Lox Without the Line (or Check) at Russ & Daughters New Sabbath Brunch
Russ & Daughters’ silky Gaspe Nova smoked salmon is part of the brunch appetizing platter. Image by Courtesy of Russ & Daughters and the Jewish Museum
By Liza Schoenfein January 18, 2017
Leave it to the 21st-century scions of a venerated 103-year-old smoked fish emporium to figure out how to serve a restaurant brunch on Saturday mornings to Sabbath-observant Jews — and anyone who can’t stand late-morning lines.
Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, the 4th-generation owners of Russ & Daughters, have done just that. At Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum, they are now offering a reservation-only, pay-in-advance, kosher-compliant, fixed-menu feast.
Related
In cracking that code, they’ve solved two brunch-related conundrums at once.
“It’s fulfilling two needs,” said Federman. “Brunch is a great idea in theory, but the reality — especially at Russ & Daughters — is that it’s our busiest time of the week and the wait is long. Now on Saturdays people can avoid that headache of having to wait for an hour or two.
“And it’s important and exciting for the observant community to have Russ & Daughters on Shabbat and know that it’s kosher, it’s under supervision, we’ve considered all the Halachic ramifications around doing this and our plan has been approved. So they can enjoy brunch knowing we’re preserving and protecting the Sabbath space for them.”
The set-menu Saturday brunch spread. Image by Courtesy of Russ & Daughters and the Jewish Museum
The set menu consists of an appetizing platter, deviled eggs topped with Alaskan salmon roe, pickles, salad, a bread basket and dessert plate, and comes complete with challah on every table and wine and grape juice for Kiddush.
“For people observing Kiddush it’s there for them, and people who don’t will say, ‘challah is delicious and I’ll have some wine,’” Federman said. “I think there’s a really beautiful way in which people — no matter what their religious identity and observance level — are going to come together and get meaning from it in various ways.
The plan is being met with enthusiasm both from the general public and the religious community. “Those two things aren’t always compatible, but in this case they are,” Federman says.
Open since March 2016, Russ & Daughters at The Jewish Museum is a restaurant and appetizing counter on the basement level of the building. Shabbat elevators will run on Saturdays, and the museum is open free of charge.
Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum. Image by David Heald
The brunches begin Saturday, January 28. The cost is $50 per person and includes gratuity. Make sure to reserve and pay online, as walk-ins won’t be accepted. The rest of the week, reservations are not accepted. (Russ & Daughters Cafe on the Lower East Side takes reservations only for dinner after 5:30 p.m. Monday–Thursday and after 6:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday.)
Related
Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter, @LifeDeathDinner
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
