Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman. Photo: Gentl and Hyers
Tickets for the 2026 Summer Season go on sale at 12 PM on April 13. Guild Hall Members enjoy early access—click HERE to join and take advantage of this and other exclusive benefits.
Stirring the Pot: Russ & Daughters—Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper
Join Florence Fabricant at Guild Hall for an irresistible edition of Stirring the Pot featuring Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper, fourth-generation owners of Russ & Daughters. They’ll share stories from their family’s legendary Lower East Side appetizing shop, tracing a century of smoked fish, bagels, and New York food culture, and discuss their new book, Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing. Following the conversation, guests are invited to a special book signing—an opportunity to meet the authors and take home a signed copy.
A must-attend for food lovers, home cooks, and anyone who savors the traditions that define New York’s culinary heritage.
In 1907, a Jewish immigrant named Joel Russ landed in New York City, where he took a pushcart of herring and built a legacy that would pass down through fathers and daughters (and sons and husbands and wives) for more than a hundred years. Four generations later, the ancestral heart of Russ & Daughters continues to bustle on the Lower East Side, with three more locations throughout the city.
Over the course of a century, Russ & Daughters has fed hundreds of thousands of customers, many considering a visit to the original shop on East Houston a family tradition, weekly ritual, or New York experience. Now, for the first time, Russ & Daughters brings its world-famous institution into readers’ homes with RUSS & DAUGHTERS: 100 Years of Appetizing. Its rich history is told through insider anecdotes from the family and characters on both sides of the counter; illuminating guides to its most famed offerings—smoked salmon, sable, sturgeon, herring, and caviar; and more than 100 cherished recipes for favorite foods like latkes, matzo ball soup, babka, and bagels among many others.
Nothing can ever replace the experience of taking a number, kibbitzing with a slicer, waiting in line, and ordering your whitefish or belly lox. Yet this book captures some of that infectious Russ & Daughters appetizing spirit, and most importantly, brings families and friends together around the table.
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Niki Russ Federman
Niki Russ Federman is the fourth-generation co-owner of Russ & Daughters. At the age of 27, Niki chose to return to the shop in which she grew up. Together with her cousin, Josh, she has grown Russ & Daughters into what it is today, while preserving its cultural and culinary legacy. Russ Federman has been featured in The Sturgeon Queens, the award-winning documentary about Russ & Daughters; television shows such as Taste the Nation with Padma Lakshmi and Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations; and publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Food & Wine, Zagat, Vogue, and W Magazine. She was inducted into the Manhattan Jewish Hall of Fame and has an encyclopedic entry in the Jewish Women’s Archive.
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Josh Russ Tupper
Josh Russ Tupper is the fourth-generation co-owner of Russ & Daughters. Raised in an ashram in upstate New York, Russ Tupper was working as an engineer in Portland, OR, when the opportunity arose to join his family business at 26. He has been leading Russ & Daughters with his cousin Niki ever since. He has been featured in media outlets such as NPR, Food Network, The Travel Channel, Forbes, The Cut, Kinfolk, Lucky Peach, The New Yorker, and Vogue. He is also one of the subjects of documentary The Sturgeon Queens. Called “the Babka Baron” by the New York Times, Josh has been honored by the Museum of Food and Drink for his contributions to NYC food culture. He has taught at the YIVO Center for Jewish Research and Astor Center.
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Florence Fabricant
Florence Fabricant, a food and wine writer for the New York Times, contributes the weekly Front Burner and Off the Menu columns, is a member of the wine panel and writes the pairings column for the wine tastings. She frequently writes features that appear in the Food section and also covers food and travel elsewhere in the Times. She has written 13 cookbooks. This spring, her latest, The Ladies Village Improvement Society Cookbook: Eating and Entertaining in East Hampton" to celebrate the 125th anniversary of LVIS was published by Rizzoli. Other books include Wine with Food, based on the New York Times pairings columns and written with Eric Asimov and The City Harvest Cookbook, both published by Rizzoli. She actually began her career as a food writer in East Hampton, contributing the column In Season to the East Hampton Star. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Smith College, she has an M.A. in French from New York University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. She holds L’Ordre National du Mérite from the French government, is on the Board of Trustees of Guild Hall in East Hampton, N.Y., and is a member of Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America. (New York, NY). She lives in Manhattan and East Hampton, N.Y., and has two children and two grandchildren.
Photo: Fred Conrad for The New York Times
Sponsors
Lead Sponsor: Ciuffo Cabinetry
Supporting Sponsors: Julie Raynor Gross
Media Partner: Purist
Performing Arts programs are supported by 2026 season sponsors Galia Meiri-Stawski and Axel Stawski, with additional lead support from Henry and Peggy Schleiff, The Melville Straus Family Endowment, Monica and Peter Tessler, and Vital Projects Fund.
Additional support provided by Friends of the Theater:
Natascia Ayers and Jim Ciquera, Bonnie and Joel Bergstein, Gene Bernstein and Kathy Walsh, Amy Cooney and Marty Feinman, John and Joan D’Addario, Suzanne and John Golden, Hilarie and Mitchell Morgan, Steve Pesner, in memory of his wife, Michèle Pesner, whose entire life was devoted to all aspects of culture, The Schaffner Family Foundation, Lisa Schultz and Ezriel Kornel, Stacey and Oliver Stanton, and Susi and Peter Wunsch.
