- [Michael] Tonight on WPBS Weekly: Inside The Stories, it's breakfast time in Johnny Spezanno's kitchen.

He joins brother and Rochester Radio Personality, Scott Spezanno, to fire up a delicious family recipe they call a Hunt's Breakfast.

And the Embassy Cafe in Kingston, Ontario, brings people together in a small, yet cozy community hub.

Your stories, your region, coming up right now on "WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories."

(bright upbeat music) - [Narrator] WPBS Weekly Inside The Stories is brought to you by.

- [Narrator] When you're unable to see your primary care provider, the Carthage Walk-In Clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and healing close to home, when you need it most.

North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group keeping healthcare local.

- [Narrator] We are the North Country where protecting one another like family is who we are and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country strong at claxtonhepburn.org today.

- [Announcer] Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Good Tuesday evening, everyone, and welcome to this edition of WPBS Weekly: Inside The Stories.

I'm Michael Riecke.

We're back in the kitchen with Johnny Spezzano for some fire-grilled breakfast.

With Easter a month away, Johnny brings a family recipe to the table, and who better to join him but his brother and Rochester Radio Personality, Scott Spezzano.

This is one recipe you won't wanna miss.

- Hey, come on.

(energetic music) - Hello, welcome to Johnny on Fire, it is time to take a great recipe and mix it and cook it on fire.

I am so honored.

This is my brother, everybody, this is my brother, Scott Spezzano.

He's my best friend, I love this guy to pieces.

- Yeah, man.

- He is a Radio Personality from Rochester, New York, on 98.9 The Buzz.

- Yes, I am.

- And he came because I said, bro, we're getting ready to do an Easter special on WPBS and we need to show everybody, show the world what Hunt Breakfast is like.

- [Scott] The Hunt Breakfast, our mom Sandy, who left us a few years ago, this is her recipe, and she actually gifted Johnny and I one of these old school recipe books with the cards.

- [Johnny] And her handwriting.

- [Scott] And her handwriting, her little smiley face.

So this is kinda in honor of our mom, and hopefully it'll be a tradition in your house too.

- This basically a breakfast casserole.

You can make it the day before and it'll be ready when you get up in the morning, like when you get up on Christmas morning and Santa comes, you just slide it in.

- Yeah, throw it in the oven and go.

- All right, so where are we gonna get started?

- All right, well, what we've got here today, it's really simple but it turns out to be so complex and delicious, a bunch of bread, okay, we've got eggs, we've got ham and cheese, some milk, and some cream of celery soup just to add a little thing to it.

Now, this'll be the basic of it, but you can adlib.

You can throw, the other one that I did Christmas, I threw in some of that hot, what is it called, pepper jack cheese in that.

- Aw, it was so good.

- Which was really good, that kinda spiced it up a little bit.

You could add shallots, you could add onions, anything, but this is like the base model.

It always turns out so good.

- Let's get started.

- All right, so now what we do is we cut the crusts off the bread, and the crusts are gonna end up being the decorative top.

- I got my knife here.

- Oh, no, no, no, no, no.

- What?

- No, no, no, no, hold on.

I got something better.

- Okay.

- We're gonna go straight in.

That's gonna rip the bread.

- All right, what do ya got?

- Right here.

(electric carver whirring) That's the best part.

- Shouldn't let you watch Dexter.

(Scott laughs) All right.

- All right.

So, very simply, if you just take your bread, get the crusts off it.

(electric carver whirring) We're gonna save these and weave the top of it for afterward.

(electric carver whirring) - [Johnny] I feel like when you were a kid, mom used to do this to every one of your sandwiches 'cause you didn't eat crust.

(Scott laughs) - [Scott] That's right, I didn't.

Hope I don't blow a breaker.

(Johnny laughs) (electric carver whirring) So what we'll do is we'll take these crusts here and let's get 'em in a bowl, save 'em for now.

- [Johnny] Perfect cubes.

- Yeah.

And what we're gonna do is we're gonna butter the inside of this dish, so why don't we do that now.

