The history of a classic chocolate egg cream soda is somewhat obscure, as is its name, but it has long been associated with Brooklyn, New York, and was certainly a part of my New York City childhood.
In the time of diners, luncheonettes and sandwich shops, every one of them sold egg creams, a mixture of chocolate syrup, milk, and seltzer — and containing no eggs or cream. Sweet without being cloying, refreshing and thirst-quenching, an egg cream is a soda for adults as well as kids.
And a home-made egg cream tastes just like the ones they used to make in long-ago soda fountains. The chocolate syrup that many recipes recommend is Fox’s U-Bet Chocolate Syrup, which I had difficulty finding at first because my local supermarket has it shelved with kosher products (it is, indeed, kosher). The only other ingredients are milk and seltzer. A tall chilled glass and a thick striped straw (preferably paper) will enhance your egg cream experience.
It takes a few ingredients and a few moments to stir up an egg cream. All that’s left is to pretend that you’re in Brooklyn, New York in 1967 and that your egg cream cost ten cents. 
