Park Bench Delicatessen

Name: Park Bench Delicatessen
Location: 100 Park Ave., Binghamton, NY 13903
Phone: (607) 231-8452
Cuisine: Sandwiches/Subs
Price: Around $5 per person

Review:
Always in search of good lunch options, I headed to the Park Bench Delicatessen on Binghamton's South Side without having any idea what to expect. There doesn't seem to be much information on the internet regarding the small shop on Park Avenue. So with an empty stomach and an open mind, off I went to check it out.

Externally, the Park Bench appears rundown and has probably seen better days. I was hoping that the inside would show an improvement. It did not. The store consists of two small booths if you want to eat there, and the rest of the space is taken up by a long deli counter with various hunks of Thumann's brand meat on display. To be frank, the place kind of creeped me out. There was a weird, oily odor (perhaps kerosene) permeating the store, and it looked to be in need of a thorough scrubbing. The deli meats on display looked kind of gross and no regard for presentation was shown. There did not appear to be any kind of menu to order from. And perhaps most problematic, when I walked in the store, there was literally nobody there. I stood at the counter for several minutes before a woman emerged from a back room. She was on the phone, clearly in a heated argument with someone, and motioned to me to wait before going back into the back room again. A couple more minutes later, she re-emerged and I was able to place an order. I elected to try out a roast beef sub with lettuce, tomato, mayo, and Swiss cheese to-go. A few minutes and $5.00 later, I was out the door, sub in hand. Hopefully the sandwich would surpass my dwindling expectations.


The sub was OK, average at best. I liked the sub roll itself, noting that the Park Bench gets their rolls from nearby DiRienzo's Bakery (another place I need to stop by at some point). The roast beef was relatively thickly-sliced and not bad, but I got the sense that the lettuce and tomato were not the freshest and the mayo was a little warm (I ate the sub within 5 minutes of receiving it on a very cold day, so there's little chance that the mayo warmed up in transit). The lettuce was browning a bit and the tomato was mushy. Overall, this sub was OK, I guess. But it left me regretting that I hadn't stopped by nearby Nezuntoz instead.

As you can surmise by my second paragraph, I was extremely unimpressed with the Park Bench Deli. I love little neighborhood places like this ordinarily, but the combination of poor customer service and a sketchy, odd-smelling store did not sit right with me. My sense is that the Park Bench stays in business by serving a small set of loyal, regular customers. I will not be one of them.

Grade: D

The Sub Factory

Name: The Sub Factory
Location: 2128 Owego Rd., Vestal, NY 13850
Phone: (607) 786-0234
Cuisine: Subs/Pizza
Price: Less than $10 per person

Review:
The Sub Factory is located in the westernmost part of Vestal in the Ross Corners neighborhood. It's a somewhat odd location for the restaurant given that it's a little off the beaten path, but I believe it's a place definitely worth checking out.

I took a look at the menu for a minute and decided to go with a Turkey Sub on the recommendation of the owner, an extremely friendly and sincere middle-aged woman who provided excellent service during my brief visit. I was told that the Turkey Sub is their most popular item due to the fact that it's not made with the sliced turkey you find at most sandwich shops, but rather chunks of real turkey breast. I guess it's Thanksgiving year-round at the Sub Factory! Once I learned that tidbit of information, it sounded like something I had to try out. With mayo, sub sauce, lettuce, onion, and diced tomatoes (not sliced) as toppings and served on one of Jim Roma's famous sub rolls, I was eager to sample it.

I'd have to say this was a very good sub. The ingredients were all really fresh and the turkey reminded me of many a Black Friday binge. All told, I think this is one of the better subs I've had in the area. Now...if they were only a little closer to the rest of civilization...

The Sub Factory is open 7 days a week and features a surprisingly varied menu of appetizers (wings and other fried stuff, mainly), soups and salads, hot and cold subs, burgers, and some delicious looking pizzas in all kinds of gourmet varieties (their words, not mine). Ever had a Cream Cheese & Ham pizza, or a Kielbasa & Sauerkraut pie? Me neither. And I have no idea what Nuclear Broccoli pizza would entail, but at the very least, it sounds interesting. Prices appear to run a little on the high side for the pizzas but I am certainly interested in trying them out at some point.

