In this series for T, the author Reggie Nadelson revisits New York institutions that have defined cool for decades, from time-honored restaurants to unsung dives.

A chilly day in early December and I’m sitting on a bench outside Russ & Daughters, eating a hot latke. Made of grated potato and onions, fried until golden brown, crispy outside, fluffy within, these are eaten to celebrate Hanukkah, which began last night. Down-home types eat them with sour cream or apple sauce; better still is the Russ way, with crème fraîche and a nice spoonful of red caviar, the fat red salmon roe that you can pop with your tongue. Eight nights of Hanukkah, eight occasions to nosh a latke.

Eating the latke here, I’m thinking about my father. I’ve come to Russ because so much of my own life is invested in this little shop on the Lower East Side, where my father was born and grew up. Sitting here, I feel the weight of all this history. Almost a century ago, as a little kid, my pop was probably eyeing a plump schmaltz herring or a pickle at Joel Russ’s first shop, which opened on Orchard Street in 1914. A few years later, Russ moved here, to 179 East Houston. Maybe it’s a Jewish thing, this combination of joy and melancholy expressed through food. “Food is one of the deepest ways we have to connect to and take pride in who we are,” says Niki Russ Federman, who co-owns the store with her cousin Josh Russ Tupper.