Rochester food comes to Easton

[all-u-care-2]

Anyone familiar with the "garbage" or "trash" plates popularized in Rochester, NY, who might be passing through eastern PA along US 22 would be encouraged to check out Corbin John's, in the Palmer Town Center just off the 25th St. (rt 248) exit of 22 in the Easton area.

Place looks kinda chain-y, but according to staff this is their only location, at least in the Valley. Besides the plates they do burgers, "Texas hots" red and white, steaks (Philly-style), chicken and seafood items, and salads.

I tried the grilled chicken on roll, with mozzarella...nice and juicy; a woman that came in after me got one of the plates, with burgers IIRC. I told the one clerk, folks in Allentown would freak out when they heard about this...

[philadining]

What a weird coincidence... I'm in Rochester (NY) right now, and was thinking of getting a garbage plate in the next few days! I'll document as best I can and then try to make it to Easton to check for authenticity. Because, you, know, there's nothing worse than an inauthentic garbage plate.

[shacke]

What a weird coincidence... I'm in Rochester (NY) right now, and was thinking of getting a garbage plate in the next few days! I'll document as best I can and then try to make it to Easton to check for authenticity.  Because, you, know, there's nothing worse than an inauthentic garbage plate.

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Well spoken. If it aint real garbage, it's just trash.....

Evan

[MarketStEl]

This sounds intriguing.

Since I'm not likely to be in either the Rochester or Allentown areas anytime soon, could someone describe this phenomenon to me?

[all-u-care-2]

This sounds intriguing.

Since I'm not likely to be in either the Rochester or Allentown areas anytime soon, could someone describe this phenomenon to me?

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The foundation is some combination of homefries (hash browns?), baked beans, and/or macaroni salad (some places use french fries instead of the hashers, incl. this one); then whatever meat you can think of -- anything from franks or burgers (no buns) to grilled chicken or sandwich-steak -- goes on top. Condiments and garnishes could also be involved, e.g. the hot chili-ish stuff spread on Texas Hots, which they also serve.

It all goes in the same place, grandma would say...

I've seen webpages about them, here's one: Geocities

Edited December 26, 2005 by all-u-care-2 (log)

[philadining]

Behold... the original, the UR-Garbage Plate...

This is a version featuring the other regional quirk: White Hots. You can get a Garbage Plate with a variety of things on it, usually hot dogs or hamburgers, but ranging to fried ham, toasted cheese sandwiches, there was even something on the board at Nick Tahou's just called "veggie". The mind boggles.

As reported above, it's a pile of home fries, macaroni salad or baked beans, your hot dogs or burgers or whatever right on top, slathered with brown mustard, sprinkled with chopped onions, drenched in what's called "hot sauce" there, which is something like a thin ground beef-based chili, and served with bread, because, you know, it's not carbolicious enough...

Here's one with cheeseburgers. They're under there somewhere..

It's not a bad lunch for about $5-6 bucks each plate...

And despite the name, it really was surprsingly tasty! I'll try to get out to Easton soon and do an authenticity check.

Edited December 28, 2005 by philadining (log)

[Taboni]

Damn they're about 20 years too late. When I was in college there I could done some damage to a few of these.

[philadining]

Nick Tahou's has been around for over 50 years... it might not have been a college hang-out until more recently. It certainly is now, especially the second location which is still open late at night.

Roadfood.com

Wikipedia

Edited December 28, 2005 by philadining (log)

[philadining]

I couldn't resist the call of the garbage plate, so I made a field trip to Easton to check out Corbin John's. It's a little tough to spot at first, tucked into a corner of a plaza, but if you take rt 22 to 25th street then go south on 25th street just a bit, it's over behind the Dairy Queen, near the Home Depot.

Before I even got in the place I could tell it was run by a native Rochesterian, there were signs in the windows advertising "fish fry" on friday nights, an odd obsession amongst upstate New Yorkers...

And sure enough, they make a credible version of the Garbage Plate (they call it the "PA Trash Plate," I don't know if Nick Tahou actually trademarked "Garbage Plate" but most other places in Rochester do use a variation on the term, rather than the original name.)

This is a half-plate, which has all the accompaniments, in this case home fries and macaroni salad, but just one hot dog rather than two. (I would have gotten the full one but I happened to pass a Yocco's on the way, and couldn't resist a Yocco Dog and some Pierogis...)

It's really quite authetic, most importantly the crucial ground beef "hot sauce" on top, which has a touch of cinnamon, making it taste kind of like Cincinnati Chili. They didn't serve bread along with it, but I always thought including it was a weird thing about the Rochester versions.

I got it with a white hot, just like in RaChaCha, but you could get red hots, cheeseburgers, Italian sausage, chicken...

I didn't see too many folks getting Trash Plates, most were ordering plain hot dogs, burgers or cheesesteaks. They have regular french fries, and also fresh-cut fries for a few cents more. I had a pile of home fries to contend with, so I didn't sample the fresh-cut ones.

There's nothing inherently great about a Garbage/Trash Plate, it's fairly standard diner food, just piled-together in an odd way. The hot sauce gives it a unique spin, but you can get that sauce on your dog or burger without getting a plate. But I'm happy to know that I can get a grilled white hot without driving 6 hours, and I might swing by for a trash plate now or then, just for old times sake...

For what it is, Corbin John's is doing a great job. Thanks for the tip all-u-care-2!

Edited January 8, 2006 by philadining (log)

[GordonCooks]

One important fact - A "Plate" tastes best when eaten after 1:00 a.m.

[philadining]

One important fact - A "Plate" tastes best when eaten after 1:00 a.m.

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This is absolutely true, and the urge to get a "plate" correlates very directly with alcohol consumption. Sadly I don't think Corbin John's is open very late... my apologies, I forgot to verify this very important aspect of the phenomenon.

[Rich Pawlak]

Lew Bryson writes a terrific piece about garbage plates in his book, "New York Breweries" Here is his website for an excerpt. The way he writes about the garbage plate, you've just gotta have one.

[all-u-care-2]

One important fact - A "Plate" tastes best when eaten after 1:00 a.m.

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This is absolutely true, and the urge to get a "plate" correlates very directly with alcohol consumption. Sadly I don't think Corbin John's is open very late... my apologies, I forgot to verify this very important aspect of the phenomenon.

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Aye-aye on not real late: 11 on weekends, 9 the rest of the week. Not gonna work with most of the local public houses.

Edited January 11, 2006 by all-u-care-2 (log)