Russ & Daughters Bagel Bakery in Lower East Side: $17 Lox

Russ & Daughters, at 179 E Houston St on the Lower East Side, has been slicing smoked fish for New Yorkers since 1914, and the original appetizing shop still runs on paper tickets, long glass cases, and counter staff who hand you a sliver of nova before you commit. Bagels cost $2 each, schmears start at $5.50, and the Classic Bagel and Lox sandwich is $17 on the in-store menu. Come hungry, take a number by the door, and plan to spend more on fish than you intended.

Joel Russ left the shtetl of Strzyzow in 1907 and began by selling herring from a barrel, according to the family history on the official site. By 1914 he had a brick-and-mortar store, and that date still anchors the brand. In 1935 he made his three daughters, Hattie, Ida, and Anne, full partners and renamed the business Russ & Daughters, a move the family itself calls bold and controversial for the era. That name now hangs over a narrow room with white tile, chrome trim, and refrigerated cases that run nearly the full length of the shop. The space is not a cafe and was never meant to be one. It is an appetizing store, the old Jewish New York trade of fish, dairy, and sweets sold over a counter, and the Houston Street shop is the original.

Walk in, pull a paper ticket from the dispenser, and watch the number board above the cases. Customers have been taking numbers here since the late 1970s, a change that replaced the older habit of waiting for a favorite counterperson. When your number is called, one staffer handles your whole order, from slicing salmon to building sandwiches to bagging rugelach. Slicers often offer a taste of a fish you are curious about, so ask for one before choosing between Gaspe nova and Scottish salmon. Fish is sold by the pound and cut to order, and asking for a quarter pound is perfectly normal. Have your bagel type and cream cheese choice ready when your turn comes, because the line behind you is watching. Phone orders for pickup go through extension 1 on the main number.

The in-store menu lists bagels at $2 and bialys at the same price, with flavors from poppy and sesame to pumpernickel, egg everything, and pretzel. The Classic Bagel and Lox is Gaspe nova with your choice of cream cheese for $17, and Scottish or Irish salmon bumps it to $18. The Shtetl pairs smoked sable with goat cream cheese for $20. The Super Heebster stacks whitefish and baked salmon salad with horseradish dill cream cheese and wasabi flying fish roe for $19. The Mensch, sturgeon on a bagel or bialy, is the splurge at $22. Onion, capers, or tomato add 50 cents each. A gluten-free bagel adds $2.50. First-timers usually do best with the Classic on an everything bagel, plus capers and a slice of tomato for brightness.

If you would rather build breakfast at home, buy components. Plain, scallion, vegetable, horseradish-dill, caviar, and lox cream cheese are all priced at $15 per pound, and goat cream cheese runs $16. A simple schmear on a bagel is $5.50. Behind the glass you will find belly lox, gravlax, pastrami-cured salmon, sable, sturgeon, and whole whitefish, each with its own per-pound price on the board. Pickled herring fillets in cream sauce sell individually at $5.50. Do not skip the sweets case. Black and white cookies are $3.50, a chocolate or cinnamon babka loaf costs $18, and a single babka piece is $4. The menu notes that all breads are baked at the Russ & Daughters Brooklyn facility, which keeps the bagels consistent from morning through afternoon.

Weekend mornings bring the longest waits, with tickets climbing fast after brunch crowds drift over from Orchard and Ludlow. Arriving right at 8 am on a weekday usually means only a handful of people ahead of you. Early afternoon on Tuesday or Wednesday is another quiet stretch, when slicers have more time to talk you through the fish. Holiday weeks are a different story. Before Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur break-fast, Hanukkah, and Christmas Eve, the shop fills up with platter pickups and the line can spill onto the sidewalk. If you are in a rush, place a pickup order by phone or through the online ordering link on the official site, then walk in to collect it. Bring patience either way, because the counter staff refuse to hurry a good slice of salmon.

The Houston Street shop is a counter for takeout, with no tables and almost no room to linger once the ticket line forms. Most visitors carry their wrapped bagels a short walk to Sara D. Roosevelt Park, where benches face the gardens and the morning light is soft. Ask for your sandwich cut in half if you are sharing, and request napkins, since a generous lox sandwich drips cream cheese. Freshly squeezed orange juice comes by the pint for $6, a chocolate egg cream is $4.50, and Dr. Brown's sodas, including Cel-Ray, are $2.75. If you want a sit-down meal with table service, that is a separate experience at the family cafe a few blocks away. For the original appetizing counter, think picnic rather than brunch, and you will enjoy it far more.

Russ & Daughters sits in one of the densest eating blocks in Manhattan, so build a small crawl around your bagel. Katz's Delicatessen is a short walk east on the same side of Houston, famous for pastrami and its cafeteria tickets. Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery lies a little to the west and still bakes round knishes in the old style. Walk south along Orchard Street to the Tenement Museum, which tells the immigrant story that shaped shops like this one. Essex Market, a few blocks further south, gathers cheese, produce, and prepared food vendors under one roof. Between stops you will pass tattoo studios, vintage boutiques, and galleries tucked into former storefronts. The route takes about an hour on foot and pairs well with a bag of rugelach for the road.

Address: Russ & Daughters, at 179 E Houston St, New York, NY 10002, sits on Houston near Orchard Street on the Lower East Side. Hours: Monday 8 am to 4 pm, Tuesday 8 am to 4 pm, Wednesday 8 am to 4 pm, Thursday 8 am to 4 pm, Friday 8 am to 4 pm, Saturday 8 am to 4 pm, and Sunday 8 am to 4 pm. Getting there: the F train stops at Second Avenue station, roughly three blocks west, and the F, J, M, and Z trains meet at Delancey Street-Essex Street station a short walk south. Ordering: take a paper ticket inside the door or call ahead for pickup. Nationwide shipping and NYC delivery are handled through the official site at russanddaughters.com.