APPETIZING Since 1914

For 107 years, Russ & Daughters has been an integral part of the history of New York City, a touchstone in the lives of generations, and the torchbearer of Jewish food in America.

In 1907, Joel Russ immigrated from the shtetl of Strzyzow, now part of modern day Poland. He got his start selling schmaltz herring out of a barrel to the throngs of Eastern European Jews on the Lower East Side. It took him seven years to work his way up from that first herring barrel to having a pushcart operation, a horse and wagon, and then, in 1914, a brick and mortar store. The original store was on Orchard Street. In 1920, he moved the store around the corner to 179 East Houston Street, where it has been ever since.

Having no sons, Joel Russ required his three lovely daughters — Hattie, Ida, and Anne — to work in the store from the time they were teenagers. In 1935, he made his daughters full partners and changed the name to Russ & Daughters, a bold and controversial move. Russ & Daughters is the first business in the United States to have “& Daughters” in its name. The daughters married men who also joined the business.

In 1979, when the daughters and their husbands were ready to retire, Mark Russ Federman, Anne’s son, decided to leave his legal career and become the third generation owner. For thirty years, together with his wife, Maria, they ran Russ & Daughters and made it into a New York destination, despite the Lower East Side’s reputation in those years as a rough neighborhood. Mark Russ Federman wrote an acclaimed memoir, “Russ & Daughters: the House that Herring Built,” which vividly recounts the history of Russ & Daughters and his time running it.