A Lunch Deal That Includes a Cheap Soda (Black Cherry Soda at Lynden's Soda Fountain)

"Cheap" meaning "inexpensive." Not meaning "of low quality."

Lynden's Soda Fountain in St. Paul has been advertising a lunch deal that includes 2 hot dogs, some chips, and a homemade soda. So yesterday, my son and I stopped in over the lunch hour.

Henry's first sip of their Black Cherry soda. He loved watching the "soda jerk"
make it at the soda fountain just on the other side of the counter.

SAVE SOME FOR ME, HENRY!

They have a BIG drink menu. This is just their "simple" sodas. They have about 10x more.
And a lot of the other items sound incredibly interesting! I need to KEEP coming back!

With our dogs and chips as Henry still works on the soda.

A big mouthful of  some ICE CREAM
(with Lynden's candy selection in the background).

He had to lick it clean.

An Instagramed photo: "Lunch date with my guy. @LyndensSoda has a great lunch special: 2 dogs,
some chips, and a homemade soda for $4.95. And they even threw in a free cup of ice cream for Henry!
(And we had to get a bag of candy and licorice for Mama for when she gets home from work.)"

Well, I suppose this calls for a quick review of Lynden's Black Cherry soda...


Brand: Lynden's Black Cherry Soda.

Origin: St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Lynden's Soda Fountain, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Unknown.

Review: Like many of the other sodas I've had here, it had a crisp, clean, and sharp flavor. My son wouldn't put it down. It wasn't smooth at all - it was all "sharp." (I'm assuming that's from adding the "fresh" soda water.) The black cherry flavoring was right on. It maybe could be a little smoother, but that's what you get from a soda fountain!

Score: 8 out of 10.


p.s. Here are links to my first 3 trips to Lynden's: checking it out for the first time and getting some Root Beer, going back to try more Root Beer and Sarsaparilla, and trying my first Lime Rickey. I need to make it a point to try to stop back about once a month with my son so we can share/try other great sounding soda-related items on the menu! It had been 6 months since we'd been there!

Lynden's Black Cherry Lime Rickey

My son and I stopped by Lynden's Soda Fountain late last week for a treat. We'd been there twice before: once for some root beer, and once when we were invited back by the owner because the first time someone put ice in my root beer. We walked in and saw this special:

SOLD!

I watched the "jerk" (the name for people who work at a soda fountain) squeeze an entire lime half into my glass. And she added syrup, flavoring, and soda water.

With Lynden's classic WORKING soda fountain in the background.

It didn't last too long...

I worked on my Rickey as my son enjoyed some ice cream (and he liked the swivel stools too).

Some goodies that I brought home for my wife.

My son actually liked the Lime Rickey as well. He took a few sips 2 different times. That surprised me a bit because it was so tart from the lime. But he liked it!


Brand: Lynden's Black Cherry Lime Rickey.

Origin: St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Lynden's Soda Fountain (corner of Hamline and Randolf in St. Paul).

Sweetener: Simple syrup (so I'm assuming sugar, but I'm not sure and forgot to ask).

Review: Like the Root Beer and Sarsaparilla that I had at Lynden's last winter, this Black Cherry Lime Rickey was very "sharp" and "crisp." I think that must be from it being made "fresh" with soda water straight out of the soda fountain. It was a great summer drink. The lime was nice and tart. In fact, it was a bit too tart for me: ideally, it'd have half as much lime and double the syrup (you all know how I like things pretty sugary). I might go back for a Cherry Lime Rickey sometime and ask it to be made that way.

Score: 6 out of 10.

A Second Trip to Lynden's Soda Fountain (for Root Beer and Sarsaparilla)

Last week, I posted about my first stop to Lynden's Soda Fountain right here in St. Paul.  The owner, John Lynden, saw my post and invited me back.  Apparently, my root beer was not supposed to be served with ice, and his "jerk" screwed up.  (A jerk is someone who operates a soda fountain).  Here's part of his note to me:

Steve,
Thanks for stopping by the fountain and writing the review. I am sorry you got a Root Beer with ice in it. I will send out a memo to all of our jerks to remind them that you never put ice in the Root Beer.

Our root beer actually is not mixed it comes straight from a keg through the cold plate in the fountain. I always recommend enjoying it in a glass rather than a plastic cup.

