Being friends and next door neighbors with a former chef is not helping my attempt to shed some pounds! I mean, I know that my friend is trying to open my world to all sorts of new culinary experiences, but after she describes some of the area's best dishes, all I can think about is food. And suddenly I look down at the celery stick in my hand with even more distaste.

One of the foods my friend told me about a few days ago was the new breaded spiedies that one of the char pits has added to their menu and it's all that I've been able to think about ever since.

My parents have been wanting to come visit and I mentioned to my mom that if she and my dad did come to town, I'd take them out for spiedies. If anyone were to listen in on our phone call, I'm sure they would have felt like they were in the middle of an Abbott and Costello act as I tried to explain to my mom what a spiedie is. She just wasn't understanding.

I could hear the confusion in my mom's voice as I told her that a spiedie is basically marinated hunks of meat, grilled and served on bread or a bun. She said that the word "spiedie" is a strange one and didn't understand why we (as in people local to the Binghamton area) don't just come out and say that they're hunks of marinated meat.

According to the Oxford dictionary, the word "spiedie" really isn' t as odd as some (including my mom) think. The word "spiedie" originated in the early 20th century and "probably from Italian spiedi, plural of spiedo ‘spit, skewer’, probably from Middle French espiet ‘spear’, of Germanic origin."

So, since my parents are planning a visit and I want to offer them the best first-time spiedie experience possible, I'm hoping you can help.  Fill out the form below and let me know who you think serves up the best spiedies around!

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