Shelsky's Smoked Fish Brings the Lower East Side to Smith Street

Locals with a hankering for herring and lox on their weekend bagels are in luck: Shelsky’s Smoked Fish is coming to Smith Street.

Proprietor and namesake Peter Shelsky, who also runs Pete’s Eats, which provides in-home cooking lessons and instructional cooking parties, says he wanted to bring the taste of Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn.

He hopes to open Shelsky’s Smoked Fish within the next month.

Calling it “a Brooklyn nod to a traditional Lower East Side smoked fish place,” Shelsky says his store will feature smoked salmon, house-pickled herring, house-cured herring, bagels, bialys and rugelach.

“All those goodies that will make you not have to schlep over the bridge," he says.

Shelsky is also trying to put a new spin on some traditional foods.

“I’m playing with traditional rugelach flavors and will do new ones as well,” he says.

In keeping with trends, he's also taking a cue from the Brooklyn DIY food movement.

“I’m doing as much curing as I can," he said.

Shelsky's is opening on a block of Smith Street that has , but has been picking up steam of late. on the stretch.

Shelsky has worked at Café Sabarsky and Eleven Madison Park and he trained at the Institute of Culinary Education. Born and raised in Manhattan, Shelsky moved to Brooklyn ten years ago.

“It’s a food I grew up eating, it’s something that’s a comfort food for me,” he says. “But more so than that, I really just got sick of having to go into the city whenever I wanted my fix…and I spoke to people in the neighborhood and they all sort of felt the same way.”

Indeed, residents are excited for the arrival of smoked fish.

"There's nothing like it in the neighborhood," says resident Thomas Batson, adding that "anything more specialty-oriented will do well around here."