Cuisine: Jewish / Bagels
Every Thanksgiving for the last several years, we and a bunch of other folks go over to a friend of Hipster Jr.’s family’s house for a big breakfast / brunch of bagels from Hot Bagels Abroad and lots and lots of fish from Russ & Daughters. The meal comes with a detailed explainer from the host of the different types of lox and their flavor profiles. And that fish is good. So, along comes a holiday that felt appropriate to hit up a Jewish deli type joint, and here we found ourselves at Russ & Daughters Cafe. Which is an adorable sit-down restaurant that serves the long-standing original shop’s signature grub.
As far as I know this joint doesn’t take reservations. So you just do that brunch thing where you give the host your cell number (yes, I know they’re called “mobile” numbers now, but whatever) and they text you when your table is ready. Like almost everything else on the Lower East Side on a nice day, this place is popular. I feel like self-respecting tourists never would have come to this ‘hood in the 90s, but now it feels like every family from the ‘I’ and ‘O’ states is beating a path to the LES. The cafe itself is not terribly large, so they’re not exactly churning tables, but we managed to snag a perfect booth after a half hour or so in the back of the restaurant. The aesthetic is great. I’d say it’s kind of the deco 40s thing. On the way back to the table we passed what could only be called a Jewish sushi counter. A dude thinly slicing some beautiful salmon with a sharp knife and folding it onto a wooden plank.
The menu is relatively small and printed on placemat like a good deli should. We started with some potato latkes, which looked a bit overdone when they showed up, but were absolutely delicious. They’re a fatter version than I’m used to, but they were full of flavor and turned out to be very well fried and texturally nice. Honestly, I could have had a couple more of those and called it a day. I ordered a chocolate egg cream because that’s what one does when one wants to be authentic. It brought me back to some day and age before I was even born. Ms. Hipster, who did not grow up with that whole thing, was kinda horrified. Hipster Jr. got a homemade cream soda, which was a big hit with everyone who tasted it, and Ms. Hipster got some sort of cherry somethingorother homemade soda that she didn’t love, but I thought was decent. Hipster Jr. also got a matzo ball soup, but didn’t say much about it. I just think he was really hungry and wanted to move on to his entree.
For our mains we all pretty much got the same thing: bagel, lox and cream cheese. After tasting the different types of lox at the aforementioned holiday brunches, we went with Nova since it’s pretty much the classic vibe. Not overly salty, or overly greasy, or overly salty, or overly smoked. It’s kind of the chicken tikka masala of lox. Right off the bat, it became really obvious why our host went with the local bagel shop over the bagels from Russ & Daughters. They’re small. Which isn’t always bad, but for $24 you kinda want as much as you can get. I don’t think capers cost that much. Also, the bagels are overly stiff and bready. In other words, they are super disappointing. Like almost aggressively not good. They’re also pretty stingy with the cream cheese. It comes in a tiny metal cup topped off with a knife so as to not give you a millimeter more than you deserve. Thank g-d the fish is good. And, unlike the bagel and the dairy, is relatively plentiful. It’s the star by a million miles. Which I guess is the point. Tender and very balanced and almost silky. It’s also a good temperature, which sounds like a weird thing to mention, but so often you get lox out of the fridge and it kind of mutes the flavor. This stuff tastes fresh and appropriately succulent. Frankly, it kicks most sushi’s ass. (Yes, I know it’s not the same thing.)
All in all, this was a fun little trip. Certainly not cheap, and not entirely convenient if you’re looking for an easy walk-in experience. But the old-school flavor of the surroundings, the super-nice servers and the experience of eating top-tier fish is a good time. I can’t say it exactly brought me back to my roots — my roots probably would have been a little more rough around the edges — but it certainly feels a bit like a New York time capsule that my ancestors certainly experienced. I think it would be a great joint to bring some out-of-town folks to show them what they’re missing living in Ohio. Plus, they’ll probably not know the difference and think the bagels are wonderful.
127 Orchard St. (bet. Delancey and Rivington St.)
212/475-4880
russanddaughters.com
