By Elizabeth Edelman

On 179 Houston Street sits a narrow building. On the ground level is the Russ and Daughters appetizing shop. Above the shop is a narrow apartment building that used to be tenements-crowded with new immigrants.¹ This Lower East Side building is a cultural icon and is also a historic one. In 2001 the building became a National Historic Landmark for its nearly 100-year-old shop on the ground level and because of the historic tenements above.² The shop, which was once described as “a secular synagogue,”³ evolved over the years but remains a symbol of the Lower East Side. “By the 1940s Russ and Daughters was well known for the finest fish in town.”⁴ Today, 179 Houston’s Russ and Daughters appetizing shop is a hot spot for foodies and alter kaker’s alike!

For more than one-hundred years, the Russ family has been serving New York’s appetizing needs. Joel Russ, the founder of the store, broke into the food business at nine-years-old when he was an apprentice to a baker.⁵ Russ’s older sister, who had already immigrated, sent for her younger brother to come to New York to work and help support her family.⁶ In no time Russ had saved up enough money to buy his own pushcart and began selling his pickled herring.⁷ By 1914, Joel Russ was ready to expand and opened his first storefront appetizing shop on Orchard and Houston on the Lower East Side.⁸

With the massive influx of Eastern European Jewish immigrants to New York came the appetizing shop. Not to be confused with the adjective, this ‘appetizing’ according to the Russ and Daughters website, is food “one eats with bagels.”⁹ Appetizing delicacies usually consist of different kinds of smoked and cured fish as well as pickled vegetables, salads and cream cheese.¹⁰ When Russ first opened his store there were many more like it, but today Russ and Daughters is one of the few authentic appetizing shops left in New York and it is definitely among the oldest.¹¹ Many of these stores didn’t survive because first generation immigrants did not expect or even want their children to inherit the stores upon their retirement.¹² Joel Russ did not feel this way. The store was everything to him and he insisted that his three daughters work behind the counter on their weekends beginning when they were eleven or twelve years old.¹³

In 1920, Russ moved to a larger store on 179 Houston Street¹⁴ where it still stands today. By 1933, Russ added the ‘and Daughters’ to the shop’s title and named his three girls full partners of the store—all of which was quite unheard of at the time.¹⁵ One of the shop’s celebrity enthusiasts is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who said that, “Even before I heard the word ‘feminist,’ it made me happy to see this was an enterprise where the daughters counted.”¹⁶

Today, Russ and Daughters is run by a fourth-generation of Russ owners. When one of Joel Russ’s great-grandchildren became a doctor instead of joining the family business his father noted that, “As far as I know, I am the only Jewish father who was disappointed that his kid became a doctor. I was thinking sturgeon, not surgeon.”¹⁷

Joel Russ created a Lower East Side icon one hundred years ago and it is still incredibly popular today. In May of 2014, the Village Voice named Russ and Daughters the number one appetizing counter in New York City¹⁸ beating well-known spots like Zabars and Barney Greengrass. Joel Russ’s great-grandchildren, Nikki Russ Federman and Josh Tupper have maintained the counter as an authentic appetizing shop while expanding the business to serve the evolving Lower East Side community. Recently, Federman and Tupper opened a second dining location, Russ and Daughters Café, on 127 Orchard Street just a few blocks from the original shop. At this location they serve Russ and Daughters’ classics along with hip twists on old favorites.

Proof of Russ and Daughter’s culinary expertise is obvious through the many reviews given by food and restaurant critics. In a video of Martha Stewart on a tour of the Houston Street location, Stewart is endless in her praise of everything behind the counter.

Russ and Daughters’ popularity transcends religion, ethnicity and culture. It has become a symbol of New York cuisine and deservedly so. This historic site has truly maintained the spirit and flavor of what the Lower East Side was when Russ and Daughters first opened, and its survival demonstrates the timelessness of delicious food.  

WARNING: The following images may cause hunger.

I stopped by the Houston location to pick up a few of my favorites (picture above) and to try a few new things. I am still crazy about the lox and the white fish and kippered salmon salad. This was my first bialy and I have to say, I prefer the bagel. The chopped herring salad was simply not for me. I wanted the pickled herring with onions cut up, but they gave me the chopped version instead. Its a high-pressure ordering situation so know what you want before you get to the store! The salmon roe is awesome! The smallest size is called, “a bissel,” and it’s perfect for sampling. Russ and Daughters is one special place!

Image Sources

Figure 1. http://instagram.com/russanddaughters. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 2. http://bit.ly/1wYClml. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 3. http://bit.ly/1wYClml. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 4. http://bit.ly/1wYClml. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 5. http://bit.ly/1wYClml. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 6. http://bit.ly/1wYClml. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 7. http://instagram.com/russanddaughters. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 8. http://www.marthastewart.com/article/martha-visits-russ-and-daughters#ooid=42dm9lMjr4Km0efEqkXAno50gs90lGYw. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRSlA6U9SUo. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 10. http://instagram.com/russanddaughters. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 11. http://instagram.com/russanddaughters. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 12. http://instagram.com/russanddaughters. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 13. http://instagram.com/russanddaughters. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 14. http://instagram.com/russanddaughters. Accessed December 9, 2014.
Figure 15. Photo by Elizabeth Edelman. Accessed December 9, 2014.

Works Cited

“1885.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.

“1906.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.

“1914.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.

“1920.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.

“2001.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.

Cohen, Julie. The Sturgeon Queens. BetterThanFiction Productions. Accessed December 9, 2014.

Garner, Dwight. “Noshing With the Fishes on the Lower East Side.” The New York Times. 28 February, 2013. Accessed July 22, 2021.

Sifton, Sam. “Such a Chowder!” The New York Times. 16 February, 2013. Accessed July 22, 2021.

“What is Appetizing?” About Us. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.

Footnotes

1. “2001.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.
2. Ibid.
3. Sifton, Sam. “Such a Chowder!” The New York Times. 16 February, 2013. Accessed July 22, 2021.
4. “Three Generations…”
5. “1885.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.
6. “1906.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.
7. “Three Generations…”
8. “1914.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.
9. “What is Appetizing?” About Us. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.
10. Feldman.
11. “What is Appetizing?”
12. “Three Generations…”
13. Ibid.
14. “1920.” Our History. Russ and Daughters. Accessed December 2, 2014.
15. “Three Generations…”
16. Quoted in Cohen, Julie. The Sturgeon Queens. BetterThanFiction Productions. Accessed December 9, 2014.
17. Garner, Dwight. “Noshing With the Fishes on the Lower East Side.” The New York Times. 28 February, 2013. Accessed July 22, 2021.
18. Feldman.