Why don't you butter the inside of the dish and I'll finish the rest of these.

- All right.

- And it's weird, because once you put the egg in milk mixture in, it's gonna take the bread, it's gonna expand and soak in, that's why it's good to leave it overnight.

You could do it for an hour, but the longer you leave it, the more the bread soaks up in the eggs and soaks up all the liquids.

(electric carver whirring) So you're gonna coat the inside of the pan just to keep it from sticking.

(electric carver whirring) And there's no set amount of bread you need to use, just enough to fill it up.

Sometimes it depends on how you cut your crusts.

(electric carver whirring) We use this once a year for turkey, why not give it a second, right?

Why not give it a second use?

What do you use this for other than once a year for turkey?

- Holidays.

It's out in time for Easter now.

- [Scott] Firewood, things like that.

- (chuckles) Taking out drywall.

- Yes, exactly.

(Johnny laughs) - I've never done that.

- I need a new outlet.

Get the bread knife.

Okay, so here we go, so this is very easy.

We're gonna get this done and then now we've got your bread ready to go, let's make the liquid.

(upbeat music) Welcome to Scott on Fire now taking over for Johnny on Fire.

Here we go.

Our recipe that you'll see calls for, we're gonna do a half a recipe.

Usually, this is twice as big.

- [Johnny] 'Cause our family would eat it all.

- Yeah, you did.

- You didn't ask for more.

- Right, exactly.

So instead of eight eggs, we're gonna do four.

- Okay.

- [Scott] And what you wanna do is lightly mix 'em.

You don't have to whip 'em up so that they're perfectly scrambled.

I guess it gives texture to the Hunt Breakfast.

There's four of those.

You're gonna do a couple of cups of heavy cream or milk.

Right there.

What is that, about a cup and a half?

- [Johnny] That's a cup.

- [Scott] Cup, so we'll do two cups of that.

And then, why don't you go in and put the cream of celery soup.

- Which who eats this?

- I know, right?

- Cream of celery soup.

I've seen it though.

- Yeah.

- Could you use a different cream of something soup?

- You could probably do cream of chicken, you could do a cream of broccoli, probably would go well with that.

Give it a nice, here, this'll work.

What you're gonna do is give it a nice little mix.

You don't have to kill it.

So, the Hunt, the Genoese Valley Hunt is a foxhunt that has been going on for more than 200 years down in the Genoese Valley.

- Super Old World stuff.

- Old school.

- Horses, guys with boots up to their thighs.

- Yeah, the red jackets and the bloodhounds, and they go and they hunt fox.

And it's a very much of a social cultural thing that they do down there, and I guess it's been a horse region for years.

So back in the old days, this is according to our mom, so this is where the legend gets a little, we don't know, when people would come from this side of the Mississippi to this area for the foxhunt, of course they didn't have cars, they had their horses, so they would go up to the, people would take them in like a Airbnb or a VRBO.

And for that breakfast before the hunt, they would make this traditional dish, whether it's 100% true or not, we don't know, but it sure sounds like a great idea.

- That's where the name came from too.

- Yeah, yeah.

- All right.

- So that's why we call it the Hunt Breakfast.

- So how do we stack this, this is gonna be a layering.

- Yeah, now it's a layer.

So what we're gonna do is take your layers of bread and put it in, and line up the bottom.

And they don't have to be perfectly tight, but if you can, leave a little space in between for the milk and the eggs.

Yeah, all right.

- [Johnny] Like that?

- Now some ham.

- Ham?

- Yep.

You can layer as much or as little as you want on there.

I always like to maybe kinda pull the ham apart a little bit, so it doesn't create a barrier, which will not let the juice through.

- Oh, right, smart.

Okay.

- [Scott] Yeah.

Or even later, you can stab it with a knife.

- [Johnny] Okay.

- Now you got the cheese, never enough cheese.

- How much do you put in there?

- Not as much as you want.

Never enough cheese.

You will want to just portion it, take some.

