For those unable to visit, Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes From the House That Herring Built is a cookbook offering insight into the store’s lore and legend from the grandson of its founder. Beloved Lower East Side institution Russ & Daughters has spent the past 103 years perfecting the art of “appetizing.” The term encompasses the many delicacies associated with that ultimate Jewish-American culinary tradition—the bagel. From wafer-thin slices of smoked salmon to delicate curls of red onion and handfuls of juicy capers, this neon-lit establishment serves New York City’s finest selection of smoked fish, pickled herring fillets and cream cheese spreads on freshly baked bagels. When founder Joel Russ arrived in America at the turn of the 20th century, he made his living peddling schmaltz herring from a pushcart to his fellow Eastern European Jews. A brick and mortar store, Russ, eventually opened on East Houston Street. Three daughters later, the shop’s name changed. A century on, Russ & Daughters is a renowned purveyor of Jewish-American food to a devoted following. Throughout the many changes, the store’s pursuit of perfection has remained. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Twenty-Seven Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture City Guide The New York Edition A serene stay in the Flatiron District. Arts & Culture City Guide The Hoxton, Williamsburg A British bolthole in Brooklyn. Arts & Culture Issue 37 Vizcaya Gardens A garden once dismissed as a stylistic mishmash now conjures nostalgia for an impossible place. Arts & Culture Issue 37 Peer Review Michelle Dean, author of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion celebrates Renata Adler. Arts & Culture Issue 31 At Work With: Kyle Abraham In a New York studio, the choreographer dances, rehearses and breaks down the meaning of his “postmodern gumbo” technique with Djassi DaCosta Johnson. Arts & Culture Issue 27 Goodbye to All That An essay that spawned a genre—the writer who falls in and out of love with a city and leaves it behind.
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Arts & Culture Issue 37 Peer Review Michelle Dean, author of Sharp: The Women Who Made an Art of Having an Opinion celebrates Renata Adler.
Arts & Culture Issue 31 At Work With: Kyle Abraham In a New York studio, the choreographer dances, rehearses and breaks down the meaning of his “postmodern gumbo” technique with Djassi DaCosta Johnson.
Arts & Culture Issue 27 Goodbye to All That An essay that spawned a genre—the writer who falls in and out of love with a city and leaves it behind.
