I’ve been on the road again for work for the last couple of weeks to Rochester, NY. For those of you who don’t know where it is, it’s about 5.5 hrs from New York City (by car), just over an hour from Buffalo, NY, and about 30 mins from Palmyra, NY.
(WARNING: Probably a long post cause I’m long-winded like that)
It’s the first time in a long while since I’ve been in that part of the country (I think the last time was when my family still lived in Canada and I was like 11 or something).  So it was nice to get to go around and find out what’s famous around there (besides Buffalo Wings and the Church).
On the weekend, I went to Cooperstown, NY where the Baseball Hall of Fame is and Doubleday Field. Pretty cool stuff considering I used to play and all, but definitely a once in a life-time thing =)
Doubleday Field, the birthplace of Baseball
The Baseball Hall of Fame
Barry Bonds' Record Breaking Baseball
Of course, I took another bunch of photos of most of the food we ate out there =) The “mystery fish” I had at Bonefish Grill was supposed to be Chilean sea bass…cause that’s what I ordered. But when comparing the fish to what everyone around me had, it looked nothing like the Chilean sea bass that others had and it looked totally like the swordfish that the guy across from me had. Of course, by the time I asked about it, there was only a bite left and the waiter being the expert that he is was able to tell from just one bite what kind of fish it was…yeah right…he had no idea, he just didn’t want an upset customer =) Here’s the link…Rochester Food 2008
Anyway, asking around, I was trying to find out what food is unique to Rochester. The unanimous answer was the “Garbage Plate” (which is a trademarked name, so it’s also known as the “Rubbish Plate” and the “Junker Plate” among other things). Now, the proper way to eat this dish is at 2am after a night of drinking and everyone has the munchies. Seeing as I don’t drink, I had to go in totally sober. The original “Garbage Plate” was first made by Nick Tahou in Rochester back in 1918 as a way of offering a lot of food at a good price during the Depression and it was originally called “Hots and Potatoes”. The core ingredients are:
- Home fries
- Macaroni salad
- Choice of meat (cheese burgers are the most popular but you can have anything from hot dogs to steak on it)
- Hot sauce (a type of meat based sauce also unique to the area)
- Yellow mustard
- Raw diced white onion
My personal favorite variation includes adding baked beans to the bottom and Frank’s Hot Sauce (not the meat sauce but the Tabasco type) to the top. Each place that makes this in Rochester has their own unique style of doing it. Key differences are the type of potato used on the bottom (some like fries, some cut their own, some used frozen), the mac salad (home-made or store bought), the meat patties (some make their own hamburgers), and of course the Hot Sauce itself. So with all these differences, of course I had to try as many as I could. 4 places in 5 days. I couldn’t find a place open one day for dinner, otherwise I would have made 5 for 5 days.
My preferences from best to worst:
- Bay Hots (overall the best)
- Tied with 3. – Tom Wahl’s (just cause their Hot Sauce was really great but they only used fries)
- Tied with 2. – Steve T’s (owned by the niece and nephew of Nick Tahou)
- Nick Tahou’s (overall, the original was a disappointment)
If you are ever in the area, I’d recommend Bay Hots for sure but regardless of where you go, you HAVE to try this dish at least once in your life! =D (Just don’t scroll any further and see the photos and hopefully you haven’t looked at the food gallery yet…)
The Original, Nick Tahou's
The Nick Tahou Garbage Plate with baked beans and a fried egg
The Bay Hots Garbage Plate
The Bay Hots Garbage Plate after mixing
2 Responses to “On the road again”
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That definitely doesn’t LOOK appetizing.
I think I’ve seen that before in Seattle, in front of a bar, next to a garbage can, after it has been spewed from my drunk co-worker. 🙂 I am praying that you don’t get a heart-attack.