Restaurants and Food

Lexington Ave Candy Shop

Stepping across the threshold into The Lexington Candy Shop Luncheonette is truly like stepping onto a 1940s movie set and with good reason, since its last renovation was in 1948. Here you will find the oldest family owned luncheonette in New York City. John Philis, the grandson of the original owner, will most likely be there to greet you. Within these walls, tradition is a way of life from the original coffee urns that date back to 1948 to the original Hamilton Beach milk shake mixer from 1940.

The vintage interior has been lovingly preserved down to the smallest details and it’s no surprise to learn that the shop has been featured in numerous movies, commercials and TV shows including Fading Gigolo, Three Days of the Condor and The Nanny Diaries.  Their customers have included Sir Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Matt Dillon, Tom Brokaw and Al Roker–just to name a few.

Its primary customer base, however, consists of locals– many of whom are far younger than the milk shake mixer. The shop can be rented for private parties as well, which includes their full menu and inspired the New York Post to call it, “the latest in party chic.”

Schaller & Weber

Schaller & Weber, located at 1654 2nd Ave, takes old-school German butchery and sausage-making techniques to Yorkville for the Upper East Side’s very own traditional-German, family-run delicatessen. It all started back in 1918 when Ferdinand Schaller spent five years traveling all of Germany, learning the skill sets of German butchery and charcuterie masters, before taking that knowledge with him to New York City. According to the Schaller & Weber’s official site, at first Schaller held just a cook’s mate position on the first ship out of Germany bound for America, but by the time he arrived in New York City, he was a “master charcuterier so treasured by his shipmates for his cured meats and sausages that he was barely allowed off the ship.”

Since docking in 1927, Schaller met Tony Weber in 1937 and established their shop, and their fame, skills, and then legacy has only grown. According to the site, “Schaller & Weber is the first and only American sausage and meat producer to repeatedly win gold medals of honor at international exhibitions in Holland and Germany.” Today at the shop, anyone’s welcome to stop in and get a taste of the tried and true recipes still made with the exact standards that the shop first began with including, a traditional split pea soup, black forest ham, bockwurst, Choucroute Garni and Kolbase Potato Salad among a handful of others.

“Schaller & Weber. It’s what tradition tastes like.”