My husband loves smoked salmon.

Zabars is closer to where we are staying, but I've also heard that Russ & Daughters is good.

Any suggestions?

Any suggestions?

Yes, please post the name of your destination somewhere, preferably in the title of a new posting.

I assume Abigail is going to NYC.

Russ & Daughters is very good.

I always go to Zabar's and have them slice it by hand, I don't buy the pre-packaged salmon. I haven't tried Russ and Daughters.

Are you eating there or taking it out? If you want to eat in somewhere, try Barney Greengrass on Amsterdam at 86th street. http://www.barneygreengrass.com/
I think Zabar's will pack it for shipping or traveling if you ask them ahead of time.

Russ and Daughters is primarily fish, IIRC. Zabars does just about anything. Why not try both, and Barney Greengrass to boot?

And if you have more than three days, try something besides smoked salmon -- say, whitefish.

Unfortunate typo of the day, from the Barney Greengrass website:

"Our tongue can be severed cold or hot."

http://www.barneygreengrass.com/onli...g.php?catID=22

This comment is only to give some thought to your husband's cravings. When in Seattle I caught Sockeye and grilled them over Alder. I don't know what the Indian I bought a slab from in Alaska did but it was a Ten! My fishing buddy who guides in the NW is Japanese and his Mom smokes Salmon over Tea in her Wok...killer. The Whitefish mentioned is Choice!!! Like Bluefish which is oily it smokes up great. I think you ought to buy the guy a Smoker and let him create his own. Your husband has taste! By the way, Zabars is great and you need to go upstairs to shop!

Thank you everyone for your comments. Sorry for not naming the city. Meant to post to NYC.

We will be ordering take out and if time permits will try all three.

johnthedorf, thanks for the suggestions. What kind of tea? Green tea?

I would to know the best place for smoked salmon as well. Always knew about Russ and Daughters but have always wanted to know if it was the best.
I am sure Aduchamp will have a great suggestion.

My friends who live there get theirs at Fairway -- so now you can try all four!

I have no idea what kind of tea his Mom used but I would guess black. You could do a search.

I guess you are staying on the West Side, but Agata and Valentina on 79 and 1st has some of the best smoked salmon in the city (take out). They will let you taste salmon from different areas (Scotland, Norway, etc.), and you can choose which one you like the best.

We left NYC 9 months ago to travel and smoked salmon from Agata and Valentina is the one food I miss the most!

Enjoy!

I live on the UWS and agree with bfrac - should you decide to get Zabar's salmon, go to the fish counter and have them hand slice their Nova (or whatever kind you get). When I have to get a bagel-and-lox spread together, I always get Zabars and H&H bagels.

We are staying on the UES so going to Zabars or Russ' will be an effort.

Zabars is in a nice area and I'd make the effort because the store is amazing! Drinking coffee out of a Zabars mug as we speak!

The lox slicers at Zabar's make over $85,000 a year. They know their stuff as does the new generation taht has taken over Russ and daughters.

I gave smoking salmon and second hand slamon as well.

Another place would be Eli's on Third in the 80's.

This is a great discussion re where to get smoked salmon. Thank you everyone. I think we will try a few this trip. New Yorkers are lucky to have such choices.

We are also going to Katz’s for a pastrami fix.

LA has ok delis, Nate N Als (although does not compare to Katz’s) and they have Canters, but we now live in the San Francisco Bay Area and there are no good delis.

Johnthedorf had a great suggestion of smoking our own salmon. Found some websites for tea smoked salmon.

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/600491

http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com/200...ed-salmon.html

http://www.culinarycafe.com/Seafood-...ed_Salmon.html

Again, thank you all.

We are also going to Katz’s for a pastrami fix.

Be sure to tip the cutter $1.00 (make sure he sees you doing it), and ask for extra-lean (worth it so you don't have to pick off the fat).

LA has ok delis, Nate N Als (although does not compare to Katz’s)

Actually, the two best delis in LA are Art's and Jerry's, both on Ventura Blvd. in Studio City.

We now live in the San Francisco Bay Area and there are no good delis

You are so not kidding! (We live in the Bay Area, too)

Food report. Back from a whirlwind trip to NYC. Left Thursday and returned Sunday. Only went to Russ & Daughters. No time to try the other smoked salmon places (busy eating other foods—Lupa, Katz, Peter Luger, tried Le Miu).

Tried two different kinds of smoked salmon and the white fish from Russ & Daughters. Absolutely delectable. I am sure the other places are good. However, if we are back in NYC, we will head straight to Russ & Daughters.

We also got our pastrami fix at Katz’s.

To top everything off, we went to Il Laboratorio del Gelato. They were out of a lot of flavors, but that lemon gelato—I wanted to lick the bowl.