Barney Greengrass

The Sturgeon King Holds Court

4 of 5

The sign on Amsterdam Avenue calls itself the Sturgeon King, and for once a sign is telling the truth. Barney Greengrass started in Harlem in 1908 and moved to Amsterdam Avenue in 1929. The family has run it ever since, with Gary Greengrass now in charge. It reads like a place that has outlasted every trend that tried to replace it.

The specialty is smoked fish, sturgeon above all, with caviar, bagels, cured meats, pickles and prepared salads on the side. There is a retail counter for taking things home and a sit-down restaurant for eating them there. The best move is to put sturgeon on a bagel and say nothing else for a few minutes. The company reports it once sent smoked sturgeon to Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, and anyone who has tried it can understand the president's interest.

The room is plain, the service is brisk, and the whole thing runs on habit and good fish. Restaurant hours run from half past eight in the morning to four on weekdays and five on weekends, and it is closed on Mondays. Do not come looking for avocado toast. Come for the kind of deli where the people behind the counter have been doing this longer than you have been eating.

Order this: Smoked sturgeon, Bagel with sturgeon or lox, A plate of the prepared salads, Anything from the cured meat case
The damage: $$
Go: Weekday late morning, or any Sunday if you like crowds
Find it: 541 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024