Russ & Daughters Cafe

Russ & Daughters Cafe opened on Orchard Street in 2014 to mark the 100th anniversary of Russ & Daughters, the Lower East Side appetizing shop whose story begins with Joel Russ, a Jewish immigrant from Strzyzow, Poland, selling herring from a pushcart in the early 1900s. He opened his first shop on Orchard Street in 1914, moved to East Houston Street in 1920 and renamed the business for his three daughters, Hattie, Ida and Anne, in 1933. Fourth-generation cousins Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman created the cafe as a sit-down home for the family's smoked fish and baked goods, with counter seats, banquettes and a seltzer tap. It feels like a classic Jewish American diner, calm and gracious, a few blocks from the original shop.

Featured by the YouTuber New York Turk in 2025, the cafe rewards a leisurely breakfast or lunch. Order a smoked fish board or platter for the table, then add latkes, ideally topped with salmon roe and crème fraîche, and the whitefish croquettes made from the shop's famous whitefish salad. The Super Heebster, an open-faced bagel with whitefish salad and wasabi-infused roe, is a house classic, and the eggs Benedict on soft challah with lox is a standout. Finish with babka French toast or an egg cream, and pick up babka or rugelach to take home. The cafe is walk-in only and sit-down only, so expect a wait at peak weekend brunch; a weekday morning is the calmest way in.