Monday's parting shot

Early morning neon glow on East Houston...

The Russ & Daughters documentary makes its broadcast debut on Dec. 2

After making the rounds at some film festivals, "The Sturgeon Queens," the documentary on Russ & Daughters, has a broadcast premiere date.

Via the film's Facebook page:

"The Sturgeon Queens" will air on Thirteen WNET New York Tues, Dec 2, 10 pm. On WLIW Dec. 3, 7:30pm. Rest of the country will have to wait til 2015, but lots of fest and theatrical screenings still coming...

Here's the storyline via IMDB:

Four generations of a Jewish immigrant family create Russ and Daughters, a Lower East Side lox and herring emporium that survives and thrives.

Produced to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the store, this documentary features an extensive interview with two of the original daughters for whom the store was named, now 100 and 92 years old, and interviews with prominent enthusiasts of the store including Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, actress Maggie Gyllenhaal, chef Mario Batali, New Yorker writer Calvin Trillin, and 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer.

Rather than a conventional narrator, the filmmakers bring together six colorful longtime fans of the store, in their 80s and 90s, who sit around a table of fish reading the script in the style of a passover Seder.

Here is the new sign for Russ & Daughters Cafe on Orchard Street

You probably heard that the folks at Russ & Daughters are opening a full-service cafe at 127 Orchard St. … EVG reader Leesy noted the arrival of the sign yesterday…

As the Times reported last September, Niki Russ Federman and her cousin Josh Russ Tupper, part of the fourth generation of the family that founded the store on the LES in 1914, will run the 65-seat restaurant ... serving all the specialties from the R&D mothership around the corner on East Houston.

Back in October, Federman offered up several details about the new space in an interview with The Daily Meal … including if the cafe will have that R&D counter culture:

That is so critical in how we’re designing the space, trying to bring that counter experience and that human interaction to the new café. So there will be an open slicing area where you can watch the slicing happen, and actually you’ll be able to see it better than you can in the store. Right now you have to peek down poke around, There, we’ll have a slicing counter [and] an old-school soda fountain making our egg creams. There’s going to be almost like a luncheonette counter where you can sit down as you’re watching all the food come together, and you still have that over-the-counter interaction.

We haven't heard about an opening date yet (just spring) … though we did spot a Craigslist ad from March 27 for a sous chef and other positions…

Previously on EV Grieve:
More details about the new Russ & Daughters Café coming to Orchard Street

Check out the 'Sturgeon Queens'

The trailer for "Sturgeon Queens" has been making the rounds lately on the blogs… Filmmaker Julie Cohen's documentary takes a look at the 100-year history of Russ & Daughters on East Houston… featuring a mix of regulars as well as celebrity customers like Maggie Gyllenhaal … Eater notes a screening coming up on May 20 at the JCC CineMatters festival on the Upper West Side. Otherwise, you'll have to wait until PBS airs it in the fall…

Meanwhile, Russ & Daughters is celebrating their 100th anniversary this year… a time when they are expanding with a new cafe around the corner on Orchard Street…

More details about the new Russ & Daughters Café coming to Orchard Street

Word came down last month that the nearly 100-year-old smoked fish and herring store on East Houston was going to open a 65-seat café space around the corner at 127 Orchard St.

Today, The Daily Meal published a Q-and-A with fourth-generation co-owner Niki Russ Federman about the new space. Federman offered up several details, such as if the new space will have that counter culture of the mothership:

That is so critical in how we’re designing the space, trying to bring that counter experience and that human interaction to the new café. So there will be an open slicing area where you can watch the slicing happen, and actually you’ll be able to see it better than you can in the store. Right now you have to peek down poke around, There, we’ll have a slicing counter [and] an old-school soda fountain making our egg creams. There’s going to be almost like a luncheonette counter where you can sit down as you’re watching all the food come together, and you still have that over-the-counter interaction.

The Russ & Daughters Café is aiming for a mid-February opening.

Meanwhile, in other news about LES institutions, BoweryBoogie has a recap of the gallery opening at the The Space At Katz’s.

The Russ & Daughters Cafe is going to happen

The appearance of a "Russ & Daughters Cafe" on the CB3/SLA's September docket stirred up plenty of interest ... though it was seemingly short-lived after the item was scratched from the agenda.

But!

At the Times today, Florence Fabricant reports that R&D plan to open a 65-seat restaurant in February at 127 Orchard St. "It will serve all their specialties, including items like blintzes and gefilte fish," per the Times.

Russ & Daughters cafe concept off the September CB3/SLA docket

The appearance of a "Russ & Daughters Cafe" on the CB3/SLA's September docket stirred up plenty of interest... there have been rumors of an off-shoot of the LES classic the past few years... Anyway, looks like we'll have longer to speculate — Russ & Daughters has been red-lined from the September agenda.



Check out BoweryBoogie and The Lo-Down for more details on the cafe concept.

No more Ughters Zers on East Houston

Noted the other day...

"Ughters Zers" (Photo via Josh Russ. The neon sign will be fixed.) @ Russ & Daughters instagr.am/p/TFXip_j_Gg/

— Russ & Daughters (@LoxPopuli) December 11, 2012

And the classic neon is all back...

Headed to Ughters Zers for some chopped liver

First Block Drugs, now Russ & Daughters! All of the great neon in the neighborhood is getting repaired at once...

"Ughters Zers" (Photo via Josh Russ. The neon sign will be fixed.) @ Russ & Daughters instagr.am/p/TFXip_j_Gg/

— Russ & Daughters (@LoxPopuli) December 11, 2012

"Can someone explain to me the advantage of having bank branches on every damned corner?"

The art of smiling had a short post that was in reaction to the news of Sophie's as reported by Jeremiah's Vanishing New York.

Margaret, the author of the post, shared what a lot of us think these days about the East Village and Lower East Side: "...at this point I'm more surprised to see anything that's still as I remembered it. The last time I was at Russ & Daughters, I bought my pickled herring from the son of one of the daughters, a man I remember from years ago, and I said I hoped they would be there forever; he smiled and said they weren't going anywhere, and in fact they were thinking of expanding. Moishe's Bakery and Ben's Cheese are gone, but Yonah Schimmel's Knishes is still there, dirty as ever.

Can someone explain to me the advantage of having bank branches on every damned corner?"