Eat at Eddie's Sweet Shop

Finding good ice cream in New York City is pretty easy to accomplish. There's truly no shortage of spots. While most of these places are new spots that capitalize on the latest trending treats, a lot of them are old school classics that not everyone knows about. The latter describes Eddie's Sweet Shop - a vintage ice cream/candy shop in Queens. My roommate made a simple suggestion ("Hey, let's get ice cream later!") and that was enough to convince me to head over on a 40-degree night.

Eddie's Sweet Shop first opened in 1909 (!!), and has been owned by the same family since 1968. It's half candy store...

And half ice cream shop! The menu has stayed simple all this time - classic flavors, ice cream sodas, sundaes, and everything else you'd expect to find at an ice cream shop at the turn of the century. In fact, they even use some of the same equipment that they always have. In a world filled with desserts that don't taste good but are popular because they look cute on Instagram, it's always a welcome change to find a no frills place that is popular because it has good food, not because it's easy to photograph.

Eddie's has a few places to sit. You can grab a table, or take a seat at the bar on one of their old school stools. My roommate and I each grabbed a stool and a menu, and we went to work.

My roommate had two scoops of coffee ice cream, plus whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles. It has to be said that Eddie's makes their own whipped cream, and they don't short you on it. It's worth every last calorie. 

I heard a lot about Eddie's syrups, so I chose coffee ice cream, chocolate ice cream, coffee syrup, whipped cream, and a cherry. I was a little bummed that I couldn't taste the syrup (I blame this on the fact that I ordered coffee syrup and coffee ice cream), but the ice cream was fantastic. I'm a big ice cream snob (credentials: I worked at Coldstone for 3 years), and this more than passed my test. Next time we go, I want to try one of their shakes or sodas, and my mom has all but demanded that I try an egg cream on her behalf. Either way, we'll be back to Eddie's, and you should check it out as well.