I enjoyed my visit to the Sub Factory and I thought it was worth the drive out to Ross Corners. Really, it's only about a five minute drive from Vestal's Four Corners, so it's not too far out of the way. Service was top-notch and delivered with a refreshing sincerity, and I thoroughly enjoyed my sub. Being able to highlight places like The Sub Factory is what makes writing this blog enjoyable for me.

Grade: B+

Cosmo's

Name: Cosmo's
Location: 652 Riverside Dr., Johnson City, NY 13790
Phone: (607) 770-0107
Cuisine: Italian/Pizza/Sandwiches/Subs
Price: Less than $10 per person

Review:
Cosmo's is in a strange little location, at the corner of Riverside Dr. and Grand Ave. in Johnson City, almost literally underneath the Route 201 overpass and not far from the legendary Traffic Circle. It's kind of a strange restaurant in the sense that it is really more like three restaurants in one. There is a small sit-down portion, an even smaller carry-out entrance, and a "tiki bar" in back. We used to go to the Tiki Bar quite often back in the day a few years ago. It was a pretty nice space to just chill out, have a few beers, and throw peanut shells on the floor and maybe order some wings or some "sizzle fries." Then the Flood of 2006 came around. Cosmo's, and that little neighborhood of Westover in general, was hit pretty hard, and they were forced to close for awhile, and in the meantime we found some other places to go and never made it back. So I don't think I had tried anything from their "regular" menu until today, when I stopped into the carry-out to get some lunch.

The menu at Cosmo's is part-Italian, part pub fare. They have Italian dishes like Chicken Parmigiana and Lasagna, in addition to pizza available in 16" round and rectangular sheet varieties, or you can get individual slices. They also have the burgers, sandwiches, fried snacks, and wings like you'd expect to see in a bar environment.

I stopped in and ordered a slice of pepperoni pizza and an Italian sub, with the plan to eat the pizza while the sub was being made. I'd always been a little interested in trying the pizza, and as it turns out, I really liked it. This was one of the better New York-style slices I've had in the area. In terms of crust, sauce, and cheese, I found it to be most similar to Grande's of all the pizza that I have had, which I consider the benchmark for good pizza of that style. The menu advertises a 16" round pizza with 12 slices for a mere $8.50, which is definitely an offer I will be exploiting at some point in the near future, as football season rolls around and I begin to entertain guests again.

The sub was quite a bit less successful, in my mind. The bread was nice and fresh and the toppings (lettuce/tomato/onion/provolone/sub sauce) appeared in good ratios but the meat was mediocre. I think it was just regular salami instead of the usual blend of meats, and it did not taste all fresh. I ate a little more than half the sub before disposing of the rest. Not a good sub, and certainly not one I would order again.

So Cosmo's, in the end, was pretty average for me today. I can recommend the pizza wholeheartedly. $1.25 per slice plus $0.25 per topping is a really good deal, and $8.50 for a huge 16" pizza is among the best pizza deals you'll find in the area. Plus, it's really good pizza. Surprisingly good, really. The sub, on the other hand, was below average, but you win some, you lose some. Service was quick and polite, and even though I haven't been there in a long while, I can say that the Tiki Bar is a nice little hangout that few people seem to know about. I'll give a conservative grade for now, but a few good pizzas from now, this mark could stand to go up a fair bit.

Grade: B-

Vestal Bakery & Deli

Name: Vestal Bakery & Deli
Location: 176 Vestal Pkwy E, Vestal, NY 13850
Phone: (607) 748-8239
Cuisine: Pizza/Subs
Price: Dirt cheap

Review:
The Vestal Bakery & Deli is an establishment I used to frequent on a fairly regular basis when I used to live nearby, but I hadn't been back for a number of years until today. I had never really liked the place that much, but as a graduate student on a tight budget, it was a good place to get dinner very cheaply if I didn't feel like going the Ramen route, and it happened to be across the street from the laundromat I patronized.