- [Johnny] For each level.

- [Scott] For each layer, right.

- [Johnny] Okay.

- Okay, round two.

- Okay.

- Round two.

- Okay, no mix yet.

- Not Yet.

- That's when we're at the end?

- Yeah, this'll go over top, and that's why you'll let it soak in overnight.

- This is fun.

- And it's quick.

And it's something that you can do and it could probably sit around for a couple of days before you bake it in the fridge.

There you go, okay, let's put some ham.

And you do some cheese.

And again, as much as you want, and I'm just gonna kinda.

- [Johnny] Yeah, make some holes.

- [Scott] Make some holes in the ham.

Okay, good.

Lots of cheese.

Okay, now we got two layers, now our third layer could be, we could do another layer of those and then we'll do a weave.

- Oh, we got more room?

- Yeah.

- Oh.

- Give it a try, man.

- I thought we were done.

- No, give it a try.

- Oh, it does compact down probably.

- It does, yeah.

And it'll soak in.

All right.

Do the half of that cheese.

Put these in here.

This is the fun part.

What you wanna do now is, this is where you can get creative, and what you'll do is you'll take these edges of the crust that you normally just throw out, and then in any way shape or style.

- I tiled my bathroom the same way.

- Well exactly, it's a good starter.

You wanna just take it and start to make rows.

You can create circles, squares, whatever you wanna do.

- You can put initials in it.

- Yeah, ya can, yeah, ya can.

What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna do two rows around the circle, like this.

- [Johnny] I love this 'cause you're not wasting it.

- [Scott] Right.

- [Johnny] If you think about it, it's kinda cool, right, you cut the crust off, I mean.

- [Scott] Or as mom would say, well throw it out to the deer.

So we're gonna do two layers here and then I'm gonna go straight in line, and kinda zigzag 'em in.

At that point, it looks pretty when it comes out of the oven, and you know, if you're having kind of a fancy Easter feast or Christmas or whatever, it looks really nice on the table.

- He did it with ham, but you could put bacon in it, or you could put sausage in it, or any breakfast meat.

- Absolutely, yeah.

So think of this as an idea starter, and you can just variation on the theme.

I'd love to see any of the listeners come up with different ideas and put 'em on social media to see.. - Yeah.

Yeah, put 'em in the comments below.

- Yeah, what they come up with.

You won't wanna do it too tight, because this'll all expand.

Something like that.

Isn't that pretty?

- Looks good.

- Mkay.

- Okay.

- Now we take this and, this is the part where I always spill it, it always goes all over the floor.

I don't know.

- I got the paper towels ready.

- So you take your mixture here and you're gonna slowly pour it in on top.

Don't worry that the cream of celery soup isn't going anywhere further.

And you're just gonna let it soak in like that.

You may have to wait a couple minutes and let it.

- So once he gets that on there and he's satisfied, we're gonna cover it.

- See what I did?

- Yeah.

- Yep.

- And then we're gonna refrigerate it.

- Yep.

- And again, overnight.

- Correct.

- Is the best alternative.

Or at least a couple hours.

- [Scott] At least an hour or more, yeah.

The more you can let it soak in, the better.

- [Johnny] Mm-hmm.

- You may want to put foil on it or sarin wrap then foil and throw it in the fridge.

- We can do that right here and right now.

All right, so right now, we're gonna get this in the fridge, we'll wait a little bit and then we're gonna cook it with fire.

(upbeat music) All right, so right now we're baking up the Hunt Breakfast, and I got my brother with me, which I'm so honored you drove two and a half, three hours to be here.

- Anything for you, my brother.

- Thank you, brother.

- Seriously.

- All right, so this guy has been a staple in Rochester radio for well over 35, 40 years.

- Something like that, yeah.

- And the funny part is, I'm up here in Northern New York, he's in Rochester, we cover half the state.

- Yeah, we got the state locked down, don't we?

- We definitely do.

- Yeah, I mean, you're seven years younger than me.

- Yeah.

