The Russ and Daughters store on Houston Street is a New York institution that been around forever and everyone knows that its THE place to get your smoked fish products and other Jewish delicatessens. I went there years ago to get a bagel and lox sandwich and it makes you realize what a real bagel, lox and cream cheese sandwich should taste like. So I was super super excited when they opened a full blown restaurant so that you can sit down and try out a bunch of different dishes.
Allison and I went super early on a random Tuesday night and it was pretty empty. The menu is full of what you would expect from a place like this: latkes, pastrami, smoked fish, caviar, pickled herring, kugel, and blintzes. If we had time, we probably would have ordered the entire menu but we were in kind of a hurry, so we opted for the stuffed cabbage (special for the night) and the classic board ($16) - we were going to order more but the waiter said that the cabbage was a huge dish so we figured we wouldn't push ourselves. Turns out, the portions were on the small side instead and we totally should have ordered more. The stuffed cabbage was filled with rice and barley and covered in a tomato sauce and served with a deliciously crisp baked potato and a small salad. While the cabbage was tasty, it didn't have any ground meat in it, so it felt like it was missing a key flavor profile. The dish could have had a bit more seasoning to it since cabbage and rice on their own isn't very flavorful. Meanwhile The Classic board came with Nova smoked salmon, cream cheese, tomato, red onion, capers and your choice of bagel, bialy, rye or pumpernickel - we opted for a toasted everything bagel. As expected the smoked salmon was fantastic - it was very thinly sliced and had a great consistency to it. The tomato was incredibly ripe and juicy and I would have eaten an entire plate of that on my own. The capers add a great salty kick to everything and at some point I was just popping them individually in my mouth. The cream cheese actually tasted a bit more like goat cheese - it was very sweet and while it was good, I would have preferred your basic standard full fat cream cheese. The one let down was the bagel - it was just ok. There wasn't anything wrong with it, but there wasn't anything great about it either. While I did enjoy the spread, I did think it was pretty expensive for what it was - essentially it's a deconstructed sandwich and I can't imagine walking into a bagel store, asking for lox and cream cheese and then paying $16 for it - even if it is delicious and good, it's just overpriced for what it is. I would have preferred to have had more smoked salmon and no bread product instead.
Since the portions were so small, we ended up ordering the knishes ($8) as well. A word of warning if you are going to get this dish: the spicy mustard will go directly to your brain. I'm not even joking - not knowing how full of horseradish it would be, I covered my knish in mustard and my brain almost shut down from it. Again - good dish but small portion.
All and all, Russ and Daughters Cafe has a lot to offer and they clearly have done a great job with the cafe. It looks like a great place to come to for breakfast or brunch as they also have a full egg section to the menu. I just wish that their portions were a bit bigger and if you are going to get a board, maybe go with the bialy because let's be honest, the bread portion of that dish is really just the carrying vessel for the lox and tomato. Total bill: $25/pp with tax, tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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