Lately, I've driven past the VB&D a few times and noticed a special on their sign: a foot-long sub for $2.99, which rotates weekly as to which sub is on special (turkey, ham, Italian, etc). For those mathematically challenged, that's $2.01 better than Subway's famous offer. Being the value hound that I am, I decided to stop by today for lunch. Would the low price be the only worthy quality I found?

The restaurant does not have much for atmosphere. It's dimly lit but appears to be pretty clean, and there are some booths available off to the left should you choose to eat there. Menu-wise, they have the usual cold-cut subs available in both small and large sizes, spiedie subs, and pizza, available whole or by the slice. I recall having the pizza here before and being largely unimpressed. I recall it being the sheet variety and a pale imitation of Nirchi's, although I thought I spotted some regular NY-style slices on today's visit in addition to the rectangular ones.

Upon arriving I went with this week's special: the foot-long Italian sub for $2.99. Asked if I wanted "everything" on it, I replied in the affirmative. A few minutes later, I was out the door and on my way home, ready to give this sub a shot.

As it turns out, I thought this sub was just OK. For starters, it's an Italian sub, and they put American cheese on it. Granted, I could've asked specifically for provolone I suppose, but when I said I wanted "everything," I assumed I would get the right kind of cheese. American on an Italian sub, yikes, I mean, who DOES that? So that kind of threw me off a bit. As for the rest of the sub, I didn't get the sense it was all that fresh. The meat was definitely not high quality stuff (perhaps my visit to Vincenzo's yesterday has spoiled me) and the lettuce appeared to be the bagged, shredded iceberg variety. If it wasn't, it tasted like it. For a place called the Vestal Bakery, I also expected better bread. It wasn't bad bread and it was definitely the freshest part of the sub, it was just nothing to get excited about. Overall, if you look up "average sub" in the dictionary, the picture associated is the one you see above.

But think about it. $2.99 for a foot-long sub. That is seriously cheap. It may not be the greatest sub in the world, but it's certainly a notch better than edible, and if you're a starving, overworked, underpaid grad student like I once was, a deal like this could just be your saving grace. For quality the Vestal Bakery & Deli may not be anywhere close to the area's best, but for value, you aren't going to do better.

Grade: C

Nando's Pizza

Name: Nando's
Location: 217 Harry L Dr., Johnson City, NY 13790
Phone: (607) 798-0439
Cuisine: Pizza/Subs
Price: Around $10 for a large pizza

Review:
Nando's represents yet another entry into the Johnson City pizza mix. It's located at the corner of Harry L Drive and Academy St. I believe there are three Nando's locations that are all related: this one in JC, one on North St. in Endwell/Endicott, and a third location on Conklin Ave. on the South Side. I am pretty sure at least the Endwell and Binghamton locations are related. This is the one I'm not sure about, but how common is the name "Nando" really?

This is yet another place I've driven by thousands of times over the years but I never bothered to stop in until yesterday. I placed an order for a large pizza (12 small slices) with half-sausage, half-cheese and opted to do take-out. The restaurant itself has probably seen better days. I would not recommend eating there, but there are some tables set up on their front porch if you choose to. All in all, I found the restaurant itself to be a little sketchy.

At any rate, I picked up the pizza (around $10) and headed home to give it a shot. What I found was some pretty decent pizza. This didn't blow me away or anything, but I definitely did like it. The sauce is the most unique aspect of this pizza. Instead of normal pizza sauce it reminded me much more of spaghetti sauce. It had nice flavor and tended to dominate each bite. So if you like saucy pizza, this is definitely a place you might want to check out. The cheese and sausage were nothing to write home about, and the New York style crust was ultra-thin but still sturdy enough to support the toppings, unlike some other slices I've had recently...

