Step into Russ & Daughters on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and you're greeted by a time capsule of the real NYC: generous vats of bagel schmears, the lively crush of hungry patrons, white-jacketed countermen and women presiding over slabs of sturgeon – the spoils of it eventually landing on simple white ceramics piped in signature cobalt blue. Now, those gloriously unfussy dishes are leaving the counter for a new tabletop collection with West Elm.
True to its Jewish-American DNA, the kitchen collection spans pickled-herring-emblazoned platters, kitschy keepsake boxes, and a menorah for good measure. The whites and blues are familiar – still sturdy, still a lot less precious than porcelain – but that famous electric piping now takes on a sharper, more graphic edge (it is the LES, after all), making the tableware just as apropos for the open shelf as the dinner table.
From the tiles to the neon signs outside, little has changed since Russ & Daughters’ founding in 1914. The new tableware, upper left, feels fresh but looks like it’s lived here all along.
‘We wanted this collection to honor tradition while leaving room for personal interpretation,’ say fourth-generation co-owners Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper. ‘Many of the customs and objects that inspire us have been passed down across generations, but they continue to evolve. This partnership reflects that ongoing conversation in a way that feels welcoming, joyful and true to who we are.’
Whether your bowl sees matzo ball soup or morning cereal is your prerogative. More than a century after Russ & Daughters became a New York staple, its famous table fare is finding its way into traditions well beyond Houston Street. Ahead, your chance to nosh like New York’s finest.
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