Photo via Google, Russ & DaughtersRuss & Daughters
- Hours
- Today: 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM
- Getting there
- East Houston Street, Lower East Side
Why it’s in the log
Russ & Daughters opened in 1907 as a pushcart and has been run by the same family for four generations since. Anthony Bourdain featured it in "Disappearing Manhattan," a No Reservations episode built around the parts of New York that were vanishing under redevelopment — he sat down with owner Mark Russ Federman, ordered herring in cream sauce and a lox-and-cream-cheese bagel, and used the shop as a case for what the city stood to lose.
It's an appetizing store first — smoked and cured fish, not deli meat — and the counter still runs on the same order-and-wait system generations of regulars know by heart. The bagels and lox draw the tourists; the whitefish salad and the sable are what keeps locals coming back.
Take a number, expect a line on weekends, and order more than you think you need — everything here keeps.
“A shop this old shouldn't still feel this alive — it's the kind of place Bourdain built a whole episode around defending.”
What people said recently
From Google reviews · see all 4,778 ↗
“Great tasty bagels , variety of cream cheese and best smoke salmon. Today i tried the pastrami smoke salmon and everything bagel. With veggie cream cheese (to go ) all were as always fresh and delicious. The staff is helpful and welcoming.…”
“Good smoked salmon, but overpriced and underwhelming bagels. I wanted to love this iconic Lower East Side spot, but it didn't live up to the massive hype or the crazy expensive price tag. I ordered the classic lox sandwich on an everything…”
“We went directly here after eating at the Cafe because I had my heart set on an onion bagel, and possibly a garlic bagel. The Cafe didn't have either option but I needed them in my life. So we walked over right after. Super cute small…”
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