“I’m so glad you are open!,” a prospective diner says as he approaches Olga, the maitre d’ at Lox, the relatively new restaurant in the basement of the Jewish Museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, on a recent Monday morning.
Formerly home to the only kosher outpost of the iconic Russ & Daughters, which permanently closed in the spring of 2022 after not reopening post-pandemic, Lox is the latest venture from chef David Teyf. The culinary guru has also been running the Lox eatery at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City since 2016.
The patron’s disposition—cheerful, excited and completely at ease in the all-white dining room—seems to mirror the mood of the other brunch diners in the first hour of service during the week.
Clearly, everyone knows they’re in for a treat—and, indeed, they’re right.
The meal kicks off with a towel for washing your hands and two complimentary small plates: a tiny matzah ball babka and a separate dish featuring two half-slices of differently pickled cucumbers. These palate openers, though delightful, are in no way indicative of the feast that’s about to arrive at the table, no matter what you decide to order from the creative and substantial menu.
There are unique takes on classics—an egg salad served in-between slices of challah bread, blinis featuring salmon roe and sour cream, and a single deviled egg prepared with wild mushrooms, caramelized onions and fresh dill—alongside creative inventions that stand out in presentation and flavor.
Herring dishes served with an iced vodka shot also pepper the menu, as do different types of soups and standard bakery fare (black and white cookies! Hamantaschens! Strudels! Babkas!) that make for ideal dessert bites.
But the star of the show is, of course, the lox: the smoked salmon is found in sandwiches, salads or on its own. Each piece served has been cured in-house, giving rise to a truly unique roster of options that is most properly on display within the menu’s piece de resistance: the lox five ways.
The house specialty can be ordered for two, three or four people. Served on a wooden platter filled with different types of cream cheese, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, capers and a bread basket, the order features a relatively simple vodka-infused dill lox, a grapefruit and gin variety also boasting juniper berries, a pastrami lox made with a house spice blend (certainly one of the best in the bunch), a double smoked lox and a sake ginger lox prepared with wasabi.
Although the pieces of fish melt in your mouth, you’d be remiss not to make yourself a sandwich with every single ingredient on offer.
Overall, the menu is very much Jewish (Ashkenazi, in case you missed that) and very much New York—a fact that, paradoxically, puts the restaurant way outside the sphere of usual kosher dining destinations found across the city
To put it simply: the food, service and ambiance at Lox are stellar—something that, unfortunately, cannot be said about most other kosher restaurants in New York. As for the space itself, it feels like a snapshot of a bygone era in the city. Whether it be the mix of longtime Upper East Side residents who have called New York home for decades (or their whole lives), or the overall vibe, the restaurant captures the essence of what New York once was—and still could be: a laid-back, creative haven where originality is cherished. The food is just there to amplify that feeling.
The unique experience at Lox is undoubtedly shaped by both Teyf’s extensive professional background and his distinctive personality.
The chef is no stranger to the city’s culinary scene, after all. In addition to the two locations of Lox, Teyf owns kosher catering company Madison & Park and downtown kosher deli destinations Greenwich and Delancey. Beyond the Jewish culinary world, he is the executive chef of Bar & Essen, the cocktail lounge right above 2nd Avenue Deli.
However, it’s the meticulous attention to detail—from the carefully sourced ingredients (the salmon is flown in from Scotland on a regular basis!) to the artistry of the presentation and the polished professionalism of the wait staff—that truly elevates Lox. This commitment is a direct reflection of Teyf’s own meticulous nature. Upon meeting him, it’s immediately apparent that he embodies the same level of precision in his personal presentation as he does in the kitchen: his clothes are immaculately pressed, his cologne exudes the sophisticated air of the restaurant itself and, perhaps most telling, Teyf speaks with deliberate care, choosing his words as thoughtfully as he does his ingredients.
Teyf is, in fact, reluctant to praise his gastronomic efforts as compared to other kosher institutions, preferring instead to focus on his own craft regardless of what the rest of the scene is doing.
“I’m very much in touch with everything that is happening around the world in terms of the culinary,” he says to Pretty Kosher. “I didn’t start out in the kosher so when I went into it, people were super excited that they could experience certain things. I myself am kosher and felt like [this type of restaurant was] needed.”
Whether Lox will continue to meet Teyf’s expectations as the novelty of the restaurant fades remains to be seen, but one thing is clear: the chef has already achieved his current goals.
“I judge food by how you feel after you leave,” he explains. “If you feel like you need to brush your teeth, something’s not right.”
I am delighted to report that, upon leaving the premise, I felt freaking fantastic.