I would like to invite you back for another root beer on the house and I would also like you to try our Sarsaparilla. 

So my whole family stopped back yesterday.

My son's first 1919 Root Beer - he couldn't stop drinking it!

The Sarsaparilla and (partially drank) Root Beer.

The Root Beer WAS better in the glass and withOUT ice.  John told me that he doesn't like ice in his drinks, and I told him I'm the same way.  He especially doesn't like ice in his Root Beer.  John and I will get along juuuuust fine.

The Sarsaparilla was very "herby" and spicy.  I thought it had a lot of wintergreen, and my wife thought it tasted a bit of cinnamon.  John said it had a lot of Sarsaparilla root in it, and that was probably the flavor.  It was unlike any Sarsaparilla I've had from a bottle.  Lynden's Sarsaparilla is from a small company in Brooklyn - they provide the syrup and Lynden's adds the carbonated water.

This didn't take long...

Henry loved to spin the stools (once he was "sugared up" on lots of root beer)!

The signs above Lynden's Soda Fountain

Brand: Lynden's Sarsaparilla and Root Beer.

Origin: St. Paul, MN.  (The Sarsaparilla syrup is from Brooklyn, NY.)

Purchase Place: Lynden's Soda Fountain, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Unknown.

Review: I originally gave the Root Beer a 7.5 out of 10 in my post last week, but I'm bumping that up a point because it IS better in a mug and without ice.  The Sarsaparilla is very herby, spicy, and "sharp."   I need to drink more from a soda fountain, because everything seems to taste "crisper."  I sort of wish it were smoother, but I did like the sharpness.

Score: 
Root Beer: 8.5 out of 10.
Sarsaparilla: 7.5 out of 10.

p.s.  I STILL need to head back to Lynden's for a Lime Rickey.  And some more candy.  I'll be writing about them again within the next few months for sure.....  And a BIG THANKS to John Lynden for inviting me back!

Lynden's Soda Fountain's Root Beer

This past weekend, my wife and I thought we'd check out a local candy store / soda fountain that we'd just heard about.  So we headed to the corner of Hamline and Randolph here in St. Paul to go to Lynden's Soda Fountain:

I HAD to get a root beer from their soda fountain.  They make their sodas "fresh" with soda syrup (some of the syrup is even homemade) and carbonated water.  The root beer is from a 1919 syrup:

It was GOOD!  But it got a little weaker as I went (partially due to the ice, but I think mostly because I'd sucked up most of the syrup in the first half).

Lynden's is a pretty small place, but they have a lot of "classic" candy.  Here are a few photos I took:

You grab a tiny little paper bag (hand-stamped with "Lynden's Soda Fountain") and throw in whatever mix of candy you want.  My wife and I got 3 small bags with cola gummies, sour cola gummies, "lipstick" candy (my wife used to love that, but I'd never heard of it), and some chocolate covered expresso beans.

Our 3 little bags at home.

We liked that we could pick as little as we like, because we both just like a "little" treat now and then.  We spent just over a dollar on that candy.

When we go back to Lynden's, I need to try a "Lime Rickey" made with fresh lime juice.  Or maybe a Raspberry Lime Rickey - that was recommended by the high-school or college-aged girl working behind the counter.  They also have ice cream, egg creams, phosphates, coffee, etc, etc.

Brand: Lynden's root beer soda syrup and carbonated water.

Origin: St. Paul, MN.

Purchase Place: Lyndens's Soda Fountain, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Their Facebook page notes their homemade syrups are made with cane sugar, but I'm not sure about this root beer syrup.

Review: Sharp.  "Fresh."  It was "strongly" carbonated because it was just made from the soda fountain (which is an antique!).  It wasn't the BEST ever, but it was good.  And it's quite a great little store.  My wife and I WILL be back to try some of their other concoctions.

Score: 7.5 out of 10.


p.s.  I heard about this place for the first time because they were on the news for "illegally" selling candy cigarettes - something you apparently can't do in St. Paul.  I asked the young woman working behind the counter if people have been coming in and saying "I never knew you were here until I saw you on the news!"  She smiled and said something like "No one has come right out and said that, but I'm pretty sure we've had people in because of that!"  The video on their website shows a quick glimpse of the candy cigarettes, but now they're no longer in the store.  Dang.