Lower East Side Cocktail

Name: Lower East Side Cocktail
Yield: 1 serving, plus 1 ½ cups syrup
Ingredients: 1 cup granulated sugar; 1 cup water; 3 (¼-inch-thick) slices of cucumber; 2 ounces Tanqueray gin; ¾ ounce lime juice; ¾ ounce Simple Syrup (recipe below); 2 small sprigs fresh dill

Total Time: 10 minutes

Recipe Journey

Strzyżów, Austria-Hungary (now Poland)

New York City

Walk into Russ & Daughters appetizing shop on the Lower East Side and you will be hit by the wafting scent of smoked fish and an undeniable sense of history. Joel Russ, the great-grandfather of current owners Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman, opened the shop over 100 years ago after emigrating from Strzyżów in Galicia.

Head just a few blocks south to the family’s cafe and you see the evolution of the fourth generation business. The walls are dotted with vintage family photos, but the space manages to strike a balance of being rooted in the past, while not being confined by it. That’s reflected across the menu, even in the cocktails like the Lower East Side. A play on a South Side cocktail, which hails from Chicago, it was ironically made popular at New York’s 21 Club. The team here added muddled cucumber to it and swapped the classic mint for dill. In their new cookbook, “Russ & Daughters: 100 Years of Appetizing,” they explain: “It’s a way for us to pay homage both to our cuisine and to our neighborhood and update a classic cocktail with a refreshing savory twist.”

Ingredients

1 serving, plus 1 ½ cups syrup

For the Simple Syrup

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup water

For the Cocktail

3 (¼-inch-thick) slices of cucumber
2 ounces Tanqueray gin
¾ ounce lime juice
¾ ounce Simple Syrup (recipe below)
2 small sprigs fresh dill

Preparation

Step 1

Make the simple syrup: Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir until dissolved. Let cool.

Step 2

Make the cocktail: Fill a coupe glass with ice and set aside.

Step 3

Muddle the cucumber in a cocktail shaker. Add the gin, lime juice, simple syrup, and sprigs of dill. Fill with ice and shake hard.

Step 4

Pour the ice from the coupe. Strain the cocktail through a fine-mesh sieve into the chilled coupe and garnish with a dill leaf.

The simple syrup keeps in the refrigerator up to 1 month.

Excerpted RUSS & DAUGHTERS: 100 Years of Appetizing by Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper. Copyright © 2025 by Niki Russ Federman and Josh Russ Tupper. Reprinted with permission from Flatiron Books. All rights reserved. Photography by Gentl & Hyers. Illustrations by Jason Polan, LLC.

The Home of Jewish Food

Ingredients

For the Simple Syrup

For the Cocktail

Preparation

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

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