[Abbylovi]

I was going to post about Acme in the Greenpoint thread (which I never found, do we even have one?) but then decided that it deserves its own thread. If you love smoked fish and you are cheap like me, get your ass over there ASAP.

Acme.

Acme is a smoked fish factory that supplies high end retailers like Fairway (I believe). On Friday's, they are open to the public from 8am-1pm. The prices are incredible. I got the following:

Smoked Herring Salad ($2.50 for 7 oz) -- Tastes identical to Russ & Daughters.
Smoked Salmon Salad (same price) -- Also delicious
Wild Atlantic Smoked Salmon
Mesquite Smoked Salmon
BBQ baked Salmon

I don't know how much the salmon is per pound but i got a 5 inch chunk for like $5. The whole fish are in the $5 range too, I think.

They also have whole smoked fish, herring and about five different kinds of salmon like pastrami, dill, honey baked, etc, etc. Also smoked tuna. Tastes of any one are generously given.

The factory is pretty close to the Nassau G stop. The entrance is a little hard to find but there are workers all over the place who can point you in the right direction.

[omnivorette]

I felt like a kid in a candy store. First of all you can taste everything, as much as you want. And I loved the cast of characters shopping - older women with head coverings and thick accents, Poles, people with kids...

I got many things, including a large, entire smoked whitefish for $4.00!

Definitely worth a trip. It's very easy to get to by subway.

[porkwah]

oh man, this has been on my short list for some time. i just need to take a friday off work.....

[Abbylovi]

porkwah, on Apr 3 2006, 12:49 PM, said:

oh man, this has been on my short list for some time.

Mine too. I'm really glad I finally did it.

[bloviatrix]

I have to make a trip out there. I smoked whitefish.

[omnivorette]

And at $4 for a whole one, you can get a lot! It was very, very good.

Abby and I were discussing Acme and Russ & Daughters - I would venture a guess that Russ gets fish from Acme, and why not? But the markup is really something.

[VMTG]

I see ACME as the producer for a lot of house brands. They also make their way under their own label throughout Massachusetts. Although the herring and fish salads are OK, I have found that their smoked salmon quite inferior to what Zabar's and Russ &D. offer. Even taking into account the p/q ratio, I would not buy what is sold under their label. Whitefish may be a different story.

[omnivorette]

I believe that Russ sells Acme's products. Russ doesn't do its own smoking.

FWIW, what I bought at Acme was very good.

[omnivorette]

http://www.nytimes.c...ine/14food.html

[Rose]

Russ & D wasn't mentioned as a client of Acme. That's not to say that they aren't, though.

[StephanieL]

Interesting article. I'm going to make the Pasta with Smoked Salmon & Yogurt tomorrow.

[Suzanne F]

One place I used to work would buy big bags of salmon ends from them. Ugly pieces, but it didn't matter since we ground it up for hors d'oeuvre filling. I can't tell the recipe, but it was probably something like the salmon, cream cheese, sour cream, dill, and sauteed onion wrapped in puff pastry. Yum.

[juuceman]

Rose, on May 14 2006, 03:24 AM, said:

Russ & D wasn't mentioned as a client of Acme. That's not to say that they aren't, though.

Russ and Daughters is 100% a client of Acme. Go on a crowded morning (Mother's Day, Christmas Eve, New Years Eve, etc.) and you'll see them bringing in boxes of fish from Acme.

They likely do have differing grades of fish, and a lot of the smoked salmon/lox experience can be determined by the cutter, but Friday's are still an incredible deal.

[bloviatrix]

I had every intent of going this past Friday. Unfortunately, work demands got in the way.

[bloviatrix]

I finally made it out to Acme this morning. While there, I had a chat with one of the guys about the business and their clientele - they are the largest supplier of smoked fish on the east coast. In NY, they provide Russ & Daughters, Zabar's, Fairway, etc. He even noted that some of the packages of lox on sale were from production overruns for Zabar's.

I came home with a whitefish ($5/lb), sable, and several types of smoked salmon. I think you can figure out what I'm eating for lunch.