The Sturgeon Shop
By Robert Beck
There are a number of stores where you can get smoked fish on the Upper West Side, but there is only one Murray’s Sturgeon Shop; a small, old-school place on Broadway between 89th & 90th. I wanted to get in there to paint.
When I pitch doing these paintings, it’s with high spirits and limited expectations. To my delight, the owner, Ira, was gracious and easygoing. Murray’s is a spotless and orderly store that is easy to make your own. A classic sturgeon shop from 1946, it’s not much different from how it was then. Ira pointed out a clock and an air-conditioning vent but then had to look around for something else that had changed in 75 years.
The shop is narrow. There is probably a real estate term for stores that are twelve feet wide. It makes the sign on the front look enormous. There’s no table service, outside or in. It’s not a supermarket. The store has just enough space for customers, so I didn’t have the luxury of picking my vantage point. The only place I wouldn’t be in the way was in the back, tucked between a cold case and a coffee grinder.
It’s the owner, Ira, who makes Murray’s exceptional. He will tell you he doesn’t take himself seriously, but he takes the business and his customers very seriously. Even though he spends a lot of time in the back, he knows exactly what is going on everywhere in the shop. When it started to fill, guys appeared right away, including Ira, to help take care of customers, but most of the time, he was taking orders for delivery, local and across the country. I heard him making sure the shipment to Hawaii was properly packaged for the trip.
Many clientele are regulars, and their back-and-forth with the staff included first names. Some customers were quick in and out (small soup and some pâté), and others held to more of a ritual (I’ll have half of the nova, and my husband would like to taste the sturgeon). Tastes are offered, anyway. It’s a great place to sample and create traditions.
There is plenty of tradition there. Noodle pudding, whitefish salad, Waldorf salad, creamed spinach (of course), an excellent looking chicken liver pate, delicious tuna salad (I had some on rye. Yum), filet of Maties herring, filet of schmaltz herring, and filet of pickled herring in cream sauce, to mention just some. I spent time in a remote Maine fishing village, which opened me up to preserved fish, so I think I’m ready for the herring. Stay tuned.
When I was completing the painting, I put Ira into it (from memory — he was busy) because it was fun. When he came past, I asked if he could slice something so I could show it happening through the glass of the cold case. He said one of the other counter guys would do it. I questioned if the guy would be the same-handed as he is. Ira said all the slicers in the business are right-handed to ensure the cut is always the same, but I don’t know — Ira has a glint in his eye, and clearly, I’m a greenhorn. What, you can’t turn the fish around?
That’s my favorite part of the painting, where you can see Ira slicing the half of Nova I ordered to take with me (along with a half-sour pickle. Best pickle I’ve ever had). Sure, it wasn’t his hands doing it, but I’m told they’re all the same.
# # #
Note: Before Robert Beck wrote West Side Canvas, his essays and paintings were featured in WSR’s Weekend Column. Read Robert Beck’s earlier columns here and here.
See more of Robert Beck’s work and his UWS studio by visiting www.robertbeck.net And let Robert know if you have a connection to an archetypal UWS place or event that would make a good West Side Canvas subject. Thank you!
Subscribe to WSR’s free email newsletter here.
Walked by it for 30 years. but never entered. What’s the most accessible food in there for a gentile?
This gentile stopped in on a cold day years ago and just had tea with lemon and a black and white cookie. A nice way to soak up a little atmosphere before you pick out some delicious…anything. It all sounds good.
Deli sandwich. You can play it safe, something like pastrami, cole slaw and Russian Dressing on rye.
You can ask them to make you a bagel with cream cheese and salmon; otherwise their chopped liver is great, I like herring in white sauce–sweet and tangy; and the of course the nova sliced thin!
Everything. Try everything. Well, maybe not the dried fish.
You know, it’s just good tasting food. Some of the fish look a little scary but the meat in them is delicious. You like sushi? Ask to taste the sable. Get a bagel with nova (smoked salmon) and cream cheese. You must eat tunafish, right? Get a tuna on rye. Pâté for snacking. Creamed spinach with a steak? Stop in and get a couple of entry-level things, and get something you’re not quite sure about to try. It’s all food, and you will be surprised. It’s worth going in to look at the cold cases. This is real New York.
Really like your writing and I love this painting, Robert. With your permission, I want to share this online and promote you in my newsletter, The Bob.
Sure. Thanks.
Thanks! Snowmaneexpert@gmail.com if you would like to see it.
So glad to have some good attention on Murray’s! A shop quietly and excellently doing it’s thing for generations.
I’ve always wanted to know what it looks like at the back of the house, because the front of the house is etched into my memory.
Beautiful painting!
An absolutely indispensable shop. All the staff are great, too.
Best smoked fish on the Upper West Side.
Best nova on upper west is at Zabars
But at Murray’s you will never ever find a bone (and we love Zabar’s too)
Chicken liver pate? What? At Murray’s? No, it is known as chopped liver,
Love love love Murray’s, and love the painting!
Another UWS “masterpiece,” Robert. I first walked into Murray’s in the fall of 1976 and this painting stirred many pleasant memories.. I wish he’d open a store in LA!
Lovely.
Thank You.
Robert Beck’s evocative paintings and essays about unique independent businesses capture an Upper West Side that is rapidly fading with the advent of hulking new construction that features big, barren (and often empty) retail spaces. I hope that someday his work, both the pictures and the words, will be collected in a book to help memorialize what we still have, and how much we have to lose. Thanks, Robert
Great painting. Great shop.
We split our time between NYC and The Berkshires. There are ALWAYS Murray”s products in the cooler travelling north with us every couple of weeks. Especially herring in cream sauce. And ruggelah. And crumb buns. Etc Etc
I love Murray’s and feel bad that I don’t go there more often. Because if enough of us don’t go there, it won’t survive. I was worried that the construction in front would hurt their business. I will make sure to go by tomorrow. Their prepared salads (potato, cucumber, etc.) and knishes are great.
I loved this, and I’d love to see a painting of the interior of Sal and Carmine’s Pizza.
Murray’s is a real treasure. Superb smoked fish (especially the kippered salmon) and fantastic salads. Watching the slicers is a real treat, artisans in action ! Thanks for highlighting this great UWS establishment.
Tuna salad is sublime. Absolute best.
Murray’s is a treasure. The smoked salmon, whitefish, and sable are among the best in NYC, cut perfectly and always fresh. The herring is also as I remember it from childhood, creamy and sharp with vinegar. The staff could not be more professional and helpful. And the clientele is so familiar and colorful, you always walk out with a bon mot or a story about who you met at Murray’s. It’s a living, breathing Metropolitan Diary entry.
That kind of place