Rochester Red Wings pay tribute to Garbage Plates

Our continuing coverage of baseball players dressing up like food items continues with the cryptically named Rochester Plates. The Rochester Red Wings, Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins, will take to the field for one game later this season in uniforms that pay homage to the 100th anniversary of a regional specialty in Rochester, New York, called a “Garbage Plate.”

According to the team’s website, a garbage plate consists of two hamburger patties or two hot dogs on a bed of macaroni salad and home fries, topped with hot sauce and onions. It dates back to 1918, when it was served under the name “Hots and Potatoes” at a restaurant called Nick Tahou Hots, which today is in the same neighborhood as the Red Wings’ ballpark.

“When my grandfather opened the business in 1918 they called it ‘Hots and Potatoes’,” said Alex Tahou, owner of Nick Tahou Hots, quoted on MiLB.com. “Then in the 80s we started to get a bunch of college kids who came in and didn’t know what it was, so they would just say, ‘Gimme a plate with all that garbage on it’.”