Hungry stomachs are forced to contemplate cooking their own food while our brains are busy plotting ways to make Hollywood starlets fall in love with our ungainly cousins. Quell an insurgent appetite with today's Groupon to Murray's Sturgeon Shop, in the Upper West Side. Choose between two options:
- For $12, you get $25 worth of salads, meats, and more.
- For $20, you get $40 worth of catering services.
Serving gourmet, specialty foodstuffs, Murray's has garnered a loyal following and public praise since 1946. Today, the shop rewards discerning palates with sliced deli meats and zesty, globetrotting salads. Scan a winding menu of glass-case favorites, such as dried hard salami ($7.50/half lb.) or pickled tongue tenderly cured for a three-week minimum ($14.99/half lb.). Salads strut a crosscultural aesthetic in shades of babaganoush ($5/half lb.) or chopped herring, a hand-diced ensemble of pickled herring, applesauce, sugar, and a bit of vinegar ($7.50/half lb.).
Those planning larger soirees may tap Murray's to fulfill catering dreams involving platters of egg salad for 10 ($35) or a bowl of fruit salad to feed 12 strangers ($39). Try whitefish or tuna salads ($55+) or order a kosher deli-meat platter for larger, more meat-laden affairs ($144+).
Murray’s Sturgeon Shop
From dealing with high rents to competing with new business fads, New York institutions can be hard to come by these days. Murray’s Sturgeon Shop, however, curbs that trend and keeps to an old-school tradition of devoted customer service and attention to detail in its artfully plated deli spreads. Since 1946, the Zagat-rated eatery—which also garnered nods from New York Magazine—has stocked products made from its namesake fish, such as smoked sturgeon or caviar. Alaskan salmon, whitefish, and lox complement kosher deli meats such as corned beef and pastrami. To cater parties or Tamagotchi-addiction interventions, the shop delivers ready-to-eat soups, salads, imported cheeses, and indulgent desserts such as old-fashioned crumb cake and rugelach by the pound.