Egg Creams are having a moment
And so am I 💅
Big City, little friend just passed 100 subscribers & your little friend is doing a happy dance!
Lots of you made your way over here via - I’m a huge fan of Abigail’s writing and I’m thrilled that you moseyed on over to my corner of Substack! I’m so grateful that you take the time to read my silly little newsletter every week because writing it truly brings me so much joy (and hearing that you enjoy what I’m writing literally sends me over the edge in the best way). I love exploring NYC & learning why things are the way they are, how they’ve changed over the years, and what’s going on in our big city right now.
1. Noshing 😋
I want to tell you about a magical NYC moment that I experienced last winter. It was an unseasonably warm day in early November & I had just been laid off from a job the week before. I had only been at that job for 2 months, so I had nothing to mourn & instead skipped straight to going fucking buckwild & doing all of the things now that my days were completely free. I was incredibly fortunate to have a good safety fund saved up & I’d start looking for jobs after the holidays - after all, what better time to be let loose in NYC than during the holiday season? I was Kevin in Home Alone 2 - riding the escalators in Macy’s, going to the top of the Empire State Building, drinking every hot chocolate.
One day I woke up early and got myself a little breakfast at S&P Lunch in Flatiron. S&P is a classic NYC luncheonette - when you walk in you’re practically already sitting at their long narrow counter, though there are some larger tables in the back. The space was formerly Eisenberg’s for years & the new owners have kept much of the same vibe & menu.
When I went on this warm November day, I ordered a plate of latkes & a vanilla egg cream. Both arrived in front of me in what felt like seconds. The latkes were crispy & came with sour cream and apple sauce. The egg cream was beautifully frothy never lost its fizz. I complimented the girl behind the counter & she agreed that this was probably the best egg cream she’s ever made.
Just when I’d almost finished my plate, the counter staff declared it Milkshake Monday™ & began digging through their fridges to find odds & ends to create a custom milkshake. It was the most delightful pandemonium to witness. I was very vocal in supporting this initiative & was gifted a tiny cup of the milkshake concoction along with the staff. It ended up being a tasty mix of chocolate, vanilla, & strawberry ice cream, cherries, & malt powder.
And so that egg cream (and milkshake and latkes) was the start of my period of unemployment. Can you blame me for romanticizing that time? I haven’t had many egg creams since, but I want to make it my mission this summer to try more. If you have a favorite please let me know!
2. Watching 👀
One of the best parts about catsitting is getting to use streaming services that I don’t have at home. I’d been wanting to watch Shrinking on Apple TV because I love Jason Segel, I love Harrison Ford, & the idea of them together sounded wonderful - it was!
Jason Segel is almost always the funny guy, but Harrison Ford very seldom gets to be funny. You see it a bit in Indiana Jones, but he’s mostly done dramas & also has a pretty grumpy reputation. In Shrinking he’s definitely grumpy, but also has an incredibly deadpan sense of humor. He plays a therapist with Parkinson’s who is Jason Segel’s mentor & a coworker of their other therapist friend, Gaby, played by Jessica Williams. I don’t know if I want to be Gaby’s best friend or actually just be Gaby - I wrote in my notes app “Gaby is everythanggggggg”.
The show is an honest & humorous exploration of grief: Segel’s Jimmy is navigating grief after his wife passing which has caused a strained relationship with his daughter, Ford’s Dr. Paul is grieving his estranged relationship with his daughter & fears telling her about his diagnosis, & Gaby is dealing with an unexpected grief after choosing to end her marriage. I love that this show discusses how grief isn’t linear & it can cause us to act out in different & unexpected ways. I lost both of my grandparents & my cat in the last couple years & sometimes the strangest things will set me off. Grief never ends - it just morphs and lives alongside us as we continue to exist.
In a review in the Wall St Journal, John Anderson wrote “The overall sense is a little like laughing at a funeral; the human impulses are familiar, a little perverse & somehow comforting.” I think that describes the show perfectly. Life isn’t certain or neat; it’s weird & messy & sometimes you throw up while playing the piano at a friend’s surprise engagement party. We’ll all deal with grief at some point in our lives & this show reminds us that it’s ok (& sometimes necessary) to remember to laugh in between the waves of sad.
3. Exploring 🗺️
After enjoying my previously mentioned magical meal at S&P, I made my way towards the Empire State Building, determined to have a NYC Day™. If you plan on visiting a bunch of NYC attractions, you can use CityPass to get discounted tickets by purchasing in bulk, but I just paid the $44 to go up to the 86th floor. I read some reviews that said the Top Deck wasn’t really worth it, so I didn’t go all the way up. Most of the experience is waiting on lines, shuffling into a room, waiting on another line, shuffling into a room, repeat til you reach the observation deck. But each hallway has lots of info plaques & memorabilia, so you’re never just standing around bored.
