A Rochester staple, the garbage plate is a whopping stack of (get ready): two hamburger patties and two sides (home fries, macaroni salad, or beans), mixed with ketchup and hot sauce, with a roll on the side for good measure. It originated at Nick Tahou Hots' restaurant over 50 years ago - y'know, before we were worried about stuff like obesity and heart attacks. College kids used to come in and ask for a dish with "all the garbage" on it.
But - gasp - a restaurant in Philly has added the Plate to its menu, with a few changes: fries and mustard pan sauce replace the traditional home fries and hot sauce. Could it be as bad - er, good - as the original?
5-18-2008 @8:17PM chris said... my undergrad was in rochester and for a health class they filled a tupperware container with lard to show how much fat was in a garbage plate. it was gross.
Reply
5-18-2008 @8:16PM bacongrease said... The river city deli serves up a good garbage plate in Richmond VA. Hot dogs, chilli, fries, cheese... heartburn.
Reply
5-18-2008 @9:42PM Paul said... looks like barf
Reply
5-18-2008 @11:23PM Nicole said... That really is disgusting.
Reply
5-19-2008 @9:25AM Shelby said... wow, its been awhile since I've seen that glorious plate of food....im actually drooling just looking at it. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.....
Reply
5-19-2008 @9:25AM ZenKimchi said... Love the Garbage Plate. It's Rochester Bibimbap. Oh, man, I could go for one now. Takes two days for me to eat one.
Reply
5-19-2008 @9:25AM Chloe Fox said... I'm a Rochestarian, and though (I'll admit) I've never had a Garbage Plate before, I find it kind of sad and somewhat angering that this restaurant is calling this dish a Garbage Plate.
Even the Nick Tahou's impersonators around the area have to come up with their own original names for their 'Garbage Plates,' and this one thinks it will slip past unnoticed??
I declare war, Philadelphia!
link: http://rocwiki.org/Garbage_Plates
Reply
5-19-2008 @9:26AM RobynT said... "Rochester bibimbap!" LOL. except bibimbap has vegetables!
Kind of reminds me of Loco Moco too except again even less healthy. Amazing. I can't say i wouldn't try it though. Things in a mess together kind of pique my attention somehow.
Reply
5-19-2008 @10:06AM Julie said... I am from Rochester NY and love Nick Tahoes Garbage Plate.....granted, I only have one about twice a year for obvious reasons(heart attack on a plate).You can also get them with Zweigles Hots, pork chops or mix it up and have one hot and one cheeseburger.
http://www.noshtalgia.blogspot.com/
Reply
5-19-2008 @2:54PM Eric G said... Awesome. I'm so glad to see this post. I'm a semi-regular visitor to Rochester and have witnessed the Garbage Plate in all it's glory. I love that city.
Reply
5-19-2008 @4:54PM justin said... There are places all around Rochester that have plates of their own. They usually called, or at least referred to as "%town% Hots" for example, Henrietta Hots has a great plate. Rochester Institute of Technology's campus food places each have their own "plates" as well, and some of them are actually quite awesome. Honestly the Crossroads Cafe has the best I have ever had with their Roadie Plate.
Reply
5-19-2008 @6:49PM Sky said... This is a close to a classic plate, but you need white hots and mustard instead of burgers and ketchup. Oh, and where's the stale bread and pad of butter?
Reply
6-01-2008 @1:50AM outre said... Yum. It looks disgusting, but it's good... and the hot sauce on the garbage plate isn't a typical bottled hot sauce stuff. It's Western, NY thing I guess. I've had to serve it working at Frontier Field and a vat of that sauce is not a pretty site.
Now I want a white hot. I heard a rumor that a bar in Brooklyn has garbage plates... I might have to venture out one of these days.
Reply
5-21-2008 @11:15AM Toph said... I've had the garbage plate from the Ugly American in Philly. First off, it looked nothing like the image above, so they must be preparing the burgers differently. The burgers were just normal burgers that happened to be on top of the other food. It was decent, but nothing special.
If I were creating a real garbage plate from south Philly, it would include a Tony Luke's roast pork sandwich on top of a bed of cheese fries, served with a soft pretzel on the side.
Reply