Skip the LES breakfast line and slice into this tart for brunch

Capture the spirit and flavor of the weekend special

Bonjour! Bonjour!

For many long-time New Yorkers, Manhattan’s Lower East Side holds a piece of their families’ history. At the turn of the 20th century, it was where so many people, particularly those who came from Eastern Europe and Russia, settled. It became an enclave for Jewish people and, bordering it, immigrants from Italy and China. While Little Italy and Chinatown still retain some of their original personality, today the Lower East Side, LES, is more closely associated with clubs than with knishes — although Yonah Schimmel’s is still there. So is Katz’s Deli, as famous for the “I’ll have what she’s having” scene in When Harry Met Sally as it is for its pastrami. And my favorite LES place, Russ & Daughters.

Russ & Daughters sells what New Yorkers call “appetizing” and what the shop calls the foods you eat with bagels. Think smoked and pickled fish, which has been Russ & Daughters’ specialty for over 100 years. For most of those years, the only way you could get their great foods…