Russ & Daughters

Russ & Daughters, at 179 East Houston Street on the Lower East Side, has been the definitive appetizing shop in America since Joel Russ opened it in 1914. The term 'appetizing' refers to a specific New York Jewish culinary tradition: a shop specializing in smoked and cured fish, caviar, cream cheese, pickled herring, and the accoutrements for the bagel-and-lox culture that the Eastern European Jewish immigration brought to New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Russ & Daughters elevated this tradition to its highest possible expression and has maintained it for over a century with the same commitment to quality, sourcing, and craft. The shop on Houston Street is a narrow, glass-counter room where the display cases hold dozens of preparations: multiple varieties of smoked salmon (Scottish, Atlantic, Nova, sockeye, coho, baked), several styles of whitefish and sable, pickled herring in a variety of sauces, sturgeon, caviar from domestic and imported sources, and cream cheese blended with anything from scallions to horseradish. The Classic Bagel with Lox — an H&H-style bagel or bialy loaded with cream cheese, Nova smoked salmon, tomato, red onion, and capers — is one of the defining eating experiences of New York. The Super Heebster (wasabi flying fish roe, horseradish cream cheese, and Nova salmon) is a more adventurous house creation. Russ & Daughters Café, a sit-down restaurant on Orchard Street, offers table service of the full lineup alongside cocktails and a wine list. The shop itself remains a takeaway counter.