A Friday of Fish Stories- Part Two: Fried.

[captainsblog]

My only out-of-town commitment scheduled for yesterday (before my own possible commitment hearing, for signing on for an outdoor hockey game in 18-degree cold- that tale's still coming) was my Rochester office's holiday party.  These people do this thing so right, compared to other organizations that either make it a drunken gropefest, an office-politics annual convention, or worse.  I dreaded these parties when my original law firm did them, because they were always the last Friday before Christmas, always involved bad food and stupid drinking games, and ended with the annual Passing Out Of The Bonuses, which we'd never know if, or how much, they would be until that very last minute of the season.

This office keeps it light, fun, and family oriented. It started as late as it did specifically so spouses and other SO's could attend- and it's done at a real restaurant, one of a client, where it's bar food but GOOD bar food, followed by an exchange of Secret But Everybody Knows Santa gifts that are kept reasonable and festive.

The food was the most fun to witness, because despite this place having a full menu and plenty of specials, just about the entire table ordered one of two things: the garbage plate or the fish fry.  Both require some explanation, I imagine.

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Let's start with the local delicacy. This bar does not dare infringe on the name "garbage plate"- the registered and legally enforced trademark of one Nick Tahou, who invented this dish in a drunken stupor and later registered it as his own intellectual property some years back.  They therefore go by a variety of dog-whistle variations in other local establishments- the trash plate, messy plate, dumpster plate (ironically infringing on yet another trademark), and in this place, simply, the Rochester plate.

But everybody knows- except, maybe, you?



In 1918, Alexander Tahou opened a restaurant in Rochester called “Hots and Potatoes”. On the menu was a dish that included just about everything the kitchen could cook — meat and potatoes with a few other things thrown in to make a one-plate meal that would really stick to your ribs. Alexander's son, Nick, took over the restaurant operations and updated the name to Garbage Plate.

Legend has it that long-ago college students asked Nick Tahou for a dish with ''all the garbage'' on it. So, he concocted his original combo plate with two hamburger patties and a choice of two sides — usually some combination of home fries, macaroni salad, and beans. The contents are often laced heavily with ketchup and hot sauce, and mixed together before eating. Rolls or white bread are served on the side. By the 1980s, the place was a huge hit with the college crowd, and eventually that meat and potatoes dish (or "hots and po-tots" as it was sometimes called) was dubbed the Garbage Plate.

Last night's version was hideously authentic, save one essential detail- they brought it out on regular restaurant china.  No true GP knockoff can hold a candle (which it would probably light on fire) to any not served on a paper or styrofoam plate so you can see the grease seeping through the bottom. Not of the plate; of the table.

I've only had the pleasure once, but I had a 98-pound pregnant attorney next to me who went full-in for the experience. Those stories about cravings, and eating for two, are apparently all true, because she hoovered the whole thing in record time.

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For my part, I was on the fish fry end of the boat.  This dish has a broader recognition (hardly anyone even in Buffalo knows what a garbage plate is), but it's still, apparently, a relatively rare thing nationally. I'd never heard of it, in its present form, growing up, or even in Ithaca days, but Western New York's unique combination of cold and Catholicism institutionalized and made it close to a 365-day-a-year Thing even after Vatican II took the curse off of Friday meat:

Fish fries are very common in the Midwestern and northeastern regions of the United States. This is especially true for predominantly Roman Catholic communities on Fridays during Lent, when regulations call for abstinence from most meat products. The modern fish fry tradition is strongest in Wisconsin, where more than 1,000 eateries hold a weekly fish fry on Fridays, and often on Wednesdays....

Battered or breaded haddock and cod fish fry is one of the trademarks of upstate New York cuisine and northwestern Pennsylvania, especially Buffalo, as well as Rochester, Albany, Syracuse, New York, and Utica, New York. The majority of restaurants in these cities serve a fish fry on Friday, even outside Lent, and it's often available throughout the week.

I've also seen it opined that, unlike chicken wings, " it is impossible to find a bad fish fry." Last night did nothing to dispel that rumor. And we're talking BIG FISH here, stretching over the length of the plate- breaded to sinful perfection and served with sweet potato fries and cole slaw.  In the end, the fish won out, and a good section of the thorax is waiting for me for lunch today. Unlike most other forms of cooked fish, you can even risk the otherwise dangerous co-worker wrath and heat it up in the microwave.

I just have to remember to block the view of the three fish in the living room. They're back in a filtered, heated tank, which we moved to a new angle, so we will have to keep them from seeing my latest incident of fishy torture.  Although who knows? Maybe they'd have been more scared by a garbage plate....

Comments

[drbear.livejournal.com]

What they say about Wisconsin fish frys are true - each town has its favored place, usually a neighborhood bar, or perhaps the local Legion post has one.

[captainsblog.livejournal.com]

What's the fish in your parts? I seem to remember Michael Feldman talking a lot about lutefish....

[drbear.livejournal.com]

In our part of Wisconsin, it's traditionally been lake perch. Lutefisk is more of a Norwegian thing; that's why it's mentioned a lot in Minnesota (and by Garrison Keillor).