Nick Tahou Hots

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A hot dog garbage plate

Nick Tahou Hots is a Rochester, New York landmark restaurant famous for its Garbage Plate. The restaurant was founded by its namesake, Nick Tahou, who died in 1997 after running the establishment for over 50 years. Despite the many regional variants all based on the same theme (such as Penfield, Fairport, and Perinton Hots), Nick's is widely regarded as the original Garbage Plate.

A Garbage Plate is a disorganized combination of two selections out of (cheeseburger, hamburger, steak, hotdogs, white hots, italian sausage, chicken, fish, fried ham, Grilled Cheese, or eggs), which are placed on top of a choice of two out of four sides (homefries, french fries, baked beans, or macaroni salad). On top of that you get the options of mustard and onions and the signature ingredient: Nick's "hot sauce" - a greasy spiced sauce containing ground meat. The garbage plate also comes with a side of starchy white Italian-style bread and butter. Most patrons typically smother this in ketchup, mustard or a hot sauce, particularly Frank's Red Hot. A1 Steak Sauce is also usually available.

One famous charitable tradition is the Nick Tahou's Garbage Plate Run sponsored by Sigma Phi Epsilon at the University of Rochester. Held annually in the spring, this three-man race begins at the UR River Campus, where runners go through the city for 2.2 miles to Nick Tahou's. Upon arrival of the first runner, a second teammate consumes a garbage plate as fast as possible. Once completed, a final runner runs back to campus completing the race. Some one-man teams attempt to finish all three tasks alone in a race appropriately titled the "Ironman." All proceeds collected from sponsors and entering contestants are donated to CURE. It is also a tradition for many RIT students to buy a garbage plate and eat it at Nick Tahou's grave site on his birthday.

There are currently two Nick Tahou Hots restaurants in Rochester: one located in downtown Rochester and the other satellite restaurant located on Lyell Avenue in the Rochester suburb of Gates. While previously open all night, the main restaurant began closing at 8 P.M. in 1998 due to a spate of disturbances. The one located on Lyell Avenue remains open twenty four hours a day. Peak times of business occur during the weekends shortly after 2 AM, when local bars close.

Nick's has been featured on Food Network's Unwrapped as well as the City in a Box Monopoly based board game showcasing famous Rochester landmarks.