Crown Candy Kitchen

Review by: Michael Stern

It is possible to have lunch at the Crown Candy Kitchen: all kinds of sandwiches, burgers, and zesty chili dogs. But the #1 reason to seek out this place is its soda fountain.

Punch up a tune on the jukebox in your booth, order a mile-high “Lover’s Delight” or a strawberry-pineapple-marshmallow-sauced French sundae studded with toasted cashews and chocolate sprinkles. Everything is served in its proper soda fountain serving glass, accompanied by long-handled spoons.

The turtle sundae is exemplary. Silken vanilla ice cream is shrouded with hot fudge, the fudge covered with caramel sauce, and the caramel sauce mounded with buttered and toasted pecans.

Specialty of the house is a malted milk shake. It is made the old-fashioned way, using malt powder, ice cold milk, ice cream (not too rich, not too sweet), and a choice of soda fountain syrups, including cherry, pineapple, marshmallow, strawberry, and, of course, vanilla and chocolate. Malts arrive in tall silver beakers, filled nearly to the top. Drink five in thirty minutes (that’s approximately one gallon) and you get them free!

The most unusual of the malted flavors is banana, for which a fresh banana is pulverized along with the ice cream and milk, dusted with nutmeg. If you want to gild this lily, ask for chocolate syrup, too. The combination of banana, chocolate, vanilla ice cream, and malt powder is like a supercharged banana split in a glass.

What To Eat

Chocolate Malt

DISH
Hot Fudge Sundae

DISH
Egg Salad Sandwich

DISH
Bacon, Lettuce & Tomato

DISH

Crown Candy Kitchen Recipes

Discuss

What do you think of Crown Candy Kitchen?

4 Responses to “Crown Candy Kitchen”

chris depauli

June 29th, 2023

Haven’t been to CC in about 4 years. Just had lunch today, BLT and chocolate/banana shake. Shake was delish! The BLT was extremely hard to eat on the thin white bread, needed a fork and knife and several napkins. It would be outstanding if a denser bread was used to make it possible to hold the sandwich to eat it.

Service was good as always!

Reply

    Kaarina

    June 30th, 2023

    Thank you for sharing your experience!

    Reply

    david hill

    October 22nd, 2023

    I completely agree with your comments. Great sandwich but needs a more sustaining bread. Ironically, we had the exact same meal. Chocolate banana shake awesome.

    Reply

Jeremy Raphael

February 7th, 2008

Crown Candy Kitchen is a diamond in the middle of the rough that is North Downtown. This classic is a holdover from the days of the soda fountain, with about a dozen wooden booths and a counter lined with fresh candy and chocolate in every shape and size you can imagine. Expect to wait a little while on weekends, but it’s well worth it.

Shakes are thick and rich, served with the big metal mixing glass on the side so you can pour your own refills. I always leave with a mini-stomachache of joy. You’ll be a real champion if you can finish any of the shakes or sundaes on the menu. Many also say that Crown Candy has the best BLT in St. Louis, but most folks stick to dessert.

Reply

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