The Jewish Museum and <br>Russ & Daughters Announce <br>New Partnership to Open Dining <br>and Retail Location in Early 2015

Dining at Russ & Daughters Cafe. Photo by Jen Snow/Courtesy of Russ & Daughters.

Release Date: September 9, 2014

The Jewish Museum and
Russ & Daughters Announce
New Partnership to Open Dining
and Retail Location in Early 2015

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New York, NY - The Jewish Museum is partnering with Russ & Daughters, famed 100 year old New York City appetizing shop and restaurant purveyors of the highest quality smoked fish, caviar, and specialty foods, to launch an additional dining and retail location in the Museum, set to open in early 2015. Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum will be a 75-seat, sit-down kosher café and take-out retail counter in the Museum’s lower level. The space is currently undergoing a renovation led by Solomonoff Architecture Studio, blending the design of the iconic Russ & Daughters shop with the Museum’s historic building. The museum’s café is closed for renovation through the opening in early 2015.

“One of our priorities has been to enhance the visitor experience,” said Claudia Gould, the Museum’s Helen Goldsmith Menschel Director. “Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum will bring together two century-old, iconic Jewish institutions to offer our audiences traditional favorites alongside newly reinterpreted classics.”

Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum will offer a curated selection of Russ & Daughters classic appetizing foods drawn from the original Russ & Daughters shop as well as Russ & Daughters Café: including bagel sandwiches, knishes, herring, salads, soups, egg creams, classic desserts, and traditional homemade breads.

“After 100 years in New York City, we’re delighted to bring a unique and authentic piece of New York City’s cultural and culinary heritage and history from the Lower East Side to the Upper East Side. We are excited to participate in making the Jewish Museum even more of a must-see destination for visitors and locals alike,” added Josh Russ Tupper, 4th Generation owner of Russ & Daughters.

The launch of Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum reflects the Museum’s commitment to exploring art and Jewish culture, from historical to contemporary, while infusing it with an up-to-date sensibility. Located on Museum Mile at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, the Jewish Museum maintains a collection of over 30,000 works of art and artifacts, and presents an extensive schedule of internationally acclaimed temporary exhibitions and public programs.

Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum will be open Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday from 11 am to 5:45 pm; Wednesday, 11 am to 3 pm; and Thursday, 11 am to 8 pm. The cafe and limited take-out retail counter will be kosher and accessible to museum visitors and the general public. Russ & Daughters at the Jewish Museum will be located on the Museum’s lower level. The café space is generously supported by the Weissman family.

About Russ & Daughters
Since 1914, this landmark New York City institution has been continuously owned and operated by four generations of the Russ family. The shop, in the same spot on East Houston Street, and run by the same family for 100 years, continues to provide the tastes and traditions of a true New York experience. In 2014, upon the 100th anniversary of Russ & Daughters, 4th Generation Owners Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman opened Russ & Daughters Cafe – a restaurant on Orchard Street, the street where their great grandfather sold herring from a barrel and a pushcart.

When Joel Russ started peddling herring from a pushcart, could he have imagined a time when the fourth generation of the Russ family would walk, daily, into a landmark appetizing shop hailed by The New York Times, The New Yorker, Gourmet, Bon Appetit, Martha Stewart, NPR, New York Magazine, PBS, The Food Network, The Travel Channel, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and Vogue — among many esteemed others — for its contribution to New York’s culinary and historical landscape?

Joel Russ, an Eastern European immigrant who arrived in America in 1907, started the business from a herring barrel and a pushcart to cater to the throngs of Jewish immigrants settling in New York City’s Lower East Side. In 1920, he opened his store at 179 East Houston Street, after a few years of operating out of a storefront around the corner. He renamed the business “Russ & Daughters,” after his three daughters who joined him as the second generation in the business. Mark Russ Federman succeeded as the 3rd Generation, and is now retired. Russ & Daughters is owned and operated by the 4th Generation of the Russ family: Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper.

About the Jewish Museum

Located on Museum Mile at Fifth Avenue and 92nd Street, the Jewish Museum is one of the world’s preeminent institutions devoted to exploring art and Jewish culture from ancient to contemporary, offering intellectually engaging, educational, and provocative exhibitions and programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. The Museum was established in 1904, when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary as the core of a museum collection. Today, the Museum maintains a collection of over 30,000 works of art, artifacts, and broadcast media reflecting global Jewish identity, and presents a diverse schedule of internationally acclaimed temporary exhibitions.