NICK TAHOU HOTS
EST. 1918
NICK TAHOU HOTS — ROCHESTER, NEW YORK — EST. 1918
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF GARBAGE
Rochester, New York
1918
Nick Tahou Hots
Home of the original Garbage Plate.
One hundred years on one plate.
Scroll · Est. 1918
Act I — 1918 · The Depot

WEST MAIN
TEXAS HOTS

Alex Tahou, a Greek immigrant, opens the doors on West Main Street — inside a former Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh railroad depot. The house order is simple:

— HOTS & POTATOES — COLD BEANS — ITALIAN BREAD & BUTTER
Act II — The Name

NICK
TAHOU
HOTS

The 1940s. The son takes the counter — and keeps it for five decades. The sign changes. The city never calls it anything else again.

Act III — 2 A.M., The 1980s
— every college kid in Rochester, after midnight

“It’s food; it doesn’t sound good.” — the Tahou family, resisting the name

SEARED
Press & hold to grill
Act IV — 1991 · The Mark
TRASH PLATEVOID
HOT PLATEVOID
JUNKYARD PLATEVOID
RUBBISH PLATEVOID
SLOPPY PLATEVOID
COMPOST PLATEVOID

GARBAGE PLATE®

Registered — U.S. Trademark, 1991.
The name comes home.
The New York TimesSaveur · Food & Wine Food Network — “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” Man v. Food · The Place Beyond the Pines 2017 — the Red Wings become the Rochester Plates
The original Garbage Plate

THERE IS
ONLY ONE.

Make the Pilgrimage →
320 W. Main St · Rochester, NY · Since 1918
The Anatomy

What’s on the plate

Home fries and macaroni salad Two red hots Hot sauce ladled over Mustard and onions Bread and butter The finished Garbage Plate
01 — The Base
01
The base — pick two
Home fries, macaroni salad, french fries, or baked beans. Side by side. No apologies.
02
The top
Two hots — red or white — or hamburgers, cheeseburgers, steak, chicken, eggs. Your call at the counter.
03
The hot sauce
The house meat sauce. Not a condiment — the signature. The reason imitations stay imitations.
04
Mustard & onions
Over everything.
05
Bread & butter
On the side. You’ll need it.

Mix it before you eat it. That’s the law of the counter.

The Century

1918 → Today

1918

Alex Tahou opens West Main Texas Hots in the old railroad depot. Hots and potatoes.

1940s

Nick takes over and gives the place his name. He’ll work the counter for five decades.

1980s

College kids after midnight invent the name: “the plate with all the garbage on it.”

1991

The family trademarks “Garbage Plate.” Every rival in town has to call theirs something else.

1997

Nick passes. The family keeps the griddle hot.

2017

The Rochester Red Wings rebrand as the “Rochester Plates” for the plate’s centennial era.

Today

Third-generation Tahou hands. Same corner. Same plate. Still the original.

On Record

The world found it

The New York TimesSaveur Food & WineHuffPost Food NetworkMan v. Food Travel ChannelThe Daily Show The Place Beyond the PinesConan

Named on national TV, dropped into Hollywood scripts, joked about by Jon Stewart, testified to by Jim Gaffigan. Copied in nearly every kitchen in Monroe County — under any name but the real one. The plate went everywhere. The original never moved.

The Pilgrimage

Come to the counter

Nick Tahou Hots
320 W. Main St, Rochester, NY 14608
Get Directions → Call 585-436-0184
Daytime counter — doors close at 8 P.M.
Go hungry. Leave changed.