All in all, Nando's is not likely to become your favorite pizza place or anything, but I found what I had to be a solid pie and, due to location, one that I would consider getting again. For what it's worth, it tastes pretty good out of the fridge in the morning, too. I give this one a mild recommendation.

Grade: B-

Rossi's Pizza

Name: Rossi's Pizza
Location: 143 Harry L Dr., Johnson City, NY 13790
Phone: (607) 777-1313
Cuisine: Pizza
Price: Around $10 for a half sheet, $18 for a whole sheet pizza

Review:
Aside from spiedies, City Chicken, and Greek diners, another culinary delight that Binghamton is noted for is sheet pizza. Rectangular in shape and with thicker crust than standard New York style slices, sheet pizza seems to be most popular in a belt that includes Western and Central New York, Connecticut, and parts of Ohio. The phenomenon may well stretch much further than that, but those seem to be the places where the usual round pizza often takes a backseat to the rectangle. I know I had never heard of sheet pizza until I arrived at college in nearby Ithaca.

The most popular place for sheet pizza in the Southern Tier is Nirchi's, which I've already reviewed. Nirchi's pizza can be very good, but has a tendency to be a little inconsistent. Sometimes it's too greasy to be that enjoyable, sometimes it seems a little undercooked. When it's good, it's great. And the white pizza, with garlic instead of tomato sauce, can be really good for a change of pace. Sheet pizza is popular in part because one pizza can feed a lot of people for not a lot of money. For less than $20, you can feed 8-10 people with a Nirchi's sheet. Nirchi's popularity has resulted (whether directly or indirectly) in a good number of like-minded sheet pizza places sprouting up in the area. One such place is Rossi's, located on Harry L Drive in Johnson City.

For dinner Megan and I got a half-sheet (12 reasonably sized slices) with half sausage, half plain cheese. Upon ordering I was instructed the order would be ready in 20 minutes. Sure enough, when I arrived at Rossi's exactly 20 minutes later, it was ready to go. I should note that they also deliver. The restaurant itself is a nice, clean pizza parlor with a few tables for those who decide to eat there. When I arrived, nearly all the tables were taken, and for that matter, there weren't many available parking spots in the parking lot. I took this as a good sign. I paid $11 for the pizza and was on my merry way.

I thought this was a good looking pizza. Nice bubbling cheese, a thick, symmetric crust, and an even distribution of toppings. Sure enough, the taste matched the look. This pizza had a nice cheese-to-sauce ratio, a sweet, salty, somewhat doughy crust that I found reminiscent of Nirchi's but perhaps a little thicker, and a generous portion of sausage. The crust is really what drives this pizza, and all of this region's sheet pizza really. It's unique, and words don't really do it justice. This wasn't amazing pizza, but I found it to be on par with an average Nirchi's sheet and perhaps even a slight notch above. Megan liked it as well and said she'd definitely be up for having it again.

I have heard that Rossi's also makes a good sub, and seeing as we live in Johnson City, often pass through that section of town, and are in search of an awesome local sub shop, I'll definitely try out a sub sometime in the not too distant future and give a report on that. Until then, I find Rossi's to be an above-average addition to a busy pizza landscape in the Triple Cities, and would recommend it to anyone interested in trying a good, representative example of a Central NY staple.

Grade: B

P.M.P. Delicatessen

Name: P.M.P. Delicatessen
Location: 80 Harry L Drive, Johnson City, NY 13790
Phone: (607) 797-1131
Cuisine: Sandwiches/Subs/Eastern European specialty items
Price: $5 per person

Review:
The search for good subs continued today for lunch with a stop at the P.M.P. Delicatessen on Harry L Drive in Johnson City. This is a place I've driven by literally thousands of times over the years, but I've never bothered to stop in, and I wasn't sure if anyone else did either. My attempts to find out anything about P.M.P. on the internet always came up fruitless, and something about the place always looked kind of sketchy to me. Today was the day I found out I was wrong.

