Barney Greengrass was coined “The Sturgeon King” by a New York State Senator in 1938—the same year they moved to their current location on the Upper West Side. The appetizing store, which originally opened in Harlem in 1908, is nothing short of a New York institution, and their silky, fatty, smoked sturgeon deserves its royal moniker. But the fish isn’t the main highlight of a morning meal at Barney Greengrass. That would be the servers, cracking the same jokes they’ve been perfecting since the day they started here, pushing you to order latkes, and asking the entire dining room at once if anyone wants a coffee refill because it’s “too much to ask you all individually.” The fine-tuned shtick is why we love coming back to Barney Greengrass again and again. And we’re not alone. Walk up to the cash-only spot for brunch on a weekend, and there’ll be a line of eager Upper West Siders waiting to be seated by a fourth-generation Greengrass family member. The dining room is elbow-to-elbow, the tables practically on top of one another, and the deli counter and space behind it is piled high with boxes of whatever dry goods they just got in. It’s a magically chaotic place, where servers dance around each other to get platters of Jewish comfort foods to those patient, faithful customers. The menu is long, though it mostly revolves around a few core components: cured meats and fish, eggs, bread, bagels and schmear. Focus 90% of your attention on the smoked fish. Besides the famous sturgeon, we especially love the funky whitefish salad and salty nova—whether in platter form, or on a bagel with cream cheese, onions and capers. There’s a solid chance your meal might end with a server bluntly letting you know that they need your table back. Lingering doesn’t really fly at Barney Greengrass. But that’s OK, because the wait for a spot is never too long, and you can always come back, again and again, until you’re a sturgeon duke or earl yourself. But you’ll never be king—there can only be one, and that position is filled.