Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, fourth generation owners, Russ & Daughters and Russ & Daughters Cafe.
Photo: Michael Harlan Turkell/Courtesy of Russ & Daughters.

The Jewish Museum in New York City is getting serious about food, bringing in 100-year-old Houston Street deli Russ & Daughters to open a 75-seat eatery at the Upper East Side institution. Currently under construction in the museum’s lower level, the take-out counter and kosher cafe will open in early 2015, the museum announced at a press conference on Tuesday.

“One of our priorities has been to enhance the visitor experience,” Jewish Museum director Claudia Gould said in a statement. “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.”

The exterior of Russ & Daughters at 179 East Houston Street.
Photo: Via Wikimedia Commons.

“We are thrilled to be partnering with the Jewish Museum,” Russ & Daughters co-owner Niki Russ Federman added, before busting out some Yiddish. “It’s a great shidduch (match). As stewards of New York culture and Jewish culture, both of our institutions appreciate that our role in preserving tradition also means embracing change.”

After Joel Russ established his business in 1914, as J Russ International Appetizers, he moved it to its present location at 179 East Houston Street in 1920. In 1933, he made his daughters Hattie, Anne, and Ida partners in the business, which he then renamed “Russ & Daughters.” In addition to that location and the forthcoming Upper East Side outpost, fourth-generation co-owners Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, who are cousins, also operate the Russ & Daughters Cafe at 127 Orchard Street.