P.M.P. is a deli first and foremost, with the standard subs and sandwiches comprising much of their menu, but they also serve their own versions of regional specialty items like spiedies and City Chicken. This is one of the rare places you can get lamb spiedies, the original spiedie meat of choice at Sharkey's way back in the 1940's. There is a definite focus on Eastern European cuisine in P.M.P., as they sell traditional foods like kielbasa, holupki (cabbage rolls), and a shockingly good variety of German, Czech, and Polish beer. I was surprised to see things like Paulaner Salvator, Ayinger Celebrator, and even a few bombers of Southern Tier Back Burner, among others. P.M.P. won't put Sam the Beer Man out of business anytime soon, but they've got a nice little collection going. For those who want to eat there, there are a few tables set up, and the place is adorned with hockey memorabilia and other trinkets. It's an odd atmosphere, yet somehow kind of cool.

I walked in at 12:30 PM and was one of three patrons at the time. I got a chicken spiedie sub for myself and a turkey sub for Megan. The woman who took my order was extremely nice and seemed glad that I had such a simple order--apparently the previous few patrons had made large and complicated orders. In five short minutes our order was ready, I paid the friendly cashier, an older gentleman who kidded me that my $7 order came to "$50," and I was on my way.

My chicken spiedie sub was quite good. I was impressed with the meat and found the spiedie as a whole superior to Sharkey's, but not quite to the level of Lupo's or the Spiedie & Rib Pit. The meat was flavorful and juicy and was served on an Italian steak roll which did well to soak up the juices. Not amazing, but very nice, and at $3.49, very cheap.

Megan's sub was also pretty good. She was a little miffed about the fact that the meat was placed on top of the toppings she got (lettuce, tomato, onion, American cheese, mayo), preferring it the other way around. Her impression was that P.M.P. was "just alright." I tried her sub and I got the impression that the turkey and toppings were fresh and of decent quality, but it was fairly ordinary otherwise.

Living near Harry L Drive, I can definitely see myself stopping off at P.M.P. again, maybe next time trying out the City Chicken, pierogies, or other local fare, in addition to taking a closer look at their beer selection. I enjoyed the quick, friendly service and the spiedies were good. My search for the ultimate sub shop won't end here, but I will be glad to support this local business again in the future, and I'm hopeful this post will give them some online presence so that other curious parties can stop wondering from afar what the place is like and start giving them some business.

Grade: B

S & M Delicatessen

Name: S & M Delicatessen
Location: 3309 Watson Blvd., Endwell, NY 13760
Phone: (607) 754-0636
Cuisine: Subs/Pizza
Price: Cheap. Around $5 per person.

Review:
Since the recent demise of Tony T's in Vestal, I'm in search of a really good local sub place. And when I say "local," I mean somewhere in relatively close proximity to where I live in Johnson City. I tried out the Original Italian Pizzeria in Endicott and enjoyed their Italian sub, but that's a little bit further than I ordinarily would like to go. On the tip of a reader, I decided to give S & M Deli in Endwell a shot.

S & M is a small shop with, let's face it, a pretty damn funny name. It is located on Watson Blvd. across the street from the Broadway Diner and they specialize in pizza and subs but also have reheatable Italian dishes available and local specialties like City Chicken. More on that in a future post. They also have some basic grocery items and sell ice and beer. In NYC, S & M would be referred to as a "bodega." This is strictly a "to-go" place, as they have no seating.

I walked in around 11:30 AM on a Friday and ordered an Italian sub with everything on it: Italian meats, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, sub sauce, and sweet peppers.



I thought this was a great-looking sub. How would it stand up to a taste test?

In truth, not very well.

A good sub starts with the bread. I did not care much for this particular sub roll. It was a bit too airy for my liking and didn't really have much flavor. On the plus side, the meats and veggies were fresh. But the real problem with this sub was that there was WAY too much mayonnaise for my liking. The thing was inundated with mayo to the point where I couldn't taste much else in most bites. The good news, of course, is that this is a correctable problem. Just order it without mayo, or tell them to go light on it. Even so, the whole thing was just kind of "blah."