- And I started radio and I used to bring you over to the College Radio Station in Genoese, where I went to college and learned the whole radio thing.

- I wasn't even barely a teenager then, and you gave me a chance to go into the studio, it was off the air because it was winter break or something at college.

- Something like that.

- So I got to pretend to be on the radio and at that point, I'm like, I could do this.

- It's all over.

- Yeah, right.

- Now we call each other for ideas.

- Yeah.

- Like I'm going blank today, what do ya got?

You got any ideas?

Yeah, we'll do this.

- But I will say this, I grew up watching this guy and learning from him, he is an incredible champion for his community and he is always at events, even to this day.

We in broadcasting, sometimes we do things because we wanna get out and meet people, everybody knows him, but he still goes out and he shows up, and you help local charities.

- Listen, if you can, yeah, if you can do something like that, it's purely selfish, it comes back to ya ten times.

Anytime you ever volunteer, it just makes you feel so good.

If everybody just does it once or twice a year, just it'll help everybody and it'll help the community, that's the best thing you can do.

- I learned a lot from this guy through the years.

- Well, you do a lot up here, you do a lot up here.

- We try to do what we can do.

- Yeah, man, seriously.

- But it's like you said, when we get up and we go on the radio everyday, the energy that we put out, we get back times ten.

- Can I say something?

- Yeah.

- The energy that's coming off the fire right now is burning the back of my head.

(Johnny laughs) - I think I'm ready to dig in.

- I am too.

I'm hungry.

- All right, that sounds good, let's do that.

(upbeat music) - [Johnny] Oh, look at that.

- [Scott] It looks good, man.

- It looks real good.

All right, so we're gonna cut it now, and you're gonna cut it into squares.

- Oh, I got it.

- I got a, what?

(electric carver whirring) No, no, no, no, no, I think that's overkill.

- Right.

- Here, I'll let you use this though.

He got me this knife set for Christmas.

- Yeah, it's amazing what you find on the TikTok Shop.

(Johnny laughs) - You did not.

- No, I didn't.

No, I did not.

Let me bring this over here.

Normally, you'd let it set for awhile at setup, but I think this is good.

All right, and when you cut, just make sure you literally cut it and don't drag it, 'cause the ham.

You don't wanna drag the ham on the inside of it.

Some of the fails that I've had over the years.

- He's serious about the Hunt Breakfast, that's why I knew he was the man to come up.

- [Scott] Can't mess it up.

You just can't mess it up.

You gotta get the centerpieces.

- Your guests will love it.

- Yeah.

- Aww.

And my family too, it evokes so many good feelings, 'cause it's not like you have this everyday, you only have it usually around the holidays when there's lots of loved ones.

- But don't we always say, why don't we fix this more often?

Right?

- Yeah, true.

- It's so easy, it's so quick, and it's- - There's a spatula.

- It's not unhealthy.

- Not trying to rush.

- Not at all.

- Not that I'm hungry.

- Not at all.

- Oh, wow.

- Here we go.

Ready for the slow-motion goo?

Ahh, look at that.

- [Johnny] Look at that.

Give him the side profile.

- [Scott] Yeah, how's that?

- [Johnny] Wow.

- [Scott] How does that look?

- [Johnny] Steaming.

- [Scott] Here you go, Uncle Johnny.

I call him Uncle Johnny.

- [Johnny] Thank you.

- [Scott] Dude, I may need to get a wood-fired pizza oven like you.

- I think you need to.

- Once I'm rich and famous.

- Aww.

You know what, some guys build like a three car garage, I built a big kitchen.

It's what I wanted.

- Cheers.

- Here is to Sandy Orologio, our mom, and this Hunt Breakfast recipe that's been handed down through our family.

- [Scott] I hope it becomes a little tradition in your family.

Delicious, I can't wait.

I'm gonna do a little hot sauce.

- Oh.

- You mind?

- All right.

- See, like I said, this is just- - I'm gonna try it without quick.

- This is just a pallette.

Ready?

