My First Garbage Plate

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 7:02 pm

Last year when Aardvark came to visit Yukon, Oklahoma, I showed him around town and took him to several local restaurants. When he returned home to Rochester, he mailed me several things having to do with Rochester including a jar of "garbage plate meat sauce". I did not know what a garbage plate was and to be honest the sauce was confusing and mildly gross sounding. Why would anyone want to eat something that looks like garbage?

Last week I found out first hand.

Last week's vacation led us from Oklahoma City to Chicago, Cleveland, Niagara Falls, and on this day, Rochester. Aardvark was kind enough to not only give us the coordinates of the only-somewhat-shady Nick Tahou's, but to meet us there along with his wife. While I've been looking forward to ordering a garbage plate for quite some time, convincing my wife that something named after garbage could be delicious took a bit more work, and the kids were right out.

Ordering your first garbage plate is a bit intimidating. Essentially you'll be asked to order two meats from column A and two "base" items from column B. There are approximately 10 things in each column so for your first time it can be a bit overwhelming. It took me five minutes to settle on a cheeseburger/sunny-side-up egg on top of home fries and macaroni salad. My wife went with scrambled eggs and a grilled cheese sandwich on top of home fries and beans. 'Vark and Mrs. 'Vark on the other hand are pros, and ordered something like "cheeseburgerdoubleregular". It was literally one word and it took them less than five seconds to order. I'll do better next time.

God, I hope there's a next time.

The origin of the name "garbage plate" is evident from the moment you receive your order. Mine literally looked like someone took a shit into a Styrofoam container. Susan's looked worse; the grilled cheese sandwich looked like a hobo's snack dropped onto a pile of dead hobo. Seriously. Everything on my plate looked like someone had already eaten it at least once.

After the first bite goes down, you forget what the slop looks like. The meal is like the punch line to a joke where Bill Cosby, Helen Keller, Jim Henson and Gallagher walk into a bar. In the beginning you just know these things aren't going to combine into something worthwhile, but by the end it seems so obvious. The yolk from my egg ran down into the home fries. The meat from my cheeseburger mixed with the macaroni. It all came together like the closing ceremonies at the Olympics.

Ok so I've been drinking and these analogies are terrible, but trust me -- a garbage plate is not terrible. The sauce on top of the whole thing ties it all together, adding a single cohesive hotness to its eclectic ingredients.

With the sauce that 'Vark so kindly shipped me, now that I've experienced one first hand, I plan on trying to reproduce that goodness in my own kitchen. Not sure if it's possible to duplicate, but man, my gullet is begging me to try.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Sat Jun 08, 2013 7:07 pm

Awesome! Make sure to be hammered when you try the next one, it makes the whole thing 10X squared better!

THE
MAKING ME HUNGRY NOW
AARDVARK

Bugs · Post by **Bugs** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 10:11 am

The only way to have one is with white hots and extra mustard.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 11:23 am

Bugs wrote:The only way to have one is with white hots and extra mustard.

The ONLY way? People who order two cheeseburger plates are WRONG??? Thousands of people, some still living, are wrong?????

Where is that guy who was handing out violations? You are in violation.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 4:32 pm

Just for fun: How many stars would Tahou's get on yelp?

I've seen the quality (if you can believe such a thing) of that place go down over the years. And then, when Nick's nephew bought the franchise, the portions got bigger and they started serving Zweigle's hots. And life was worth living again....No, seriously, it made going there something other than a grungy 2AM bleary treat.

THE
LOOKED AT LIFE FROM
BOTH SIDES NOW
AARDVARK

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 5:39 pm

I just have never heard of anyone ordering it with white hots, and then Bugs comes on here and says we are all doing it wrong. Frankly, I am outraged.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 6:30 pm

I like to get a cheeseburger/ white hot combo plate. Just to mix things up. Never had an egg plate. Had the steak plate, which was okey-dokey, but never the egg. I shudder to think about the fish plate, though.

THE
MRS. PAUL,
DEAD IN THE BACK ROOM
SINCE 1972
AARDVARK

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 7:33 pm

We eat a lot of Mexican food and I get Huevos Rancheros quite a bit. I always get them sunny-side up as I like the runny yokes. One of the places near my house started serving enchiladas with eggs on top of them, so I started getting that and it's pretty good too. I guess I had eggs on the brain and was missing them when we were up there, which is why I ordered that. I have to say it was pretty darn good.

I didn't know what white hots were so that's why I didn't try them.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sun Jun 09, 2013 8:13 pm

White hot dogs are a form of hot dog that are white. It's not a stake I want to put into the ground, but they are - in my opinion - better than normal "pink" hot dogs or whatever.

I am not saying that this is absolutely 100% the way it is, like I would be with wings. I am not being "that guy" with the white hots. But I like them better.

There is a place near my girlfriend's house that serves them and it was shocking to find them there the first time.

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:48 pm

Susan was cleaning out the kitchen cabinet 10 minutes ago and found the rest of the garbage sauce. She's now cooking up a couple of hamburger patties and hot dogs and I already got the mustard out and we're getting ready to cook a couple of eggs and party like it's 2013 all over again. Aardvark gives the gifts that keep on giving. Thanks again!

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Sun Dec 07, 2014 6:20 pm

Schweet! There's more where that came from. Who was it, Casual Observer? that asked me to mail a couple jars to him a few years back. Out Seattle way or thereabouts.

We have friends up in Watertown that always ask for white hots and jars of sauce whenever we visit them. Funny how regional foodstuffs are better when you can't get them easily.

THE
MAIL ORDER MONSTER
AARDVARK

Flack · Post by **Flack** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 12:31 pm

This was pre-egg.

AArdvark · Post by **AArdvark** » Mon Dec 08, 2014 4:08 pm

[youtube][/youtube]

Jizaboz · Post by **Jizaboz** » Thu Dec 11, 2014 2:03 pm

That looks pretty damn good aside from the random and lonely hotdog.