Don't Call Me Daughters

With all the research we did about food to try in New York City, we were very fortunate to get to enjoy some amazing food from some really cool restaurants. Some of the places were famous while others were random spots that didn't stand out at all but still served some great dishes. However, when you try as many restaurants we did, you are bound to visit a few that are disappointing. And when we tried to create a little food tour on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, we tried some restaurants I wasn't a fan of – one of which being Russ & Daughters.

 

Russ & Daughters isn't an actual restaurant, but more of a gourmet market/shop that serves food from behind a counter. They offer a variety of salads, bagels, meats, cream cheese, fish, and assorted sweets and pastries. We had heard really good things about the bagels from Russ & Daughters so I decided to order an Everything Bagel for our first New York bagel experience. I also ordered a can of Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray soda, which is a local New York favorite. Any more Jewish and I would have been Jerry Seinfeld.

 

This is probably just part of the culture but I was surprised at the attitude of the staff. They weren't being rude to any of the customers, but it was off-putting to see how they interacted with each other. Guys were arguing about who was doing what and fighting about who was helping certain customers and how they needed to be quicker. It was a great example of conversations that should take place when you're not standing in front of your guests.

 

Once we had our bagel and Cel-Ray, we found a spot outside to try our purchases. I took a bite of the Everything bagel and realized the whole "New York bagels are so much better" is a myth. If Russ & Daughters is winning awards for having the best bagels in a city that is famous for its bagels, I must be missing something. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't anything unique or memorable. And the Cel-Ray soda...WHAT?! How in the world do people like this drink? It's a combination of celery and sugar. It's also disgusting.

 

Maybe I just don't get it and I'm definitely not buying into the hype. For me, Russ & Daughters was nothing special and New York bagels weren't either.