Oh yeah.

- Okay, one thing I learned, when you're taking bites of food on TV, don't take big bites like you do at home.

(Scott laughs) - Okay, sounds good.

- 'Cause then you can't talk after.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Mm, the texture.

- It looks thick and heavy, but it's really fluffy, it's very light.

- Those bread slices, they're like hiding in there, your guests won't even really know what they are.

They'll just know that it's absolutely layers of deliciousness.

- You know what I love about the weave on top?

The presentation is wonderful and it gives it a little crunch.

- Mm.

- Mm.

Happy Easter, Uncle Johnny.

- Happy Easter to you too.

Happy Easter to everybody out there, thank you for watching.

You can check out all of our Johnny On Fire episodes at wpbstv.org.

And you get a chance, listen to me on The Border 106.7 out of Watertown, New York.

Or Scott on 98.9 The Buzz with is co-host Sandra.

- Mm-hmm, yep.

Please do.

- Everybody have a great day.

- I'm taking the rest of this home.

- Happy Easter, you can take it.

- I'm taking the rest of this home.

- I drove all the way up here to get this, I'm taking the rest of this home.

- You can bro, it'll be gone before you hit Pulaski.

- If you're looking for more great fire-grilled recipes from Johnny, just visit wpbstv.org and scroll through our library.

Also, if you'd like to be a guest on this segment, just send us an email at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org, with your name and fire-grilled recipe idea.

Nestled in the heart of Kingston, Ontario, the Embassy Cafe is more than just a cafe, it's a community hub bringing people together through a blend of culture, music, and connection.

This small yet vibrant spot has carved out a unique place in the community offering warmth, support, and a sense of belonging to everyone who steps inside.

- All right, good to see you guys, and it's good to be back here again with my good buddy, Wade Foster and Jeff Calory over there.

(strumming guitar) - [Gail] Lion's Heart Inc Kingston's goal is simple yet profound, to unite people in the community through practical acts of love.

Founder, Travis Blackmoore, a musician himself, knew what a difference music makes in people's lives and the Embassy Live Music Cafe was born.

- So for the last seven years, with a little break for Covid of course, we've been doing shows almost every Saturday night.

In 2024, we'll do about 43 shows this year.

And so, it's an opportunity for the community that's out on the street, living rough, maybe they're housing insecure or food insecure, to come and to hear live music, be in a safe place, it's a dry environment, which is something Embassy has always been and will always be, is a dry environment.

So, we have really great coffee, pop, and different food items that people can eat.

And then we have of course the music, and we've been incredibly fortunate.

We always have top-notch musicians.

- [Gail] From the exceptional musicians who fill the space with vibrant melodies, to the warm conversations shared over a meal, the Embassy Cafe offers more than just entertainment.

It offers connection.

- It's my faith that brings me here, but also I love music and I follow a lot of musicians, and so I know what it does for people and I love to see people come in and get to enjoy music that maybe they wouldn't get to enjoy.

They may not be able to go places where there's music, they can't afford it, they're not accepted.

So many different reasons.

And so, they come here and we welcome them, we try to learn their names, we want them to feel good about coming here, that they're loved and cared for.

They're hungry, they're cold, they feel forgotten, and this just changes that for a lot of people.

It's a hope that we can give them, just to know somebody cares, it doesn't matter what walk of life, what you've been doing, what you are doing, you're here, we want to care about you, and that's why we're here.

- [Gail] In a time when social isolation and food insecurity are growing concerns, the Embassy stands out as a safe haven.

It's a space where dignity is restored and everyone is treated as equals.

Whether they're there for a meal, a moment of music, or simply to belong.

- I think right now, that it is worse than it has been in a long long time, and that because of inflation, because of people losing jobs over the Covid shutdown, we're in a place where people are in a more precarious position.

So, having some place like here, where ten bucks to get in the door, if you can afford it, if you can't afford it, come on in anyways, we see people from every walk of life and that was Travis' goal at the beginning, was I want the guy who's got a million dollar house to feel comfortable sitting next to the guy who's on the street.

