Garbage plates were an occasional Friday night treat with my dad. We’d get the classic—cheeseburger plates with mac salad, home fries, and all the toppings. As if the layers of hot sauce, mustard, ketchup, and onions weren’t enough, every so often Dad would let me top it with a third cheeseburger, and yes, I’d eat the whole thing.
After high school track meets, the whole team would pile into the cars of whoever was old enough to drive, and we’d stuff our faces with 2 a.m. plates. Extra ketchup, bread on the side.
High school evenings turned into college weekends, turned into midtwenties Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or hey, maybe even a Wednesday night adventure— nine times out of ten ending with a plate from Vasko’s on Park. While I would consider myself well-versed in the Rochester staple, Christine Green, (585) magazine’s editor, had never had one. Let me repeat—she’d never had a garbage plate. And I won’t age-drop a number, but let’s just say she should’ve had one by now.
So, we decided to change that for this issue—and where else would I take her other than Vasko’s? Right on Park Avenue, a prominent, bustling neighborhood that has always been the place to be, the location is perfect for a bite at 2 a.m. or 2 p.m. It’s iconic, and the food at Vasko’s is top-notch.
“I can’t be a real five-eight-fiver without having tried one; I mean, it’s kind of ridiculous,” Green says. “They’ve never looked appealing to me. But it’s time, and I’m excited.”
Now, if you’re a Rochester native, you might be wondering why I chose Vasko’s for Green’s first plate instead of the infamous Nick Tahou’s. Vasko Dimovski opened the casual street spot in June of 2021 when he was twenty-one years old, and besides the fact that I think his plates are the best out there right now, ironically, he uses the same meat sauce recipe as the original Nick Tahou plate.
“My grandfather Vasko (Charlie) Ilijevski worked with Nick Tahou, and when the garbage plate was invented, he asked Tahou for his blessing to open up a place in Webster, which became Empire Hots,” Dimovski says. “My mother and grandfather opened Empire Hots in 1991, and that’s when she came up with the term ‘trash plate.’ And I grew up in the hots joint—sleeping on the bread racks as a kid, helping my parents, being there morning and night. Eventually I was looking to open my own business, and I came across this location on Park Ave, and it was perfect. I’m third generation now, and I wanted to keep the recipes and business in the family—hopefully my own kids can take over one day.”
Vasko’s has endless homemade options and sides—the mac salad is a hit and so is the Friday night fish fry. The coolest thing it offers, though, in my opinion, are the milkshakes: funky flavors, mixed thick, and served with a big straw.
“As a kid, having a garbage plate and a milkshake was my go-to,” Dimovski says. “I had this vision of combining the two when I was opening up my own place. And my mom or grandfather never made shakes, so it was an idea I was able to bring into the business as well.”
Dimovski comes up with the shake recipes himself. Oreo is hugely popular, and the PB & J shake is a homerun in my book (and in Green’s).
“The shake is fabulous,” she says. First you get cold strawberry, and then the peanut butter comes up from the middle layer. It tastes just like a peanut butter sandwich, but as a desert—it’s really good.” Green says.
The traditional plate is two cheeseburgers, mac salad, home fries, mustard, onions, meat sauce, and ketchup, but Vasko’s chicken finger plate is also a huge hit. Many will substitute curly fries, waffle fries, or even onion rings for the home fries—a truly customized pile of trash. “I really want to get into this; it smells phenomenal,” says Green. “My hesitation has always been looking at them from afar—watching drunk college kids devour them—but up close, it looks great.”
Dimovski and I set Green up with the traditional plate, and she came hungry.
“It tastes amazing,” she says. “The mac salad is so good, and a bite of that with the burger is the best part.”
Personally, I go for veggie cheeseburger plates these days, but Vasko’s delivers on that front as well. The burgers come with all the essentials, but no meat sauce. They are topped with pickles, though, which might be my favorite part.
Vasko’s also offers a variety of sandwiches and other sides, one of the most popular being the Park’s Burger. With cheese, onion rings, bacon, barbeque sauce, and grilled onions, Green could not wait to dive in.
“It’s been a while since I’ve had a burger, and I love anything with barbeque sauce,” Green says. “When the barbeque sauce is dripping all over the fries, it makes everything better. This is absolutely delicious, and I will definitely eat it again.”
With eccentric, graffiti-painted walls, Vasko’s offers dine-in eating with patio seating, as well as take-out and delivery options. If you’re grabbing a drink down on Park at Half Pint, you can order Vasko’s at the bar, and Dimovski will actually walk your order down to you. There is a food truck that can be found at many Rochester festivals—Jazz Fest, Fringe, the Lilac Fest—and offer catering for private events.
“Every corner you go to, there’s a garbage plate—every town, every pizza joint—but it’s all about the sauce,” Dimovski says. “Anybody can make a burger, anybody can do the home fries, mac salad; it’s all about the meat sauce. Ours is original from my grandfather from back in the day, and that’s what makes us different.” More information can be found online at vaskosonpark.com or on social media at @vaskosonpark.
Vaskos on Park
266 Park Ave.
340-6733
This article originally appeared in the May/June 2025 issue of (585).
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