Back when I was in high school, we used to do a sub fundraiser. We'd go around the neighborhood asking if folks wanted to buy subs and eventually the day would come when the subs came in and we distributed them to the proper folks. They were decent subs but nothing to get excited about. You knew when you ordered one of these things that you weren't getting something gourmet, but you were helping the neighbor kid fund his trip to Florida or whatever, so you didn't mind too much. The sub I had from S & M was a Fundraiser Sub. Average in every way, but by buying one you're helping keep a little family business alive in an era where there's a Subway on every corner. That's gotta be worth something, I guess, but it isn't going to be enough to bring me back there to have another.

Grade: C

Lupo's Char-Pit

Name: Lupo's Char-Pit
Location: 2710 E Main St., Endicott, NY 13760
Phone: (607) 748-1916
Cuisine: Sandwiches/Subs (Spiedies)
Price: Less than $10 per person

Review:
The second of my spiedie reviews will cover Lupo's Char-Pit, a Triple Cities institution that operates on Main St. in Endwell. There's no doubt that Lupo's is among the best spiedie peddlers in the Binghamton area. They are famous not only for their restaurants but also for their line of sauces and marinades that can be purchased in local grocery stores.

The Char-Pit is not so much a restaurant but rather a take-out place. There are no tables to eat there, just a stand where you place your order and pay. The menu mostly consists of the usual chicken/pork spiedie options, with various toppings available at a higher price. They also have subs (I hear the cheeseburger sub is very good) and side dishes available as well.

I was of course most interested in the spiedies, and I ordered a 6-inch pork to give it a shot.


I opted for no toppings this time around since I really wanted to savor the taste of the spiedie meat itself. And I must say, this was quite delicious. Definitely just as good as the Spiedie & Rib Pit as far as the taste goes, and probably more "authentic" relative to the original spiedie parlors in the area. A bit greasier, perhaps, but the Italian sub roll did a nice job soaking up the excess juices. For under $4, this was a very good lunch, even if I had to eat it in my car.

I definitely recommend Lupo's Char-Pit. I wouldn't put it quite on par with Spiedie & Rib Pit, though. The inability to eat there is a major strike against it, and I do prefer some of Spiedie & Rib Pit's more exotic options like the chicken caesar spiedie or Greek spiedie. If you're in Endwell and need a quick lunch, though, Lupo's would be an excellent choice.

Grade: B+

Spiedie & Rib Pit

Name: Spiedie & Rib Pit
Location: Upper Front St., Binghamton or Vestal Parkway
Cuisine: Sandwiches/subs
Price: Less than $10 per person

Review:
This wouldn't be a proper Binghamton food blog if I went much longer without dedicating a post to perhaps the region's most popular native food, the spiedie (pronounced "speedy" for those uninitiated). Spiedies are chunks of marinated meat (originally lamb, but nowadays either chicken or pork) skewered and grilled, then served with some variety of bread (either regular Italian bread, a sub roll, or even pita bread). Coney Island has its hot dogs, Chicago its deep-dish pizza, Buffalo's got wings, Rochester has the...ummm...garbage plate. We've got spiedies (and to a lesser extent, their breaded, deep-fried counterpart City Chicken), and there are many, many places in the area that either specialize in spiedies or at least offer them.

So it's about time I jump headlong into the spiedie debate. Where in the Triple Cities can you get the best of this regional delicacy? In my mind, there are three main contenders: Sharkey's, Lupo's, and the Spiedie & Rib Pit. There are TONS of places in the area where you can get spiedies, but I think these are the three that most people would mention first before any others.

Sharkey's is often considered to be the birthplace of the spiedie. They've been operating from their West Side Binghamton location on Glenwood Avenue for more than 60 years and specialize not only in spiedies but also in steamed clams and holupki (cabbage rolls). I will dedicate a post to Sharkey's at some later date, but for now I will say that I am not too impressed with their offerings.

