Drive along the BQE toward Queens and you’ll pass a large warehouse in Greenpoint with a fading sign up by the roof that says “Marshall’s,” along with a big picture of a fish in a tuxedo, carrying a smaller fish. It was, for many years, an excellent smokehouse that mostly sold its goods wholesale. But to those in the know, it was also a place that offered retail sales to walk-in customers for a few hours each week. My mom used to drive me there to buy all the fish we needed for a Sunday bagel brunch, and I remember standing in that cold, cavernous entry room, empty save for a couple of employees in white work coats and several speed racks loaded with sides of lox, sable, and row upon row of golden smoked whitefish, hanging by their tails.
All that’s left of that Greenpoint Marshall’s now is the sign outside, but thankfully, ACME Smoked Fish, another wholesaler in Greenpoint, continues the tradition on Fridays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. ACME’s retail hours are way more popular today than I remember Marshall’s ever being—expect a sometimes-long line that leads to a short wait in a chilly refrigerated room—but boy, is it worth it.
