Deli

Barney Greengrass

Classic for a reason. Get your half sour and smoked fish fix while in the city.

Address 541 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024

Neighbourhood Upper West Side

Best for Breakfast, brunch, a proper feed

Tip by @dave

Barney Greengrass has been on Amsterdam Avenue since 1908. Nothing about it has been updated to make you feel comfortable with that fact. The fluorescent lights, the formica tables, the waiters who have been there for decades — it's all completely intact and completely correct.

Get the smoked fish. Nova Scotia salmon, sturgeon, whitefish salad — any of it. Get a bagel with it. Get a half sour pickle on the side, which arrives automatically anyway. Eat the scrambled eggs if you want but the fish is the point.

"The kind of place that doesn't need to try because it never stopped being itself."

Half sour pickles in a jar at Barney Greengrass

$1.50 each. Get one.

The blackboard above the counter still offers to pack your order with dry ice for the Hamptons. The menu is handwritten. The price of a pickle is $1.50 and it says so on a little card taped to the jar. This is New York doing what New York does when it's not performing for anyone.

The counter at Barney Greengrass — smoked fish, lox, whitefish

Barney Greengrass blackboard — Going to the Hamptons?

The tip

Go for breakfast or brunch — it gets crowded by late morning on weekends
Get the smoked fish platter. Nova, sturgeon, or the whitefish salad
Half sour pickle. Non-negotiable
Cash-friendly, no-frills, no reservations — just show up
It's on the Upper West Side, not Midtown — worth the detour if you're anywhere near Central Park

← All tips