EBINGER REMNANT, Sunset Park

by Kevin Walsh

ForgottenFan Richard Schilling passes along this reveal at 5th Avenue and 60th Street, a prime spot for after-churchers looking for some dessert after Mass at the Our Lady of Perpetual Help Basilica, a massive church on a hill visible from ferries in Upper New York Bay.

Ebinger’s Bakery is spoken of in hushed, reverential tones by Brooklynites of a certain age, and since I am of a certain age, I remember its green boxes with diagonal black lines, its V-shaped counter on its 86th Street, Bay Bridge branch, and its small cakes coated on all sides by rich icing…as well as its butter cookies, drizzled with frosting that was every conceivable color in the rainbow. Of course, I always ate the ones with the most icing first. These days, you see most nostalgic references about its blackout cake or babkas, which I apparently never sampled. Ebinger’s, amazingly, went bankrupt in 1972, but was revived in a much inferior product in the mid-1980s. Its role has been supplanted…almost…in the delis and groceries by Entenmann’s.

3/8/15

7 comments

butchieb March 8, 2015 - 7:59 pm

Kevin, how can you forget the amazing ( to a six year old )box tying machine and bread slicer. If you bought multiple items they would tie them together and attach a wire and cardboard carry handle

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Larry March 8, 2015 - 9:57 pm

The Ebinger plant was within a few blocks of my Junior and Senior High school….The wonderful aromas drifting out of the bakery were wonderful…They were also one of the major businesses that used Electric powered trucks years ago…..

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Bill Tweeddale March 10, 2015 - 9:56 am

The feature on Ebinger’s made me think of another bakery, Dugan’s, who used to make home deliveries of baked goods. I doubt that they’re still around.

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chris March 15, 2015 - 3:51 pm

I think there was a Ebinger’s on Montague st. in the Heights but its easy to get it mixed up with
Entenman’s.
Maybe some long-time Heights residents can tell me which one it was,but I wont hold my breath

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georgedunne March 15, 2015 - 11:41 pm

Hanging from the ceiling was an oval shaped string dispenser. The clerk would have to construct the cake box and tie it this red and white string.

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Sweet May 4, 2018 - 6:16 pm

When I was a teen I packed cakes for Ebingers out of a trailer attached to a building on 63rd and fort Hamilton

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IRENE NASSOUR November 11, 2019 - 8:49 am

For years my favorite Ebinger’s cake was a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and coconut on it. I asked for that cake for my birthday for about 10 years. Had I known they would go out of business I would have tried to get the recipe for it. If anyone knows the name of the cake or has the recipe please let me know.

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