A Garbage Plate is an iconic dish born in New York. When you think of Rochester, New York, you probably think of things like Kodak and Xerox. Those are two major companies that were founded in Rochester. But what you should think of is The Garbage Plate.

The Garbage Plate was founded in Rochester at Nick Tahou Hots in 1918. Nick Tahou's is the founder of The Garbage Plate and has actually trademarked the name. A Garbage Plate is typically a made up of "a base of any combination of home friesmacaroni saladbaked beans, or french fries topped by your choice of meats and dressed to your liking with spicy mustard, chopped onions, and our signature Nick Tahou's hot sauce. Each plate comes with two thick slices of fresh Italian bread and butter," according to Wikipedia.

Taylor Dickson
Taylor Dickson
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While The Garbage Plate is trademarked, many copy-cats have popped up in the Rochester area. Garbage Plates, and the imitators, can only be found in the Western New York region. I've personally never been to Nick Tahou Hots, but I have been to two copy-cats: Jimmy Z's Plates and Shakes in Brockport and Dogtown in Rochester. When I get a plate, not a Garbage Plate, because it's only called a Garbage Plate at Nick Tahou's, I like chicken fingers, macaroni salad, tater tots, extra meat sauce, and onions. It looks gross, I know. But trust me, it's AMAZING.

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