The Bing
 

Rod Serling was from Binghamton. And hell, then it was considered a nice place to live. Wierd energy here. In a crowd of any size you can always tell someone from this town. There is a flavor of mean spirited humor here that you can't find anywhere else. We are also the carosel capitol of the world and home of the that food of the god's spedies.

What in the name of those gods are "spedies"?

It doesn't sound like something that should be edible ...

gee wolf, its amazing what you can find with google. ;)

~james

actually, if hes referring to these, they do look quite tasty.

~james

I checked google. It sent me to that one recipe, which may or may not be for what he's referring to, an elementary school page where someone misspelled "species", and a lot of guest book entries that MENTION spedies, without elaboration on what they actually are.

That's why I wuz askin'.

im just hassling you because of the bug thread. :) i saw the species misspellings and thought that would add to the joke. sf, what exactly are spedies?

~james

You can buy Lupos spiedie sauce on-line here. Stay away from Salamida brand because he is known to be what we in the consumin' business call an ASSHOLE. He tried to copyright the name spiedie when it was already in common use here 'bouts for all these marinated meat products, made by various Italian families in the area. My favorite is the Buffalo style spiedie from Spiedie and Rib Pit next to BU. Speidies, lettuce, tomato, blue cheese dressing, and hot sauce on a hoagie roll. Lamb is best but chicken, pork, and venison are also commonly used.

Binghamton has the Senator's AHL hockey franchise at the Veterans Arena and the New York Mets AA baseball team at a beautiful ballpark named for the local electric power monopoly. Its taken some economic hits but I still like the place.

so spiedie (griffs spelling helped :) ) is more about the marinade than the actual food product itself? i found quite a few kebab-type dishes, and a couple sandwich dishes, but the only common thread seemed to be the need for spiedie marinade.

~james

Yah, Bing is nice. Too bad it's in NY.

Yep, that's its biggest problem. When dummycrats run NYS they treat business with contempt driving the work down South. When the Repugnants run the state they take care of favored read connected businesses giving them sweet deals while taxing the stink outa everyone else. IBM which grew up in Endicott has been lured down toward Poughkeepsie with all kinds of taxpayer financed treats under the "pro-business" Repugs. NY politics are absolutely evil.

*drool*

I will be considering the possibility of actually venturing forth into the frightening, lawful, unarmed wilds of NYS.

Hmm. Mebbe I'll just whip up a batch of the marinade instead.

This looks GOOD.

Does anyone know where that fabled King of Prussia location is? And if it's still in business?

my sentiments exactly. im gonna try it out this weekend. the recipes i saw varied wildly in their ingredients. maybe someone who knows can give us an authoritative recipe.

~james

I went to high school with his daughter. And ya know? She was a bitch. Lupo's are my favorites. The real secret to the perfect spiedie is the bread. Don't be givin me no spiedie's on no sub roll. Grammar aside, there are only two bakeries (both local) that make the bread the right consistency. They are Felix Roma and Dirienzo's. The bread has to be made a little tougher to hold together as you yank the spiedies off the skewer cause they tend to cook on there pretty stubbornly. As to the charms in the city itself I don't find much anymore except two and they are only a block away from each other. One is the cullpola in Rec Park, it was featured in a Twilight Zone episode as the center of the universe. The other is on Laurel Ave but only in the summer times. On the west side of the street is a house with a nice little terraced garden next to their driveway. No big deal, except, there aren't flowers planted in this garden, but rather every sort of kitchen utensil a person can imagine. In the last several years they have begun painting them all a uniform color except for around the tree at the top which is reserved for just forks, spoons, and knives but in different colors. I'll take some pictures once its been set up for the summer, should be in the next couple of weeks.

I believe the Spiedie and Rib Pit folks are cousins of Lupos but there's some kind of family feud there. Excellent observation on the roll, Romas and Dirienzo are both excellent bakeries and those rolls hold up.

As far as making your own marinade, I've never had great success. Its basically an Italian dressing type spice blend but more subtle. I usually pick up Lupos or Middendorfs. When I was a kid, Middendorfs used to run a bbq out here that was major yummy chicken, steak, fries in there skins, salads etc...

Segovia, Barcelona, Philly & Bingo, wow - quite the metropolitain lineup!

you forgot to mention that Binghamton, NY was once the NY state headquarters of the KKK - good goin' Bingo:blush:
Economic hiccups are the trademark of the surrounding area - EJ's, IBM, etc...
you also forgot that over the last 20 years the drug scene in that town has become ridiculous - set 3 hours from the city with a major highway that runs from NYC through Bingo to Buffalo, Canada & Florida - Run those drugs boys, run, run! The perfect stop-over on your way out of the country - come visit Bingo!
And how bout that Veteran's Memorial satdium? Only 30+ years old - run down and cant hold a team for more than 5 or 6 years. While I lived there I saw the Binghamton Whalers, Binghamton Rangers and BC Icemen.
AA Baseball? Yeah - nobody even goes to that - the interest ran out after only 3 years and they started in 91?
Binghamton is also known as the "Pub City" because they have about 300 bars.
Oh yeah, there is a wannabe Division 1A college there also.
So basicly, it goes like this - if you are a drug dealer, alcoholic or college student... welcome home to Bingo!!!

I grew up there and got out after high school - don't get sucked into the black hole - get out while there is still time!!!

Ok, I did remember 1 good thing about bingo now - the food!

Best Italian food around - Little Venice cant be beat!!!
Spedies are as good as advertised - better during the Spedie Fest! does that thing even still happen?
There is also the best pizza that I have ever eaten - I cant remember the name but it is located next to Wilson Hospital - a little place - only a 20' x 20' building but it is king!

[jingle] 797-9960 Call Brozetteis for pizza to go. [/jingle] Repeat forever... can't shake the jingle but the pie is awesome.

Oh - you guys forgot to mention the Chris Thater Memorial Bike races. Went last summer for the first time. It was thrilling. I almost felt proud to be from here ... almost.

I went to the Chris Thater last year, it was good fun. I'll have to defend the BMets, they drew better last than they had been. Its a great park to watch bazball in. The Senators are a big step up from the Icemen and they actually win a lot. Warch mentioned something about watchin hockey in barns as a good thing. The arena is a hole but its the right size for the town and building something new and glitzy would be wasted dollars. Hockey fans don't need shiney high tech arenas.

Oh, btw there's a new gallery in that low white building on Baldwin just down from Brozettis. "Specific Bodies, Anonymous Remains" is the name of the show. Sculpture and painting...

You just need to be able to see. :)

I am from the Binghamton, NY area (Conklin, NY) and I just so happen to work at the Spiedie and Rib Pit on the parkway next to BU.

To anyone who doesn't know what spiedies are, I am very sorry.

Ok, you're sorry. Fine. All is forgiven. But is it Spiedie like "Peter Parker's alter ego's 'Spiedie-senses' were tingling" or Spiedie like 'Spiedie Gonzales--fastest mouse in the west!". Or something else?

Couldnt of said it better myslef, although I do wish I could have brought a few of the excellent resturants and Brozzettis pizza with me when I moved to Florida!