The first thing you see once you enter the building is a little replica of the ESB! It’s cool to see all of the architectural features up close. I absolutely love Art Deco buildings and the ESB is a great example of this style (so is Batman The Animated Series). As you wind your way through the hallways you’ll see historical articles & magazine covers depicting the building. There’s even a mini museum that takes you through the history of the construction of the building that’s pretty cool. Of course the ESB’s most notable visitor was King Kong, so there’s a whole room dedicated to him.
When you get to the final elevator before the 86th floor deck, you have the option to take stairs up a few flights - do it. The walls in these stairwells are decorated with really cute comics. As I was walking up an employee popped their head into the stairwell & let us know that the current record for running up all the stairs to the top of the building is a very impressive 9m33s. I had no idea why anyone would do this, but apparently the ESB Run Up is a yearly thing!
I never really understood the allure of observation decks until I stepped out onto this one. If you’re not from a city, I imagine just seeing the sprawling landscape of the building is awesome enough. But for nerdy little me, I scanned the skyline & picked out all of the landmarks I could recognize. There was Bryant Park, with the skating rink open for winter. I could see Macy’s and all of their Christmas decorations. The big dick towers of Billionaire’s Row also loomed in the distance near Central Park.
published a great piece about psychogeography & how places shape us - staring out at the cityscape I couldn’t help but think of how little me has been shaped by everything I was looking at.Once I had my fill of the view, I exited the building & passed by the same mural that made Buddy the Elf stare in awe when he first arrived at the building.
4. Learning 🧠
If you thought I was done talking about egg creams, you were wrong. Untapped Cities published an article about the history of the egg cream recently & it was such a delightful read. If you were thinking “wtf is an egg cream” when reading the earlier section, you’re probably not alone. They’ve really fallen out of favor as a popular drink & they’re also neither egg nor cream. What they are is a mix of seltzer, milk, & syrup (traditionally Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup). I know that sounds like a weird combo so bear with me (though I feel like milk+soda drinks in general are seeing a resurgence).
Egg creams probably came to NY’s Lower East Side by Eastern European Jews in the late 1800s & Louis Aster is generally credited as their originator. He wanted to create a fun little drink that was also super cheap because money was tight. So he combined some low cost ingredients (milk + Jewish favorite: seltzer), created a chocolate syrup concoction for flavor, & mixed it all together to create a delightfully fizzy concoction, not unlike the fizzy little beverages we treat ourselves with today. Egg Creams were soon available in soda fountains all across NYC, though they never really expanded outside of the city & remain a pretty regional treat.
There are a bunch of old-fashioned soda fountains around NY where you can get an egg cream aside from S&P - Brooklyn Farmacy, Ray’s Candy Store, Egger’s Ice Cream, Gem Spa (RIP). I really think that the egg cream is going to rise up & we’ll see some inventive takes on it soon - new flavors, alternative milks. I’m all for innovation, but I do hope that we don’t lost sight of the humble history of this treat.
5. What’s Good 😎
I have to start out by mentioning that this Sunday July 16 is National Ice Cream Day. There are a ton of events happening around the city, they will probably be incredibly crowded, but there is little I would not do for free ice cream. In addition to these events, remember to support your local ice cream shops - I wrote about a bunch a few newsletters back!
I’ve been meaning to attend one of the Produce Parties that’s held at the Farm to People space in Brooklyn! They’re celebrating 2 years of parties on July 28 and the theme is tomatoes.
Yu & Me Books, has seen a ton of support since their building suffered a fire. They’re grateful to have raised enough money to support their employees & rebuild their space & are now asking folks to donate to help their neighbors at 80 Madison.
I really want to try this new noodle cafe that opened in Long Island City - Instant Noodle Factory. They have a huge assortment of instant noodles you can choose from & toppings like spam, seaweed, & eggs. Yes, you’re paying a big markup for instant noodles, but it looks like a fun experience!
The NY Times published a hilarious article about people being driven mad by pickleball. Now, I fuckin hate pickleball. I remember when we were introduced to it in gym class years ago, I thought it was the dumbest fuckin thing. But the people in this article are saying the pickleball noises are “like having a pistol range in your backyard.” The photos in the article are dramatic & I just can’t deal. Pickleball is stupid, but so is this article.
Finally, this little tiktok brought my brain some joy this week & I hope it does the same for you.
Please join me in making this the summer of the egg cream and tell me about all of the egg creams you try!
I've wanted to watch Shrinking and this review is a compelling reason to! Also: what gym class did you attend that I didn't because I have NO recollection of pickleball (before my parents discovered it two years ago (and played twice)).
Huh... I wonder if self-serve ramen is taking off in North America now. I *just* saw a video about a Korean grocery store in Toronto that opened up a self-serve ramyun counter - exactly what you've described Instant Noodle Factory to be like. Never tried it before, but excited for your review!!