Another contender is Lupo's, who bottle the famous Lupo's spiedie marinades and sauces that are ubiquitous at local grocery stores so that consumers can make their own. They have a couple locations in the area and are considered by many to be the best the area has to offer.

Then there's the Spiedie & Rib Pit, founded in 1993 as (I believe) an offshoot to the Lupo spiedie kingdom. In addition to the spiedie, they also offer various other items like more traditional subs and ribs. They offer their spiedies in some untraditional ways (Buffalo style, Greek style, etc...) which seems to bother the "purists" who prefer their sandwiches unadorned. But they do indeed have a legion of followers.

Today I'll focus on the third of these choices.

Megan and I were headed out of town on Friday and were in need of a quick lunch before we got on the road. We happened to be on the Vestal Parkway and ended up at the Spiedie & Rib Pit. The store is pretty small and laid out kind of like a typical fast food place. She ordered a Blue Cheese chicken spiedie on a sub roll. and I went with the Greek spiedie, which has chicken, lettuce, tomato, onions, feta cheese, and tzatziki sauce on a pita.



This spiedie was fantastic, much like just about every other I've had in the place, and at this point I've probably had just about all of them at one point or another. It's hard to describe the taste of the spiedie meat itself. It has a lot of flavor, with all sorts of other unique seasoning from the marinade process. A healthy mixture of Italian herbs, vinegar, and lemon juice is my guess. Whatever it is, it's great, and the grilling process brings out those flavors so well. The feta cheese and tzatziki sauce added favorably to the mix. With a side of fries (which are also quite good--Megan thinks they are the best fries she has ever had, I beg to differ but they are still very good) and a drink, I was a pretty happy camper.

Spiedie purity be damned, for a quick, fast-food style meal in the Binghamton area, it's hard to do better than the Spiedie & Rib Pit. And if you are a newcomer to Binghamton and have never had spiedies before, first of all, you MUST, and secondly, the Spiedie & Rib Pit would likely get my vote of where you should head first.

Grade: A

Old World Delicatessen

Name: Old World Delicatessen
Location: 27 Court St., Binghamton, NY 13901
Phone: (607) 722-5265
Cuisine: Deli
Attire: Casual
Price: Less than $10 per person

Review:
My first visit to the Old World Delicatessen occurred a long time ago. A fact about me, little-known to many people--even those who know me relatively well--is that I used to work in downtown Binghamton for a short period. During that time, Old World Deli was one of my favorite lunch spots. A coworker and I used to split subs from there, which made for a good, cheap lunch. In particular, we were fond of the meatball parmigiana sub.

A long period of time has gone by since and I more or less forgot about the Old World Deli. It isn't often that Megan and I drive into downtown on Court St. Today, I decided I would try out Curry's of India for their lunch buffet, which comes highly recommended by one of my loyal readers. To my chagrin, I get to Curry's only to learn that they aren't open Mondays. Hey restaurant owners: let me present a very basic equation to you. Having a website = good. You can put your hours on there, even your menu! What a novel idea.

So I look up the block and there's the Old World Deli. Feeling mildly nostalgic, I decide to give it a go. The place is a lot larger than I had remembered it, with about 15 tables lining the wall parallel to the counter where you place your order and pay. Otherwise, it's a pretty typical deli. They have a fairly basic menu with all the usual sandwich/sub options, but also have a board with specials they're offering that day, and some "signature" items. I remember getting a sandwich called the "Campus Special" there before which I believe consisted of corned beef, cole slaw, and Russian dressing. That was some tasty stuff. But since I just had a reuben for lunch yesterday, I elected to go with what I had liked so much in my younger days...the 6" meatball parm on an Italian sub roll.

It was prime lunch hour (12:30) so I had to wait in a bit of a line, but it moved quickly. More problematic is that once I got my sandwich, I had to wait for about 5 minutes at the register for the cashier to ring me out. I think one of the other patrons was given the wrong sandwich by mistake and the cashier was off sorting out the error. Not being in a rush, I didn't care too much, though if I had been working downtown on a half-hour lunch break I probably would've been annoyed. At any rate, I was finally able to pay and sat down to enjoy the sub. Would it be as good as I remembered it?

