If you know me, you know that whenever I am visiting a place for the first time, especially with somebody who knows the area, I LOVE to do the things that people in the area always do, and more importantly must try any food that is specific to where I am.
My friend since first grade went to RIT and had always talked about a garbage plate. Naturally I inquired and was a little thrown off by his response. I trusted his judgment although very skeptical and moved on. Here I am visiting Rochester with him, and I must try one. After his input and about 2 hours researching on Google, I learned quite a bit about the famous plate.
The ingredients: There are a few variations but I will stick with the most popular plate. First, a square styrofoam take out container is filled with one half cold macaroni salad (but you have to say mac salad to be on the in) and hot home fries. Then, two hamburger patties with melted cheese are placed on top of the pile. A few small raw onions are added, then (and I probably should have looked away) the preparer dips a ladle into a huge vat and dumps the contents all over the top. This is the spicy sauce. Two slices of italian bread are put on the side, with butter.
First impressions: My researched revealed that there are two Nick Tahou's in Rochester. One that is riddled with crack whores, gang members, hoboes, and a lot of drunk people. Many stories prepared me for normal gunshot and muggings. This one now closes after 8pm. Luckily there is a 24 hour one in a nicer part of town filled with drunk and stoned kids. First arrival reminded me of any other popular food place (such as Pat's in Philly) with angry chefs, a unique ordering style, and a quick pace. The place was full of people all eating the same thing, a plate of what looked like garbage..... covered in about a half bottle of ketchup.
Ordering: The proper quick, dont hold back that stoned guy behind you, dont look like a fool, dont piss off the chef way to order for me was "Cheeseburger plate mac salad home fries everything" where the everything indicated the onions and the sauce. I nailed it and let out a huge sigh of relief. The alcohol helped me get over the fear of embarassment and the urge to have Adam order for me. I think the anxiety made me speak so fast that it was overdone, but done nonetheless.
Speed: The pile of home fries as high as the chefs neck (no joke), the already heated burger patties, and the huge sauce vat made for a very speedy delivery of our orders. I did not see where the mac salad came from due to my angle.
Delivery: This is a "before" picture. Unfortunately mine was lost or corrupt on the cell phone, so I found one online.
Prep: I sat down with Adam and his old roommate and was so happy that the time had finally come. Adam had a little trouble finding a ketchup bottle with much left in it, but he managed. I chose to skip out on the ketchup because I was afraid the taste would be too overpowering. Adam instructed me to dice up my burger patties and mash everything together. At first I wanted to try everything individually. Each of which was average on taste, and I wanted the full effect, so I diced and mixed it all up.
Ingestion: Wow. At first I was a little hesitant to mix in the cold macaroni salad. The home fries and burger I could deal with along with the onions and sauce. Somehow it all just goes together in a way that makes the plate the staple that it is. Every bite was pretty much the same. I made sure to grab a piece of burger, some mac, and some hash browns on each. The tase was amazing. Other than that I can't really describe it. Let me just say that the urge to think "gross" is premature. There was a definite spice to it that came from the sauce. This sauce is made of god knows what, but it was a thin spicy sauce with lots of ground beef chunks in it. There was a slight mustard taste that either came from the sauce or the home fries. This is where things got interesting. After eating about 70% of the plate, something weird started to happen. Usually you will get full, stomache maybe starts to hurt, maybe some gas, and the desire to just lean back and stop eating. For me... I felt like my muscles didn't want to move anymore. I felt like my heart was straining to beat. I didn't understand. I have overeaten many times, but I expected it would take a lot more food to get to this point. I could have fallen asleep at the booth if I wanted to. But my stomache didn't hurt, nor did I feel full. I took a breather and kept on going, it was just too good. After eating more the effect was getting overwhelming. I also noticed that the sauce was really just a lot of grease, and that it was starting to harden and turn its natural solid color. At this point I decided to take my "after picture."
How did I do?: Well, the typical saying is that you can't leave until you are done, but this just was not going to happen. Although I would say I was only maybe 3 forkfulls away, I was just too SCARED. I had no idea what effect this was going to have on my stomache and toilet use for the rest of the night. Here is the after pic.
I would give myself about a 90-93% completion on the plate. I got all of the burger and meat pieces but couldnt handle any more mac or home fries. What a great food.
Aftermath: I have to say I was extremely happy with the after effects. I did sit on a recliner and put a movie on and not move for a few hours and shuttered at the thought of food, but lets just say that everything else I was fearing "came out normal."
Final thoughts: The garbage plate is a must have if you are ever in the area. Use a tour guide and don't be scared. Overall a magnificent experience. I would love to have another one, but I agree with Adam's recommendation of no more than 1 per month.
I can not give an overall 1-10 or 5 star rating on this. There is nothing you can compare it to, and I just recommend trying one if you ever get the chance.