And that they both can come here, have a drink, listen to some good music, and socialize, and it doesn't matter where they came from.

- [Gail] The Embassy welcomes everyone with open arms.

Volunteers and staff work passionately to create an environment where everyone feels at home, and musicians often describe performing there as an intimate and inspiring experience.

- My first impression was, this is different than any gig I've ever done.

It's a listening crowd, everybody is there for a date night or something, that's your night out, and I've met so many great people and so many friends here.

These folks are just, I think the salt to the earth and I love 'em.

It's my favorite gig now to do.

- I performed here probably the first time, maybe six, seven years ago, with Shawn McCullough actually, and Shawn started playing here and was telling me about how wonderful a spot this was.

So, it was perfect, I thought why not, let's come and give it a try, and been playing here regularly ever since.

People are coming because they truly want to hear the music.

They want to have an evening out.

They want to have a nice safe place to come and it just checks all those boxes, so it's just wonderful.

And we come away just, we play for a couple hours and the time flies by for us, and we just have a blast playing for all the people and just seeing everybody so happy and loving it.

It's great.

- It's a very community kinda feel.

It's very coffee house kind of feeling.

There are a lot of folks that we see and a lot of folks that follow us around from different shows and clubs.

And then of course with the particular, the demographic that Lion Heart's targets this for, some of the folks in the marginalized end.

It's a really great combination where people are just coming together in the community of music.

And it's really special, it's really special.

I get chills just thinking about it, I think it's kinda cool.

- [Gail] At the Embassy Cafe, every note played and every meal served reminds us of the power of community, creativity, and compassion.

- Each and every member of the team that makes Embassy work from the musicians to the volunteers to the patrons, they're actually touching people's lives in ways that we won't know or see.

Music makes people feel good and their soul is fed by the music and the environment.

- For WPBS Weekly, I'm Gail Paquette.

- That does it for this Tuesday night.

Join us next time for a fresh look inside the stories.

April is Cancer Awareness Month, discover how Paws4Potter is bringing awareness to cancer detection in your furry friends.

Plus, the unveiling of a very special tribal belt at the Akwesasne Cultural Center and the center's future plans for local artisans.

Also, Kingston's Town Crier brings history to life with every call, delivering important announcements and proclamations to the community.

Meantime, if you have a story idea you'd like us to explore, we would love to learn more.

All you need to do is email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org, and let's share it with the region.

Well, you may have heard, calls to eliminate federal funding for public media, they're on the rise.

This funding, just $1.60 per person per year, is crucial to smaller rural stations like WPBS.

It helps us bring you valued programs, proven educational resources for children, and local information.

Public media thrives because of you.

You can learn how to protect this vital local service at protectmypublicmedia.org.

We thank you for your support.

That's it for tonight, everyone, have a safe evening and we'll see you on the next episode.

Take care.

- [Narrator] WPBS Weekly: Inside The Stories, is brought to you by.

- [Narrator] When you're unable to see your primary care provider, the Carthage Walk-In Clinic is here for you.

Located off Route 26 across from Carthage Middle School.

Comfort and healing close to home when you need it most.

North Country Orthopedic Group is there for your urgent ortho or sports related injuries.

With our onsite surgical center and same or next day appointments, we're ready to provide care for patients of all ages.

Your health matters to us.

North Country Orthopedic Group, keeping healthcare local.

- [Narrator] We are the North Country, where protecting one another like family is who we are, and where our tomorrow will always be worth defending.

Find out how we keep the North Country strong at claxtonhepburn.org today.

- [Narrator] Select musical performances are made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature, administered by the St. Lawrence County Arts Council.

- Ready?

Oh, yeah.

- Okay, one thing I learned, when you're taking bites of food on TV, don't take big bites like you do at home.

(Scott laughs) - Okay, sounds good.

- 'Cause then you can't talk after.

Cheers.

- Cheers.

- Mm, the texture.

(gentle music)