BITES ON A BUDGET is a toothsome and tasty series where members of the OC family forage for great food––under $10!
Sometimes, life in New York City is a struggle. Your paycheck is three days away and you’re living on the remnants of your pantry conjuring up meals like pasta with tomato sauce and flaky oregano as “spaghetti,” and dissolving bits of chocolate in hot water to make “hot cocoa.” But then we also all know how on certain special days, just before you get your hard earned money, the face of Alexander Hamilton will smile up at you from the $10 bill like a proud parent and say "Yes, we made it! You deserve to treat yo’self." And really, what better way to treat oneself than with caviar? But where to get caviar for under $10? Well, let me introduce you to a sandwich I religiously eat from the best place in the world—the Fancy Delancey sandwich ($9) at Russ and Daughters.
Russ and Daughters is a New York institution that has been here since 1914, and here, you’re treated like royalty. “What do you feel like?” The gentleman in the white lab coat behind the counter asks me, every time. I scan my myriad options lined up pristinely in the gleaming cabinets, while he waits, patiently, ignoring the other customers. When I tell him it’s gonna be the Fancy Delancey he congratulates me on my choice and sets about the well rehearsed procedure—slicing the bagel perfectly in half, smearing the horseradish dill cream cheese sparingly, then lifting out a body of smoked tuna, carving out very, very thin slices, then carefully trimming off the excess bits, before layering them with a practiced motion onto the bagel. He then spoons on the wasabi flying fish roe and closes the bagel. It makes me swoon, every time.
If you manage to rummage up another few dollars, please get a chocolate babka ($3.45). Forget all the babkas or other Jewish desserts you’ve had. This one will make them feel like cheap bodega candy. If you need persuasion, you can watch Louie C.K. and Parker Posey going cracky for it HERE, as they eat (slash feed each other with their hands) delicacies like Holland herring, French trout roe, and smoked salmon.
As you find a seat outside and unwrap the sandwich made perfectly just for you, bathed in the overcast sunshine and polluted fumes of E. Houston, watching the various strange characters of the LES meandering about with construction noises and angry car horns in your ear, you will be able to say that yes, the struggle is really worth it.
RUSS AND DAUGHTERS
179 E. Houston St
New York, NY 10002
Map
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Treat yo'self to "The Fancy Delancey"—horseradish dill cream cheese, smoked tuna, and wasabi flying fish roe on an everything bagel.![]()
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Sometimes, life in New York City is a struggle. Your paycheck is three days away and you’re living on the remnants of your pantry conjuring up meals like pasta with tomato sauce and flaky oregano as “spaghetti,” and dissolving bits of chocolate in hot water to make “hot cocoa.” But then we also all know how on certain special days, just before you get your hard earned money, the face of Alexander Hamilton will smile up at you from the $10 bill like a proud parent and say "Yes, we made it! You deserve to treat yo’self." And really, what better way to treat oneself than with caviar? But where to get caviar for under $10? Well, let me introduce you to a sandwich I religiously eat from the best place in the world—the Fancy Delancey sandwich ($9) at Russ and Daughters.
Russ and Daughters is a New York institution that has been here since 1914, and here, you’re treated like royalty. “What do you feel like?” The gentleman in the white lab coat behind the counter asks me, every time. I scan my myriad options lined up pristinely in the gleaming cabinets, while he waits, patiently, ignoring the other customers. When I tell him it’s gonna be the Fancy Delancey he congratulates me on my choice and sets about the well rehearsed procedure—slicing the bagel perfectly in half, smearing the horseradish dill cream cheese sparingly, then lifting out a body of smoked tuna, carving out very, very thin slices, then carefully trimming off the excess bits, before layering them with a practiced motion onto the bagel. He then spoons on the wasabi flying fish roe and closes the bagel. It makes me swoon, every time.
If you manage to rummage up another few dollars, please get a chocolate babka ($3.45). Forget all the babkas or other Jewish desserts you’ve had. This one will make them feel like cheap bodega candy. If you need persuasion, you can watch Louie C.K. and Parker Posey going cracky for it HERE, as they eat (slash feed each other with their hands) delicacies like Holland herring, French trout roe, and smoked salmon.
As you find a seat outside and unwrap the sandwich made perfectly just for you, bathed in the overcast sunshine and polluted fumes of E. Houston, watching the various strange characters of the LES meandering about with construction noises and angry car horns in your ear, you will be able to say that yes, the struggle is really worth it.
RUSS AND DAUGHTERS
179 E. Houston St
New York, NY 10002
Map
Treat yo'self to "The Fancy Delancey"—horseradish dill cream cheese, smoked tuna, and wasabi flying fish roe on an everything bagel.
