Calvin Trillin sang its praises in The New Yorker in the 1970s. Anthony Bourdain dedicated a segment of the Disappearing Manhattan episode of his Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations travel and food TV show to it. The Financial Times called the address one of the "50 greatest food stores in the world" in 2021. That Russ & Daughters is a New York City institution is a fact, but even the most devoted of fans would have found a West Elm collab highly implausible till 24 hours ago, when its serveware collection with the brand dropped. Now the fourth-generation family-run American Jewish appetizing store's cherished tabletops can be yours for a little over the price of one of its delicious hand-rolled cream cheese and lox bagels.
The origins of Russ & Daughters go back to 1914, when Joel Russ, a Jewish Immigrant hailing from Poland, opened J Russ International Appetizers not far from the deli's current 179 East Houston Street location in Manhattan's Lower East Side, where it would move six years later before finding its definitive name in 1933. The concept saw Russ grow from a street vendor of Polish mushrooms and pickled herring to the hard-working owner of a family business he ran alongside his three daughters, Hattie, Anne, and Ida, from whom the store gets its moniker. New Yorkers have since associated the historic shopfront with the smell of freshly baked bread, cured fish, and spiced babka.