Indeed it was. The meatballs had a very nice flavor and the cheese was perfectly melted on top. The bread was quite tasty as well, though I prefer the bread I got at the Full Belly Deli in Vestal a couple weeks back. For only a 6" sub I found it to be quite filling, way more filling than the 8" sub I got at the Full Belly. And for less than $5, I found it to be an excellent value.

Old World Deli isn't going to blow you away, but it's a good, inexpensive option for lunch in the heart of downtown Binghamton. I give it a solid recommendation, and hopefully I'll make it back there again before another five years goes by.

Grade: B

Full Belly Deli

Name: Full Belly Deli
Location: 1550 Vestal Parkway East, Vestal, NY 13850
Phone: (607) 754-3354
Cuisine: Sandwiches/Subs
Attire: Casual
Price: Less than $20 for two

Review:
Today, I stopped by the Full Belly Deli for lunch. It was my first time there and, overall, it was a fairly positive experience.

The place is located out the far side of the Vestal Parkway about halfway between Town Square Mall and Four Corners, in the same small shopping plaza as the Asian fusion restaurant Lemongrass, which I'll certainly be writing about at some point or another. The location is not great, but that's beside the point. It's laid out on the inside like any normal sandwich shop, much like a Subway or Quizno's. The staff was very friendly and talkative; the cashier gave me an awesome coffee recommendation as well that I'll mention in a minute.

The menu is really basic, with all the standard sandwich and sub options...turkey, ham, roast beef, Italian, reuben, meatball, etc., all made-to-order. I ordered an Italian Sub ($6) with all the usual fixings--lettuce, tomato, onion, mayo, sub sauce, black olives, and provolone cheese. The meat they use for the sandwiches is the gold standard of quality deli meat, Boar's Head. In this case, ham, capicola, and pepperoni were the meats of choice. The bread was an 8" sub roll that I presume is their homemade bread. Here we go...


There it is. Truly, an ordinary-looking Italian sub, but a very fine tasting sandwich. The fresh bread was delicious and gives me reason again to come back at some point. All the veggies and meats tasted very fresh. I had absolutely no problem with the taste of the sandwich and I would probably get it again. The problem I have is with the name of the place. Full Belly Deli. When I think of a place called the Full Belly Deli, I think of heaping portions. I want a 14" sub like I'd get at Wegman's. I want the thing stuffed to the gills. I want leftovers. Granted, the quality of what you're getting here is pretty high, but this thing had the skimpiest portion of meat I've ever had in a sub. Look at the picture. You can barely see any meat there at all. I'd like a little ham with my lettuce. Please. Full Belly Deli? That's false advertising in the name alone. But I don't want to make it seem like this was not a good sandwich, because I did enjoy it. I just wished I was eating it in a place not called the Full Belly Deli the whole time.

I elected to go with a cup of coffee ($1.50) to drink and the cashier pointed me toward the Ethiopian Harrar, a dark roast. I'm not really a coffee connoisseur or anything but this was definitely the best cup of coffee I've had in a while. The coffee was easily the best thing about the meal and I'd definitely stop there for coffee alone on a regular basis if not for the fact that it's so far out of the way.

All in all, I'd have to say I recommend the Full Belly Deli. The food was really fresh and tasted good, and the coffee was a definite home run. The staff was friendly which definitely goes a long way. There are definitely some changes I would make. For starters, the name of the place is a flat-out lie. So ditch the name or up the portions. Secondly, the menu was a little too basic in my opinion. A small sandwich shop like this should offer some "signature" specialty items that give you a real reason to go there instead of Subway or Wegman's, especially since it's a little bit off the beaten path. With these basic improvements Full Belly Deli would flourish into an excellent place to grab lunch.

Grade: B