Musician's food

[joegerardi]

Reading about the debate on pizza in another thread, I got to wondering about those special places we musicians know about. You know, those 5AM diners that have food that you simply cannot avoid eating, regardless of how tired, drunk, wrung out from the gig you are, or even if there's a babe waiting to go home with you.

 

For me, it was always the Garbage Plate from Nick Taho's whenever I was in Rochester. The Garbage Plate is musician-famous, here are just a few of the quotes from the big names:

 

Sammy Hagar: (in an interview)

Nick Taho's, we learn, is a diner in Rochester, N.Y. that serves, among other items, something called a garbage plate, which consists of a white hot dog with chili, grease, beans and "all sorts of other shit thrown on there." Along with minimalist haute cuisine, it's one of Sammy's favorite things to eat.

 

"The grill at Nick's hasn't been cleaned since the Thirties," he recalls with a smile. "It really enhances the flavor. It's a very soulful grill - kinda like my decanter."

 

Barenaked Ladies: (From a bulletin board.)

The "Great Garbage Plate Debate" was in reference to the Buffalo-Rochester rivalry. Buffalo has chicken wings that are known world wide. Rochester has the "garbage plate" which is more or less pretty local. So Ed said that we need to come up with something better. Then a banter for about 5-10 minutes on what types of wasted animal "parts" should be popularized. The gamut ran from " bowl of whiskers", "salt enrusted uvulas", "tangy taint", "bowl of lobes" so on and so on.

 

What is a "Garbage Plate?" A garbage plate is a combination of home fries, baked beans, mac salad, and either 2 burgers, 2 dogs, eggs, Italian Sausage, or steak, piled up on a heavy Chinet paper plate and all smothered in hot sauce, (and I think I don't really want to know what's in the sauce) served with homemade French bread, and a cup of Coke. I think the USDA listed it as 93 grams of fat.

 

You cannot believe the amount of food on the plate, and you're considerd a wimp if you aren't able to finish it. I think the price is $4.95, and it gets served to you in about 3 minutes.

 

Here's a rather unflattering (but accurate) picture:

 

http://www.geocities.com/garbageplates/plate.jpg

 

OK, let's hear about other places

 

This message has been edited by joegerardi on 07-01-2001 at 01:20 AM

[Gus Lozada]

Originally posted by joegerardi:

A garbage plate is a combination of home fries, baked beans, mac salad, and either 2 burgers, 2 dogs, eggs, Italian Sausage, or steak, piled up on a heavy Chinet paper plate and all smothered in hot sauce, (and I think I don't really want to know what's in the sauce) served with homemade French bread, and a cup of Coke. I think the USDA listed it as 93 grams of fat.

 

YUMMI !!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

My bandmates from TRAX surely remember "Tacos El Paisa" ... Tacos rule, most if you consider only taco places are open by 4 am ... that is the mainstream in Mexico...

 

 

 

 

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Gustavo G Lozada

 

Moderador de:

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"La voz en Español en Música y Tecnología"

 

GusTraX @yahoo.com

[dansouth]

Mmmm - real Mexican tacos... I have to get back to California soon (not Mexico, but the best tacos in the U.S.)

[Raymar]

Garbage plate? Glad I'm both a vegetarian and a non-touring musician! My body just won't injest food at 5am either.

[Rod S]

Originally posted by joegerardi:

For me, it was always the Garbage Plate from Nick Taho's whenever I was in Rochester. The Garbage Plate is musician-famous, here are just a few of the quotes from the big names:

 

LOL Joe. I went to school in Rochester, NY, and I went there more often than I can remember. Came back with a bloody nose from there once. Most of the time was too drunk to remember. Never really placed it as a musician hangout, though.

 

For me, nothing like the kiosks in the beaches in Rio (Brazil) that are open all night. You sit down to eat at 5 am and wait for sun to rise in the horizon... while drinking the juice from fresh coconuts. I've yet to see something beat that.

[stratman_dup1]

Damn Rod Ca, I'm Jealous!!!

 

Not to mention the *scenery* in the Brazilian beaches huh.

 

Need a guit player? call me the next time your on tour there !!!

 

This message has been edited by Stratman on 07-01-2001 at 06:11 AM

 

This message has been edited by Stratman on 07-01-2001 at 06:13 AM

[Max Ventura]

from what I remember when I was an active bandmember in NYC, the places you'd roam late nite were the usual ones along Houston St like Katz and the like. In NY you can pretty much have decent food anytime day or night, so we were kinda lucky. When we did a 40 days tour of the States, in Summer '97, though, I've experienced that, outside of the tri-State area and LA area, food becomes more or less a thing you see in magazines and TV, because what you get served in places along the road is not organic, generally. Enough said.

