Since the 1890s The Egg Cream has been a critical drink within the New York City soda fountain scene. It is a chocolate, seltzer and milk drink that has to be handmade moments before it’s enjoyed (no eggs. no cream – usually).
For National Egg Cream Day on March 15th, before a sold out audience, the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum hosted soda jerks, the professionals who work at a soda fountain, sometimes known as Fizzicians, from the best of the classic and modern soda fountains in New York City’s five boroughs, and beyond. They competed in The 2024 National Egg Cream Invitational to settle the argument on how to make the best egg cream once and for all.
The grand prize winner for the 2024 National Egg Cream Invitational was won by the Franklin Fountain, a classic soda shop from Philadelphia. The Franklin Fountain strives to reimagine the soda fountains and ice cream parlors of yesterday with the progressive values they hold today, “both delighting and educating with products made from the highest quality goods, sprinkled with the forgotten flavors of the American past.” Shocking the local New York City crowd, they took home the coveted Golden Siphon (a gold plated seltzer siphon) and can claim (at least for a year) the best egg cream in the nation. Even more surprising, they won with a recipe from 1897 that actually used eggs.
There we also four runners-up:
Best Performance in the mixing of an egg cream: Brooklyn Farmacy & Soda Fountain. Located in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Farmacy (established 2010) is a contemporary soda fountain housed in a historic apothecary from the early 1900s. The Farmacy originated with a founding mission to bring the egg cream, the iconic New York drink, back to the top of the menu. Brooklyn Farmacy is family owned and operated by sibling duo Peter Freeman and Gia Giasullo. The siblings are always in a competition, each convinced that they make the best egg cream in Brooklyn.
Best Presentation of an egg cream: Egger’s Ice Cream Parlor. Located on Staten Island, Egger’s Ice cream has proudly served the community premium home made ice cream, fountain drinks, and candy since 1932.
Best Tasting egg cream: A tie! Lexington Candy Shop and Junior’s. The Lexington Candy Shop is 99 years young, an original luncheonette and soda fountain serving egg creams to Manhattan’s upper east side since 1925! They are honored to be a part of keeping the tradition of the egg cream going, and are happy that the younger generation has started embracing the egg cream! Meanwhile, Junior’s is a restaurant chain that originated in Downtown Brooklyn, founded by Harry Rosen in 1950. Known for iconic New York–style cheesecake, it also not only serves egg creams, it sells its own egg cream glasses.
Also competing were Juliana’s Pizza, a coal-fired, neighborhood pizza emporium with international acclaim, located directly under the Brooklyn Bridge, nestled between historic Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO, and the new S&P Lunch, 18 months old, carrying the tradition passed down from Eisenberg’s.
The contest took place at the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum, located within the Brooklyn Seltzer Boys factory, the oldest seltzer works in New York City. This new museum and working seltzer factory each celebrate the production of seltzer, the science of seltzer, its cultural importance, and the value of local, family-run businesses.
Each fountain had a story of its own, united by a classic effervescent drink: the Egg Cream.
The restaurants were judged by an illustrious panel: Creator of national egg cream day and the owner of a soda fountain and candy shop in Tallahassee, Florida, Gregory Cohen; the social media content creator documenting her visit to every museum in New York City, Jane August; the CEO of the American arm of the Tel Aviv-based museum ANU, Shulamith Bahat; and appearing on stage for the first time, Aidan Gomberg, 9 years old, whose great-great-grandfather started the family 70 years ago in the seltzer business.
Sponsored by the L&S Packing Company (who provided complimentary bottles of U-bet Chocolate Syrup to all in attendance), people came from all over the region to raise a glass to the rich history and vibrant future of this iconic NYC tradition.
If you were sad to miss it in person, have no fear: you can now watch the entire experience by clicking here to watch the archive of the livestream or here to view the archived page for the event.
MEDIA COVERAGE
- TimeOut (read here): Great overview and photos. “This egg cream was just crowned as the best at this fierce competition in Brooklyn. You won’t believe where it’s from.”
- Brooklyn Paper (read here): Detailed overview and great photos. “Egg Cream of the crop! Brooklyn Seltzer Museum hosts borough’s first-ever National Egg Cream competition”
- news12Brooklyn (watch here): Lovely piece that focuses on 9-year old Aidan Gomberg.
- New York Jewish Week (watch here): a short Instagram video overview.
- The Forward (read here): A nice piece focusing on the Invitational’s winners. “Where can you find the best egg cream in the world? Not New York”.
- A shout-out in the Gothamist’s Early Addition.
- ABC News. We were told about it but can’t find it. Can you?
