So, yesterday I attempted for the first time to get to Acme Smoked Fish company's "Fish Friday", in which the factory / warehouse opens a sales counter to the public (smoked fish at a wholesale price) on Friday mornings from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. This trip is a challenge both for cars (parking in Brooklyn is scarce at all times, this neighborhood is more challenging than many) and pedestrians (the closest train has many many stairs). From my neighborhood the ride took two hours yesterday--I think a drawbridge over Jamaica Bay held up the A train. This is not frequent but it is frustrating. When I tried to get to the western corners of Nassau Street getting off the G train I found a warren of stairs and iron fencing leading over the tracks, I think (seven or eight stairs up, over, seven or eight stairs back down before reaching the exit steps). Walk towards / past Lorimer Street on Nassau, a few blocks later bear right on N. 15th Street. A few blocks after that, bear right on Gem Street and there you are. I think the warehouse takes up the entire block, but the entrance is near the western end of the block (from Gem Street you can see Manhattan--that's west), where they have placed a helpful sandwich board sign proclaiming simply "Welcome To Fish Friday". I arrived by the skin of my teeth and was grateful to find the door still unlocked. It really is a warehouse. There's a roped-off walkway leading to a large doorway with thick, clear plastic streamers where the counters are. It's cold in there.
*CASH ONLY* This will be your only warning 8)
By the time I got there, much of what might otherwise be on offer was being put away for closing. The chief attraction for me was their kippered (baked) salmon. I can get perfectly good lox (for my taste) at Costco for an acceptable price. I could buy the kippered salmon at !Localmarket for approximately an arm and a leg, and Costco no longer carries the baked smoked salmon upon which it got me hooked many years ago. I scored a pound and a half for about a dollar an ounce. ZOMG SO FRESH OM NOM NOM. They also carry a variety of types / flavors of lox (yesterday there was a sign promoting "spicy jalapeno", reviewers have mentioned lemon pepper), trout, herring and whitefish/chubs. According to the Yelp reviews I've read, the average price for the lox is about $18 / lb.
http://www.acmesmokedfish.com/
It was warm, so I stashed the fish in a lunch cooler with several freezer packs and looked for a place to eat lunch (I had no way to open the salmon nor any way to wash my hands if I did). My wanderings took me past a place (turned out to be a popup) within a rescue mission called Holy Ground BBQ (they looked not ready to open for business although the smell was divine). A little websearching revealed a story of a barbecue chef on a mission and plans to open a restaurant in TriBeCa this fall:
http://www.ahotellife.com/holy-ground/
I also passed a chocolatier (Cacao Market, associated with Mariebelle chocolates) I may want to revisit. Their website is currently under construction, but I found both a Gothamist article and a Yelp page, which mention offering light meals in addition to the confections, gelatos / sorbets and hot chocolate drinks. The "menu" in the window didn't list either any food offerings or any prices for what they were promoting. Reviews call the place "a little pricey". The New World-inspired chocolate drinks look interesting.
http://gothamist.com/2015/04/22/cacao_market.php#photo-1
https://www.yelp.com/biz/cacao-market-by-mariebelle-brooklyn
I also passed by another restaurant with no visible menu (perhaps Manhattan has spoiled me) called Pretty Southern of which I made a note to research. Definitely want to revisit here--$5 for a biscuit is kind of a lot, but they offer gluten free and it wouldn't be bad to try, once. Apparently the owner was a Top Chef semi-finalist.
http://prettysouthernbk.com/
Finally, I chose Frankel's Delicatessen partly because they had a window menu and mostly because they offered potato latkes. I had mine (they were substantial) with a portion of (what else?) kippered salmon, and listened to a resonant conversation from two improvisation comics / actors down the counter. Apparently People's Improv Theater is still going strong and offers drop-in classes as well as "adjacent" type shows with clowning or scripted pieces.
https://frankelsdelicatessen.com/
https://thepit-nyc.com/
This is why I put up with the other stuff 8)
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