An egg cream is a soda-fountain drink of cold milk, seltzer and chocolate (or vanilla) syrup, despite containing neither egg nor cream. A New York City deli-counter classic since the 1890s.
Where to eat it: 3 restaurants across 1 city.
Louis Auster, a Lower East Side candy-shop owner, claimed the egg cream's invention in the 1890s, using his own chocolate syrup at his Stanton Street shop. Brooklyn's Fox's u-bet syrup, manufactured in Brownsville since 1900, became the editorial standard: a thin, dark, glossy chocolate that emulsifies cleanly with cold whole milk. The name's origin is debated (Yiddish 'echt keem,' real cream; phonetic drift from 'egg cream' as a fancy term for soda-fountain richness; or a working-class joke). What is not debated: the cold-pour technique, milk first, then seltzer hard from the siphon, then syrup whisked in last, makes the foamy white head that signals correctness.
Tours, tastings and classes that match this page, bookable on GetYourGuide.
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Common allergens: Dairy
Tip from the editors. Use the thinnest chocolate syrup you can find; thick American 'chocolate sauce' will not emulsify and you get a bottom-heavy drink.
Russ & Daughters Cafe on Orchard Street is the sit-down sister of the Houston Street counter in New York City. Located in Lower East Side. At 127 Orchard St..
DrinkEgg cream
TipBrunch books two weeks out on weekends. Tuesday and Wednesday lunch is the easy walk-in for the same plates.
Lexington Candy Shop at 83rd has poured chocolate egg creams from a 1940s Hamilton Beach mixer on the Upper East Side of New York City since 1925.
DrinkChocolate egg cream
TipEgg cream is a $6 single-pour at the counter; the butter burger and the Lexington special sandwich are the lunch orders.
S&P Lunch on Fifth Avenue reopened the former Eisenberg's counter in Flatiron, New York City in 2022 under Court Street Grocers. Same egg cream.
DrinkChocolate egg cream
TipThe chocolate egg cream is the order. The tuna melt and the Flatiron Delight sandwich keep the room's Jewish-deli line.
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