Cheddar's own Shannon LaNier gets a taste of old-school dining with a visit to Lexington Candy Shop, an Upper East Side establishment known for egg creams, "butter burgers," and homemade soda. 

<div class="block">Cheddar's own Shannon LaNier gets a taste of old-school dining with a visit to Lexington Candy Shop, an Upper East Side establishment known for egg creams, "butter burgers," and homemade soda.&nbsp;</div><div class="block">More on Shannon's visit below:&nbsp;</div><div class="article-body-video" data-caption="" data-isLive="false" data-src="https://vod.chdrstatic.com/transcode/47a09be3-9fd8-4847-b2e4-6cea37021c67/47a09be3-9fd8-4847-b2e4-6cea37021c67.m3u8"></div>

Wake Up With Cheddar

Lexington Candy Shop Keeps Up Old-School Diner Traditions 

Welcome back everyone. Happy Wednesday. Well, 2023 may be filled with smartphones chat G BT A I generated art places that bring back those warm nostalgic feelings of yesteryear. They're still out there and city Shannon Lanier is giving us a peek into one of those places right here in Manhattan. Good morning, Shannon. Good morning. Yes, this is a classic, famous place right here in New York City because Lexington Candy Shop has been going viral. But look at this place. It is an old school, old fashioned lunch and it's called Lexington Candy Shop. This is like the last place on the planet. Ok. Maybe not the planet. Definitely the last place in New New York that is still making Coca Cola's by hand from scratch and John is here is the co owner. This is a pretty amazing place because most people are used to getting their cokes and a can, a bottle, something like this. Even. This is old fashioned for a lot of people. But you tell me that you make them from scratch here, right? We, we mix the, the syrup and the together and it up and that's the way it was done that in the 19 tens, 19 twenties. And, uh, we kept it going and still let it today. We're gonna do that in a few minutes. But I gotta talk to you about the viral video that has like 45 million views of you making this old fashioned Coca Cola. What was that experience like? And how did that change your company? Well, it's, uh, it's, again, it's just stunning. Uh, people came in and uh they did the uh went went viral and the line started the next day and the lines coming every day since August around the corner, around the corner. And uh because nobody sees this anymore and they wanna see it and it's uh it's out there and they uh and social media and it's uh and yeah, it's gotten, we've gotten a lot of business out of this for sure. Definitely, especially after COVID. This is a, this is fantastic. What also brings you back to that old school nostalgia from looking at this place and people sitting at the lunch counter, all the atmosphere here is just amazing. Talk to me about the history of this place. Well, it was started in 1925 with my grandfather, my father came over with him in 1930 I started in 1980 and uh we kept it going and it's that, that type of uh atmosphere people like to talk. Uh So even though it's in, in the middle of New York, it's a small town atmosphere and you see your regulars coming in this morning, you know them, you know what they want, the coffee that they have. That's it. They don't even have to tell me what they have. It's the same thing every day. We do it right away. Well, I'm glad. And it's really nice to see three generations of family members keeping the business alive, being able to sustain it. Very rare nowadays. Yeah, that's true. And so is, uh scratch Coca Cola. So let's make one from scratch. Ok. What do we do? So, first of all, we, we, we, we like a lot of ice. Ice and, and this is the actual Coca Cola in here. Syrup. Yep. Ok. Oh, look at that Coca Cola syrup. We know how much to do it. We do it all the time. And what is this ship? It, this is, uh stud all really is the syrup and Seltzer. Yeah. And just keep, you know, stir nice and like this, you can see a little bit the bubbles. Ok. And we look it there and that is so cool. And that's the right. Uh, and now you have an old fashioned Coca Cola that is from scratch. Ok. Well, I wanna taste and see. Ok, this actually tastes better than the ones you get in. Like the can. It's like a smoother, lighter. Feel it, it is actually good. But the challenge is gonna be, can I make one of these and turn it into a coca-cola float with some ice cream inside a little specialness to it. We're gonna find out when we come back in about a half an hour, we're gonna be back out here live at the Lex candy shop. And we're also gonna tell you why they call it a candy shop. If there's no candy here, that's coming up in about a half an hour. Back out here, live John. You did a great job.