Posted on 02/27/2019 11:09:31 AM PST by Coleus
Move over egg creams and doughnuts. Sprouts are moving in.
Schnackenberg’s, an old-fashioned luncheonette that for 88 years served classic concoctions of seltzer with chocolate syrup, tuna melts and other staples of decades past, has closed, a victim of what its owner said were changing times and healthier tastes.
An eatery with a different menu and a different vibe will take Schnackenberg’s place on Washington Street, between 11th and 12th streets, under the name “Alfalfa.”
“Doughnuts and milkshakes are not the steady diet of modern Hobokenites,” said Joyce Flinn, who along with her husband, Eugene, bought Schnackenberg’s from the daughter of its original owners just after Hurricane Sandy.
“We had the most awesome doughnuts in town, and people would say, ‘Oh, I love those doughnuts!’ But if you eat one doughnut a month, that’s not going to pay my rent,” Flinn said in an emotional phone interview. “It wasn’t an easy decision to make, and we didn’t make it lightly. It was really a long-considered and painful choice.”
Schackenberg’s was opened in 1931 by the parents of Dorothy Novak (née Schnackenberg), who continued to live upstairs from the restaurant in the family-owned building until she passed away not long ago. During the height of the Great Depression, Hoboken was a largely working class shipping port that bore little resemblance to the popular night spot or high-rent New York City bedroom community it would eventually become. The food was basic luncheonette fare: burgers, shakes, tuna melts, store-made doughnuts, and a nod to Schnackenberg’s German heritage called the eggtzel, a kind of pretzel breakfast sandwich.
The luncheonette underwent a makeover after the Flinns took control. But, Joyce Flinn said a shrinking clientele and a protracted construction project on Washington Street that discouraged walk-in traffic made it clear
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
I like to describe an Egg Cream as an Ice Cream Soda without the Ice Cream.
Chocolate Syrup (U-Bet or whatever you like), Milk (about an inch) and Seltzer Water. You have to stir it up as you pour in the Seltzer Water so you can get a good foamy head.
An Egg Cream is the most refreshing drink on a hot day. Beats any Soft Drink by a mile. Don’t drink it with a straw. It’s best to gulp it right down. YUMMY!
Chocolate syrup, milk/half and half/cream and seltzer. No egg. So where's the egg in an egg cream? Was there ever an egg in there?
You have to mix it in proportions to your taste. Start with mostly Yoo Hoo, then pour some cream soda in. Cream soda varies greatly in taste depending on brand. My easy favorite was Key Food’s store brand cream soda.
Now those are “Teens”
“It’s little more than chocolate or vanilla syrup and seltzer water. Like an ice cream soda w/o the ice cream.
When I was growing up on “Lawn Island” in the 50s/60s, I was a soda jerk for a couple of years and made them every day.”
Yeah. That was fascinating to me. No egg, no cream m
The recipe I found said the syrup had to be u-bet chocolate syrup, which as available in the supermarket kosher section.
What did you like better, milk shake or egg cream?
We have one of those old sea foam green machines as well. Was my great grandmothers. We also have her off white one as well. Like you said...still works like a charm!
We used to love cherry, chocolate, lemon etc phosphates in the 50’s. Now they are going with tofu, alfalfa sprouts and other rabbit food. F ‘em.
“An egg cream is a cold beverage consisting of milk, carbonated water, and flavored syrup (typically chocolate or vanilla). Despite the name, the drink contains neither eggs nor cream.
The egg cream is almost exclusively a fountain drink. Although there have been several attempts to bottle it, none has been wholly successful, as its fresh taste and characteristic head require mixing of the ingredients just before drinking.”
Yeah, that not what I ever would have thought it was by the name.
“have to mix it in proportions to your taste. Start with mostly Yoo Hoo, then pour some cream soda in. Cream soda varies greatly in taste depending on brand. My easy favorite was Key Food’s store brand cream soda”
We shall see, thanks.
On a related note, did you ever have butter beer?
There is milk in an egg cream. Without the milk, it’s called a soda.
“Chocolate syrup, milk/half and half/cream and seltzer. No egg. So where’s the egg in an egg cream? Was there ever an egg in there?”
Thanks. So there is some milk/cream in it.
I heard the name came because egg cream sounded like the Yiddish name for the drink.
There's milk in the Yoo Hoo.
Never even heard of it.
“There is milk in an egg cream. Without the milk, it’s called a soda.”
Thanks.
I really can’t imagine chocolate without milk or cream.
And, oddly perhaps, the opposite with fruit.
Strawberry or cherry soda, yes. But mixed with milk, doesn’t seem right.
Yet I'll bet Hobokenites were a lot skinnier 80 years ago.
Well, no wonder they're tanking! Maybe if you'd ordered a large one last week, that would have saved them!
(What the heck is an egg cream?)
Dibs on the Frogger machine.
UBet Chocolate Syrup, add milk, spritz with seltzer and enjoy:-)
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