Where to Eat on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village - Eater NY
"Scamper down the street past ramen parlors, a dollar pizza establishment, and one exceptional Chinese restaurant (Szechuan Mountain House) to reach 24-hour Gem Spa, which was referred to by punks in the ’80s — when Iggy Pop, Madonna, and Allen Ginsberg roamed the neighborhood — as “Germ Spa.” With a yellow marquee and a famous fortune telling machine out front — try it! — the premises has been a newsstand since the 1920s, and named Gem Spa since 1957, when Second Avenue was known as the Yiddish Broadway. The fabled beverage called the egg cream, which paradoxically contains no egg and no cream, is a specialty here ($4.95). Get the chocolate." - Robert Sietsema
