A cool concoction of milk, chocolate syrup and seltzer water, the traditional egg cream enjoyed a heyday in New York City throughout the milkshake craze, but largely fell out of fashion outside of Big Apple boroughs. Made with neither egg nor cream, the origins of the name remain a mystery: a “grade-A cream” eggcorn? Garbled German (“echt” meaning “good”)? A low-rent version of a high society treat actually made with eggs and cream? No one knows, not even the inventor’s family. But questions of birth aside, most food historians agree the drink originated with Eastern European Jewish immigrants living in New York City, perhaps giving credence to the claim from Solomon “Sol” Shenker of Sol’s NYC Deli: “You need a New York Jew to do it right.”

At Sol’s NYC Deli, you can still get the traditional egg cream, but then you’d be missing out on a Sol’s original—the Dr. Brown’s Egg Cream. Nothing against the original, Sol says, “But I’m all about going the extra mile to see how far I can push something.” The usual seltzer water, while adding carbonation and enabling the egg cream’s trademark frothy head, seemed like a missed opportunity for flavor, so Sol swaps it out with “the best cream soda in the whole world”—Dr. Brown’s—shipped down from New York. Dig: it tastes straight up like vanilla ice cream. Throw it together with some milk and Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup (shipped from Brooklyn, where it has been the chocolate syrup of choice for egg creams since the early 1900s) and you’ve got what Sol dubs a “taste-sation” straight from Gotham. “They’re going to bash you anyway,” says Sol. “But if it’s not authentic, they’re going to really bash you.” Feeling frisky? Ask for Bubbie’s Egg Cream and he’ll throw a shot of rum into the mix.

Sol’s NYC Deli, 1991 Main St., #100, Sarasota, 941-444-0413.