Egg Creams

Factual Questions
21

This is also true in Rhode Island – except the familiar milk and ice cream concoction is called a “cabinet” instead of a “frappe.” When I was stationed in Newport there was a restaurant that I think was called the Colonial Cafe (this was 15 years ago, so I may be remembering the name wrong) that had the most sublime foot-long hotdogs. Grilled and served on spilt buns that were spread with butter and grilled like grilled cheese sandwiches before the dog was stuck in it. They made a sandwich called a “beefburger club” that was fabulous, too. {sigh} With an order of fries (made from fresh cut potatoes and a vanilla cabinet…

Jess

Full of 'satiable curtiosity

22

“Seek and you shall find…”

Thanks to the link above to the Egg Cream reviews page (Thanks Thirsty4; appropriate name!), I was able to answer all of my own questions from Jeff, the person who in 1991 first managed to bottle an Egg Cream after seven years of trying (carbonating dairy products is not easy).

A Russian Egg Cream that goes back a long time actually did have real eggs in it, according to Jeff. It also featured such oddball flavors as pomegranate and cantaloupe! Sounds mighty refreshing…

The Original New York Egg Cream was (legend has it) invented by one Louis Auster, a Bronx native who had a soda shop in Manhattan at 2nd Avenue and 6th Street (only two blocks away from my own Egg Cream Mecca, ironically enough) where it was invented. The original recipe (which is, depending on whom you ask, either lost in the mists of beverage antiquity or in the possession of his son who is still alive) called for syrup that included the dairy already in it!

Apparently I was somewhat correct that the Egg Cream got its name because the head was reminiscent of beaten egg whites.

Through the decades, the boroughs developed their own syrup choices. Brooklyn wanted Fox’s U-Bet, whereas the Bronx preferred Blossom, and Manhattan enjoyed Jay syrup in its Egg Creams. There were others as well… Jeff’s bottled version was loosely based on Fox’s.

Jeff surmises that the lack of popularity of Egg creams in other parts of the country stems from the fact that it could not easily be bottled. “You could ship a bagel,” said Jeff. “You couldn’t ship an egg cream.”

He also points out that Egg Creams are harder to come by even in New York as there are fewer soda shops that will make a drink for you these days, and “Generation X seems to have forgotten about Egg Creams,” he notes somewhat wistfully. It has gotten notoriety through mentions in West Side Story and Seinfeld.

I lived in NYC when he had his press blitz about being the first to bottle the Egg Cream. I tried one at the time and it was pretty good. Not as good as the real soda fountain variety, but certainly plenty good enough!

He also said that he would sell and ship his Egg Creams by the case, an offer I am writing the check for right now!

For $37 (which includes shipping in the continental US) you can get a case of the stuff. Jeff said he’d even mix and match flavors by 6-packs. Though I suggest the Chocolate, he also offers Diet Chocolate and Vanilla.

Make checks payable to:

B.I.G. Company
1592 North Jerusalem Road
Merrick, NY 11566
Attn: Natalie

Phone 516-505-5927 for further information.

Wow! I went from just one of the Teeming Millions to someone who can answer questions! Now I just have to move beyond being able to answer only my own questions…

Brian O’Neill
CMC International Records
www.cmcinternational.com

ICQ 35294890
AIM Scrabble1
Yahoo Messenger Brian_ONeill

23

“New York style” Pizza??? you should be beaten. Everyone on Gods green earth knows that there is no pizza that should even carry the name as such outside of Chicago. If you have not eaten Giordano’s you’ve never had a pizza, and if you wish to experience it for yourself the link has a Frozen delivery service, although i suspect that its not quite the same as coming piping hot out of a brick wood burning oven.

http://www.giordanos.com/pizz50.jpg

Doesn’t this make your mouth water!!!

