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Monday, January 26, 2015

Peachy Picks Lexington Candy Shop Est. 1925 Happy 90th Anniversary! Our Coverage Sponsored by Stribling and Associates







For over 30 years, Stribling and Associates has represented high-end residential real estate, specializing in the sale and rental of townhouses, condos, co-ops, and lofts throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, and around the globe. Stribling has more than 200 professional brokers who use their respected expertise to provide personalized service to buyers and sellers at all price levels. A separate division, Stribling Private Brokerage, discreetly markets properties over $5 million, and commands a significant market share in this rarified sector of residential real estate. Stribling is the exclusive New York City affiliate of Savills, a leading global real estate advisor with over 200 office in 48 countries. 







Whom You Know Congratulates their new President, Elizabeth Ann Stribling-Kivlan: http://www.whomyouknow.com/2012/12/breaking-manhattan-real-estate-news.html
Current owner John Philis and Peachy
 This Coke float and this post is dedicated to Peachy's late friend, Connie Hays.
Connie wrote the most comprehensive history of the Coca-Cola Company ever, and you should all buy and read her book:
This book was published in 2004, five years before Whom You Know began and talks about Lexington Candy Shop on pages 216-219.
Connie told Peachy she had to go to Lexington Candy Shop to try a Coke float, and so we did back then.  Lexington Candy Shop was officially featured in Terrific Takeout in 2012:
http://www.whomyouknow.com/2012/03/terrific-takeout-lexington-candy-shop.html#.VMaS9v7F_9s
and this year we are pleased to help them celebrate their 90th Anniversary!
Listen to John tell you about how he crafts his Coke Floats.  If you have not had one made by John, you have not lived.  This is the only place in the world where you can get a proper Coke float, and the electric mixers themselves are from 1940.   It is also the last original luncheonette in all of New York City.
 Lexington Candy Shop is an Upper East Side and New York institution, going back to when it began in 1925.  We understand that back then, you'd see as many soda fountains as you'd see Starbucks today.  Connie says: "In the beginning, Philis made sodas and ice-cream sundaes to order, and also sold chocolate-covered caramels, creams, and other kinds of candy from behind a big glass counter that took up nearly half the store.  He invested in wrought-iron tables and chairs so people could come in and sit down for a while.  This was the way the Lexington Candy Shop functioned until after the end of WW2." (p. 216)  Since then, it's been a luncheonette/restaurant.
It was started by John's grandfather Soterios, and here he is with his dad and grandfather.  It has always been a family-owned business and we are pleased to announce it has graduated to Peachy's Picks.
 Lexington Candy Shop today! John and his business partner Bob Karcher.
How many places do you know that have been open for 90 years and still owned by the same family?  Listen to John tell you about their history:
Lexington Candy Shop is famous far and wide for many positive reasons, and they've been featured in many commercials over the years.  Perhaps you've seen some of them...

And what did we eat?  Let us tell you.
As you know, we are advocates of green salads as part of a meal.  Peachy opted for the Smoked Salmon Platter.
Classic (and we love how everything here is precisely that-classic!) tomato and lettuce have a party with coleslaw and potato salad, and of course the star of the show here is the salmon.  Everything was fresh and the quality was great!  We would have sliced the salmon a bit thinner...but overall this was a winner.
Just as fun as eating is looking at the walls of Lexington Candy Shop:
 
There are tons of great entree options at Lexington Candy Shop.  The Carnivore-in-Chief thought a Mozzarella Bacon Burger would absolutely hit the spot, and it did.  
We bet this would taste just as amazing in the current blizzard!  The beef is superb and so is the mozzarella!  X marks the spot with premium bacon, and it is always fun to play with the ketchup...
That is what your face will look like when you taste it!  Heart Smart Fries were also in order:
They are definitely equal in taste to some that would be not so nice to your heart.  The Heart Smart fries are cooked in a convection oven, sprayed with vegetable oil.  
And the apple pie to close your visit?  A must!
Our esteemed panelist adds:
Celebrity watching is a New York pastime, and where better to do the watching than in a cozy luncheonette? Not any diner, but one established in 1925, on the same corner, with booths, swivel stools and a fountain. What's a fountain? Ask the folks at Lexington Candy Shop Luncheonette and they'll tell you all about it. As a matter of fact, ask any question and everyone who works here will be happy to answer you. Friendly, atmospheric, and if a celebrity isn't in the day you drop by for lunch, just look at the walls and see who frequents this happy little place. The menu features American food, so be ready for home made, classic taste, and straightforward items. Salads heaping on the plate, desserts piled high with whipped cream, and fountain sodas, made to your very own specifications.
A must: the coke float. Made with Bassett's ice cream and hand mixed, the coke in this concoction is NOT pumped out, but mixed from the syrup, just the way it used to be done all across America. Flavor unlike any coca-cola you've ever had, unless you're old enough the remember soda fountains back in the day. The menu is full of wishful thinking: ice cream sodas, milk shakes, egg creams....a must-return if there was ever such a category in the annals of restaurant critics everywhere. 

 We had the shrimp salad, served with coleslaw to rival my Mother's recipe, and potato salad. 

The shrimp were not teeny tiny pieces, either, but whole shrimp in a smooth mix of chives and mayonnaise that married well with the coleslaw and potato salad. At the recommendation of the owner, we had the Fresh Turkey Special. 

A mountain of white meat just-sliced turkey layered with cole slaw and french dressing ( your choice) on lightly toasted rye ( again, your choice) made the perfect sandwich. 

 You can't fit it all in one visit, but desserts are worth a solo drop-in. We tried the rice pudding, and it was so creamy it took us back to the days of Horn and Hardart's, if you remember that reference. 
 The Lexington Candy Shop Luncheonnette has been in more movies , commercials and advertisements than most movie stars, so if you recognize it and feel right at home when you walk in, that's one of the reasons. 

 Another reason is the throwback atmosphere. This is where your great-grandmother might have shared a "phosphate" with your great-grandfather. This is the counter where Lana Turner might have been discovered, if it were on the West Coast. This is America in every sense of memory, wholesomeness and cozy. It's the place you come after a matinee, or for a great meeting with someone comfortable. 

 Celebrity watching here is the norm, so don't be surprised if you see Bruce Springsteen or Paul McCartney. Neighborhoods all over New York wish they had a Lexington Candy Shop Luncheonette, but there's only one. Be sure to visit, and take every friend, tourist and out-of-state relative to experience the wonder that it is. Make it your own, and you'll be doing yourself a favor indeed.
Peachy Picks Lexington Candy Shop!

Lexington Candy Shop is Highly Recommended by Whom You Know.



https://www.facebook.com/pages/Lexington-Candy-Shop/186049504770854

P.S. A note from the Editor: If it's good enough for Paul McCartney, it is good enough for you!
Be there!  Make friends with John and the Coke Floats.

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