Keren Carrion / NPR

Updated September 6, 2025 at 4:42 AM PDT

What's better on a weekend morning than savoring a lightly toasted bagel with lox and schmear while listening to Weekend Edition ?

It's a tough combo to beat — but could perhaps be made even better by eating that bagel at Russ & Daughters, which has been on New York's Lower East Side for 114 years and also sells latkes, babka, rugelach, a dozen different kinds of salmon and is about the size of a subway car.

"Russ & Daughters for me was a literal mom and pop. Because it was my mom and pop," says Niki Russ Federman, who is a fourth generation co-owner of the family business.

"As a kid, I would wait at the doors for the produce delivery guys to come, and they would wheel in with their handcarts. They had sacks, 50 pound

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