[Max Ventura]

from what I remember when I was an active bandmember in NYC, the places you'd roam late nite were the usual ones along Houston St like Katz and the like. In NY you can pretty much have decent food anytime day or night, so we were kinda lucky. When we did a 40 days tour of the States, in Summer '97, though, I've experienced that, outside of the tri-State area and LA area, food becomes more or less a thing you see in magazines and TV, because what you get served in places along the road is not organic, generally. Enough said.

[b_3guy]

Here in Halifax, Nova Scotia - Canada, we have the most unique thing going. It's called a Donair. Fairly famous thruout Canada & the Eastern US, its really a sandwich. It might be only available here, but I once heard a rumour of a shop in Toronto. Its starts out as a kind of meatloaf, spicy beef recombined & built on a spit. This spit is hung vertically in a roaster & spins slowly. In the restaurant supply stores they are even called donair meat cookers. On the back side is the element which cooks it. From the front, the person making the donair cuts off the thin, hot slices. The slices are put on a lightly grilled piece of pita bread. Then they put on gobs of this sweet sauce, literally ladled on. Then you get a choice of diced tomatoes, diced raw onions, or both, which is called the works. The whole messy thing is then rolled up in a piece of plastic (the sauce & the grease in this thing can really drip). Then the whole thing is wrapped in tin foil to keep it warm. To eat it, you peel back the tinfoil & plastic. To see a picture go here

http://users.eastlink.ca/~seagull/frameset.html

A lot of the bars here go to 3:30am so these places are open to 4:30am. So when you're liquored & finishing off the the night you go to one of these places. One called Tony's has signed pictures from BTO to the Bare Naked Ladies to Stevie Ray Vauhan. The thing is so popular, you can even get Donair kits in the grocery stores. We've done photo shoots of Donairs & even did up the graphic design for one of the retail boxes. Its like a cult. I've been in meetings with guys in suits, from away, & on their to do list while their here in town, is get a Donair. & I'm sure the thing is dangerous to eat. It's probably got cancer causing agents. The thing weighs about 2-3 lbs, yet it probably has 5000 grams of fat in it. You do the Math. But nothing is better than a Donair when its 4:00am & you got a bunch of beer & drinks in you. And the ladies like them.

 

This message has been edited by b_3guy on 07-01-2001 at 08:05 AM

[joegerardi]

B-3guy:

What you're describing sounds like a Souvlaki. In NYC, those vertical roaster were loaded with Lamb, and they'd slice that off into the pita bread.

 

RodCA:

I can't tell you the number of musical friends and aquaintances I ran into in Nick's when doing gigs in the Ra-cha-cha area.

 

Argomax:

In NYC, we'd always head down to Chico's Taco Rico on Christopher Street, or hit one of the Greek diners for that amazing cheesecake that you can find nowhere else.

[Dave Bryce]

What you're describing sounds like a Souvlaki. In NYC, those vertical roaster were loaded with Lamb, and they'd slice that off into the pita bread.

 

That's a gyros sandwich you're thinking of, isn't it?

 

I thought souvlaki was straight lamb, and the gyros is the pressed lamb and beef stuff on the spit. Almost exactly the same as a donair, except the sauce is different - the gyros uses tsatsiki sauce, which I believe is made with yogurt and cucumbers.

 

dB

[joegerardi]

Dave:

Yup. You're right. The memory is going. Getting old sucks, but it sure beats the alternative...

[Krakit]

I never eat the day of a performance. I drink lots of ice-less coke, but no food. I never wanted to take the chance that something would disagree with me. I'm the same way about taking tests, I always fast piror.

 

Sometimes we'd play three dates in a row, still I wouldn't eat. Lost a lot of weight when I was touring.

[Tedster]

The place has long since faded into memory, but when I lived in Michigan, right on the way home from a lot of our gigs was this little place that used to be a gas station. It had turned into one of those little stores that sold everything, but the owner's forte was cinnamon rolls. And a fresh batch would be coming out of the oven right as we were heading home about 3 am. Man, the smell of those rolls, ahhhh...I still remember, and they were the best damn cinnamon rolls I've ever eaten...steaming hot right out of the oven, just dripping with the right amount of gooey cinnamon stuff...I'd darn near kill for one...

[Rod S]

Need a guit player? call me the next time your on tour there !!!

 

Nah, I'm covered. My brother lives down there and plays guitar http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

(Not like I'm planning to be on tour anytime soon, but that's beside the point...)

 

I can't tell you the number of musical friends and aquaintances I ran into in Nick's when doing gigs in the Ra-cha-cha area.

 

I guess I was just a stuck up college student. I always took that place as a college hangout/'townie'-trash hangout (sorry, but this is what we thought, and yeah, I was pretty stuck up). http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gifhttp://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

I never eat the day of a performance. I drink lots of ice-less coke, but no food. I never wanted to take the chance that something would disagree with me. I'm the same way about taking tests, I always fast piror.

 

I never had a problem, but I had a band for 2 yrs where the guitarrist would throw up before EVERY single concert. It was mostly stage fright and nervousness, but didn't help that the guy was always freaking late and eating junk food in a hurry.

