Barney Greengrass Turns 100 with Time Travel Menu

061108barneygreengrass.jpgPhoto courtesy Joe Schumacher.

Long live the king: Barney Greengrass, the “Sturgeon King,” is 100 years old today, and to celebrate the centennial the restaurant is turning back the cash register to 1908 with a special menu. (Though the retail and mail-order side of the business will stay in 2008.) Customers can pay their respects to the Upper West Side institution by stopping in for a herring plate that costs 60 cents, 15 cent coffee, or a sturgeon sandwich for $1.75 (normally $17.50).

The smoked fish specialist originally opened at 113th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, then moved to its current location, 541 Amsterdam Avenue (at 86th Street), in 1929. Some things like the half-century old wallpaper and the ancient “ice box” have stayed the same, while the mail-order business boomed and a Barney Greengrass in Beverly Hills became a reality. Current owner Gary Greengrass compares the place to “an old, comfortable shoe,” and tells the Sun he wants the business to stay in the family, though he’s worried his two-year-old son “might disappoint me and become a doctor or a lawyer.”

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Comments (8) [rss]

good food, but overpriced

Sturgeon is a faux pas. But I do love caviar.

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Did people really pay fifteen cents for a coffee in 1908? In 1915 coffee was thirty cents a pound retail.

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this place is fucking revolting.

I really want to like this place but I just can't. Crazy high prices, cramped and loud, with long waits. You can get an excellent bagel with cream cheese and lox pre-made that day at Zabar's for less than $5 so why go to Barney's?

"Gary Greengrass". That name sounds like a '70's singer/songwriter with a bad pot hangover.

I just went, waited in line for 25 minutes, and got a $30 meal for about $3. The waiter was charming, the elderly couple I shared a table with were happy, and the sturgeon and salmon sandwich was delicious. Congrats to Barney Greengrass for restoring my faith in the "free" NYC events that are usually so overwhelming that they exclude the majority of people.

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