he got shut out during the first round of PPP loans, and has tried again on the second round, though "nothing has come through yet."įortunately, the Greengrass family has a long history of shipping smoked fish around the country, and that part of business has seen a nice uptick of late, "thanks to many customers who moved from the city to their summer homes," Gary said. But even the over-the-counter business, or shopping in the store, is down almost 80%" from the pre-pandemic days. Our restaurant is closed, and that impacts us the most. Despite keeping the doors open for take-out and delivery, Gary says that "overall, business is down 50%. Right now, like most every place in town, Barney Greengrass is hurting. I asked her if that was her version of social distancing?!" "I had a customer call me up the other day," Gary told us, "and she ordered four Nova Scotia sandwiches with cream cheese, tomato, and extra extra onion. ![]() That includes Gary's behind-the-counter schtick, which delivers more groaners per minute than the entire Borscht Belt in its heyday. Gary Greengrass, who mans the register and answers the phone to this day, has taken the business into the 21st century, and brought it online, though both the character and attitude of the place remains steadfastly old school New York. In 1955 it was Moe's turn to run things and, among his other passions and skills (mostly involving smoked fish), he amused all with his card tricks by the register even after turning over the store to Gary in 1982. The Greengrass family have been making New Yorkers happy for 112 years now, with three generations of "Sturgeon King" royalty hawking their smoked fish and appetizing dating back to 1908, when Barney opened the namesake shop first in Harlem, then moving to the current location on Amsterdam Avenue in 1929.
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