 

Rod

[Mark Zeger]

Originally posted by Rod CA:

LOL Joe. I went to school in Rochester, NY, and I went there more often than I can remember. Came back with a bloody nose from there once. Most of the time was too drunk to remember. Never really placed it as a musician hangout, though.

B]

 

Rod & Joe:

 

No one hangs out late at Nick Tahou's anymore because they started closing at 12mid a few years ago due to crime issues. It was always more of a UR frat hangout anyway. There are tons of garbage plate imitators now...places that serve Trash Plates, Rubbish Plates, etc., but Nick's is king. There's a second suburban santitary location, but what's the point of it?

 

My favorite Rochester "food that can kill you" establishment is Sal's Birdland. Though not as famous as the garbage plate, the "bird" at Sal's (copies found at now-gone Smitty's Birdland and at Country Sweet) is a half chicken, deep fried in 1 piece and smothered in a sweet/spicy honey-mustard sauce laced with crushed hot pepper. The chicken & sauce sit on top of white bread with macaroni salad on the sides. In the early, '80s, this would set you back $4 any Mon-Wed. Unique item on Sal's menu: an order of deep-fried gizzards.

 

Other Rochester late night hangs include Jay's Diner, Pat & Sandy's (re-named), Country Club Diner, Gitsis Texas Hots, Don & Bob's (closed this spring), Bay Goodman Pizza.

 

Places you probably remember playing that are now gone: Red Creek, Casablanca, Mason Jar, Orange Monkey, Playpen, Jazzberry's, Triangle Theater. One that's still around is the Penny Arcade. And still on air since 1969: Uncle Roger overnights on WCMF.

[b_3guy]

Originally posted by Dave Bryce:

What you're describing sounds like a Souvlaki. In NYC, those vertical roaster were loaded with Lamb, and they'd slice that off into the pita bread.

 

That's a gyros sandwich you're thinking of, isn't it?

 

I thought souvlaki was straight lamb, and the gyros is the pressed lamb and beef stuff on the spit. Almost exactly the same as a donair, except the sauce is different - the gyros uses tsatsiki sauce, which I believe is made with yogurt and cucumbers.

 

dB

Souvlaki here is straight lamb served on a stick. Gyros sounds similar except with donairs, they don't bother with lamb, just beef. The gyros sounds just as dangerous. Although donairs are served all day long & the kits are in the grocery stores, the only time I know anybody who eats one is when they're 3 sheets to the wind.

[joegerardi]

Originally posted by mzeger:

No one hangs out late at Nick Tahou's anymore because they started closing at 12mid a few years ago due to crime issues. It was always more of a UR frat hangout anyway. There are tons of garbage plate imitators now...places that serve Trash Plates, Rubbish Plates, etc., but Nick's is king. There's a second suburban santitary location, but what's the point of it?

 

Isn't that the one out in Fairport? I've been there too, when i played at that place up on Lake Ontario.

 

Places you probably remember playing that are now gone: Red Creek, Casablanca, Mason Jar, Orange Monkey, Playpen, Jazzberry's, Triangle Theater. One that's still around is the Penny Arcade. And still on air since 1969: Uncle Roger overnights on WCMF.[/b]

 

OK, stop doing this! My memory is pretty much gone one these places, because after doing it for so long, they all look alike. Let's see: The Penny Arcade... isn't that the place where you play in a room kind of "next" to the bar, and it looks like a long garage?

 

I can only remember two other places in Rochester, one of them the (something) Brewhaus, and this country club somewhere in East Rochester that had the word "eagle" in it. And the only reason I remember that place is because we played a wedding there for a couple who offered us an obscenely huge amount of money to get us to play a wedding at all, and while changing in the bathroom, we killed ourselves trying not to laugh out loud at some guy in there with both the loudest, most repetitive, and worst case of gas I can remember.

[Botch.]

Three favorites: When I lived in Albuquerque, you could get great green chile dishes at any time of the morning, dang I ate well after gigs. Those of you in Ohio, can you still get "slider" or "rats-with-hats" at White Castle? Wasn't great food but I ate a lot of them in the early a.m. Finally, there was a little food cart on the street in the Oregon District in Dayton, Ohio that made the best eggrolls, that was a popular stop. I even ate a few sober to make sure they were that good; they were! Alas, here in Utah the best you can do is a truck stop.

[Llarion]

The Tampa Bay area, where I live, is the original home of both Hooters® and Outback® Steakhouse.

 

Need I go on? http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

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Cheers!

 

Phil "Llarion: The Jazzinator" Traynor

www.mp3.com/llarion

Smooth Jazz

[SFOracle]

C'mon 5:00 AM? It's Denny's grand slam. 5 million tow truck drivers and police officers can be that wrong! Argh .... what's that pain in my che..st ..st ..st ;jklsdfh (face on keyboard)