And mangeorge, you should be ashamed about the Hot Dog statement. everyone know that the Classic Vienna Beef hot dog is a Chicago Classic, the link is to the one and only recipe for the dog.

http://www.viennabeef.com/images/dogpack.gif

Doesn’t get much better than this.

Don’t get me started on the Eli’s Cheesecake.

24

Chicago pizza is great if you’re into eating a lot of bread…

Lucky, when you respond to this (and I know you will) put it in the Flame section… :slight_smile:

Brian O’Neill
CMC International Records
www.cmcinternational.com

ICQ 35294890
AIM Scrabble1
Yahoo Messenger Brian_ONeill

25

In the Boston area, “milkshake” means, basically, “milk which has been shaken, generally with some kind of flavoring”. If you want ice cream also, you usually have to explicitly specify that in some way.

The milk/icecream/syrup drink in Boston is pronounced “frap” (rhymes with “trap”). In the midwest I had had frappes (pronounced “frappays”), but they were something different, more along the lines of daquiris without the alcohol.

I’ve never had an egg cream, but they sound vaguely like what I know of as an Italian soda (syrup, seltzer, and whipped cream).

26

And mangeorge, you should be ashamed about the Hot Dog statement. everyone know that the Classic Vienna Beef hot dog is a Chicago Classic, the link is to the one and only recipe for the dog.
—Omniscient

No, Omniscent, on this one you’re wrong.
You New Yorkers help me out here. It’s been a lot of years, But I still remember a chili dog that topped any i’d ever eaten.
They used a true hot dog (with casing) and smothered it with a peppery chili sauce made of ground beef and spices. No tomato sauce IIRC, and it was kinda loose and juicy. Damn, I’m hungry.
So good, it would make even Omniscent cry.
Peace,
mangeorge

27

In Norfolk, VA there is an old (been around since the '40s, I believe) hot dog stand named “Tonys.” The dogs have the natural casings that snap when you bit 'em. Onions, mustard and WONDERFUL chili. No ketchup, though – Tony didn’t believe in ketchup on hot dogs… We’re going back to Virginia next year, and I’m going to go directly to Tonys for lunch!

Jess

Full of 'satiable curtiosity

28

Hey! Nobaody’s gonna answer my “phosphate” question? Don’t make me start a new thread, folks…

re: Pizza. Chicago and New York pizzas are so different that I believe that should be called by separate names…NY-style is closer to the original Naples pizza, so it gets to keep the name. As for Chicago-style, it’s thick, but it ain’t all bread.

re: hot dogs. I’d have to agree that all of hot dog evolution is straining toward the chili dog, the highest level of frankfurterdom. Fully-loaded Chicago franks are damn good, though.

29

Ike, yep, that pretty much covers a phosphate–soda water and syrup. I get chocolate phosphates a lot when I go to Tommy’s Restaurant in Coventry (best vegetarian menu anywhere, btw).

30

OK, the wise-ass answer to the question “If there’s no egg or cream in it, why is it called an egg cream?”

“What are they supposed to call it? No-egg-no-cream?”

I’ve heard this answer from both Neil Sedaka, an orginal New York bocher, and Rob Reiner, son of an original New York bocher. I think I recall hearing Mel Brooks, The Original NY Bocher, say it as well. Works for me.

As for hot dogs, I’ve never eaten a Chicago dog, but for my money, Nathan’s original, from Coney Island, is the tops. Remember, it’s not the stuff you pile on the dog that makes it, it’s the base on which you pile. The juicy snap of a well-grilled Nathan’s Famous and the scrumptious seasonings therein allow it to stand alone or act as a worthy foundation to chili, cheese, kraut, onions, whatever your fancy.

As for pizza, tastes vary according to crust thickness, sweetness of sauce, etc. I’m willing to call it a draw between NYC and Chicago, since much of it is subjective. The photo of the pizza did look scrumptious, though. A little deep-dish for my tastes, as I prefer a thinner, crispier crust.

Nosh on!

The Dave-Guy
“since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx