Bags Unlimited and the Famous "Garbage Plate"

Nick Tahou Hots' fast-food restauran signRochester, New York, is known for this unusual dish. The Garbage Plate was created at Nick Tahou Hots' fast-food restaurant more than fifty years ago. In 1918, Alexander Tahou opened a restaurant in Rochester called “Hots and Potatoes”. On the menu was a dish that included just about everything the kitchen could cook — meat and potatoes with a few other things thrown in to make a one-plate meal that would really stick to your ribs. Alexander's son, Nick, took over the restaurant operations and updated the name to Garbage Plate. Legend has it that long-ago college students asked Nick Tahou for a dish with ''all the garbage'' on it. So, he concocted his original combo plate with two hamburger patties and a choice of two sides — usually some combination of home fries, macaroni salad, and beans. The contents are often laced heavily with ketchup and hot sauce, and mixed together before eating. Rolls or white bread are served on the side. By the 1980s, the place was a huge hit with the college crowd, and eventually that meat and potatoes dish (or "hots and po-tots" as it was sometimes called) was dubbed the Garbage Plate. In 1992, the name iwas trademarked. The Garbage Plate is considered a great late-night snack, and this restaurant is packed with diners from around midnight to 4:00 a.m. Young college men living in Rochester, who like to have contests to see how much beer or food they can consume, consider the Garbage Plate a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood.