Caviar Russe

Caviar Russe is a New York caviar house combining importing, retailing and restaurant service, with a documented connection to IP Trading LLC, a New York limited liability company. The company says it sources from a farm in Germany and the EU; “Russe” is part of the brand name, not evidence of where its roe was produced.

Caviar Russe at a glance

The strongest identification comes from matching records, rather than reading the brand name literally. The US trademark certificate names IP TRADING LLC doing business as Caviar Russe at the same Madison Avenue address that appears in the CITES register and on the house’s website.

The business behind Caviar Russe

A USPTO registration certificate dated 9 July 2024 identifies IP TRADING LLC as the proprietor of the illustrated Caviar Russe mark for caviar. It explicitly describes the entity as a New York limited liability company, establishing the state of organisation without relying on the restaurant’s name or address.

That is evidence of trademark ownership, not a complete ownership chart for every restaurant, importing activity or related company.

Caviar Russe gives 1997 as its founding year and describes an evolution from specialist wholesaler to importer, retailer and restaurant house. That date belongs to the company’s account of its trading history; it should not be mistaken for a verified incorporation date for IP Trading LLC.

For comparison with other kinds of business, the caviar houses and producers guide separates farming from importing, repacking and retailing. Caviar Russe’s documented identity is principally a trading and hospitality business; a farm ownership claim needs its own evidence.

New York, Miami and the limits of the site record

The current company restaurant page presents 538 Madison Avenue as its New York location, with a dining room and a bar and lounge. The same address is given for in-person retail purchases, so the public-facing business combines dining and retail rather than operating only as an online name.

Miami requires more care. Florida’s public food-service record identifies CAVIAR RUSSE MIAMI LLC at 1441 Brickell Avenue, Suite 110, under licence SEA2335047. The licensing record dated 19 October 2026 displayed “Delinquent,Active” and an expiry date of 1 October 2026.

The company’s current restaurant page presents its New York location at 538 Madison Avenue.

The CITES address establishes a registered trading and processing/repackaging connection at Madison Avenue, not the layout or function of every room.

Where its caviar comes from

The company’s current account says its imported caviar comes exclusively from one small-batch sturgeon farm in Germany and the EU, and that it does not source Chinese-produced caviar. These are company sourcing statements, not an independently audited account of all purchases or proof of the farm’s ownership.

Its wording is not wholly consistent: one page describes “our own” farm, while the about page describes sourcing from a farm.

Product pages provide the following species identifications. The origin wording is reproduced as a company declaration, with “Germany & EU” left unresolved rather than converted into a more precise country claim.

The table standardises the company’s scientific names and omits “American” before Acipenser transmontanus. They describe the fish, not the producing country: the Pacific White Sturgeon page, for example, gives European origin despite the North American geographical language in the product name.

Likewise, Almas is presented here as an Osetra selection identified as Acipenser gueldenstaedtii, not as a separate species. Classic, Select, Gold and Platinum are also the house’s selection names; they should not replace the species identification when comparing tins.

What Caviar Russe is known for

Its distinguishing format is the combination of a specialist caviar range, a Madison Avenue retail presence and restaurant service. The company emphasises Osetra in several selections, alongside other named sturgeons, rather than presenting one undifferentiated category of black roe.

Michelin independently lists the New York restaurant and describes a French-influenced seafood menu. That supports its restaurant identity, but neither restaurant recognition nor the company’s tasting descriptions independently establishes the origin, species or sensory quality of a particular tin.

The house also says its caviar is unpasteurised and prepared malossol, meaning lightly salted. Further dining context appears in caviar in New York and Miami, rather than in a provenance assessment.

Registration, labels and the evidence behind a tin

The public CITES register lists IP Trading LLC as an exporter and marks processing or repackaging as applicable. The register combines processing and repackaging in one field, so it does not establish which specific operation takes place at that address.

USFWS explains that a commercial wildlife import/export licence is separate from any other required wildlife permit. According to USFWS, commercial wildlife importers and exporters generally need a separate licence; CITES registration does not replace it.

For a particular tin, ask for the country-of-origin declaration and the traceability label, not just the lid artwork. The originating country and a later repacker’s identity answer different questions; an American business address does not itself mean American roe, and a CITES label is traceability evidence, not laboratory authentication.

The general distinction is explained in country of origin versus repacking; a website’s regional sourcing statement is not a substitute for the label on a particular tin.

For a particular tin, ask for the country-of-origin declaration and the traceability label, not just the lid artwork.

FDA’s nonbinding CPG 540.150 limits unqualified “caviar” to salted sturgeon roe; other roe needs equally prominent fish naming. It also addresses ingredients, permitted colour additives and prominent artificial-colour declarations. That food-naming guidance is separate from wildlife-trade registration, and neither establishes a product’s geographical origin. See US caviar rules for the broader US framework.

The Russian name and US sanctions

US restrictions concern actual origin, not whether a business uses a Russian-sounding name. Executive Order 14068 prohibits imports of Russian Federation-origin fish, seafood and preparations thereof, subject to applicable authorisations; the relevant distinction for this house is the origin of its roe, not the translation of “Russe”.

The December 2023 seafood determination extends specified restrictions through third-country transformation for salmon, cod, pollock and crab. It should not be paraphrased as an identical species-wide transformation rule for all seafood, nor should ordinary repacking be assumed to erase a prohibited Russian origin.

For readers in the EU or UK, this US profile is not confirmation that a particular tin may be imported or sold locally. Applicable food, wildlife-trade and sanctions requirements need separate checking, including differences between Great Britain and Northern Ireland; follow caviar, sanctions and country-of-origin rules before moving caviar across borders.