Food History of Rochester

Key eras

1818-1840s, Flour City and the Genesee mills

Rochester earned the nickname Flour City by 1838, when it was the largest flour-producing city in the United States. The Genesee River's waterfalls powered more than twenty mills grinding wheat into flour for eastern markets. The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, gave Rochester access to Great Lakes grain and Atlantic ports, cementing the city's role as the nation's first significant industrial food production center. When the wheat belt moved west, the Flour City era ended, but the milling infrastructure shaped Rochester's industrial identity and the founding of Wegmans decades later.

1880, Zweigle's and the Rochester hot dog tradition

C. Wilhelm and Josephine Zweigle opened a butcher shop on the corner of Joseph Avenue and Kelly Street in Rochester in 1880. Their descendant operation became famous for two products: red hots, a snappy beef-and-pork frankfurter in natural casing, and white hots, an uncured veal-and-pork version descended from German Weisswurst. Zweigle's white hots became a Rochester culinary identity marker distinct from the rest of New York State. The fifth-generation family business still operates out of Plymouth Avenue.

1916-1930s, Wegmans and the modern grocery era

John Wegman opened the Rochester Fruit and Vegetable Company as a small produce cart in 1916, founding what would grow into one of America's most admired supermarket chains. By the 1930s the family had opened a large grocery at 44 Rochester markets, pioneering prepared foods sections, in-store bakeries, and eventually cooking schools. Rochester serves as Wegmans' headquarters and innovation lab; the Pittsford location features an in-store flour mill reviving the Flour City heritage.

1918, Nick Tahou and the birth of the Garbage Plate

Alexander Tahou, a Greek immigrant, opened West Main Texas Hots in 1918 at 320 W. Main Street in Rochester. His son Nick gave the restaurant its current name and developed the Garbage Plate: a base of home fries or macaroni salad topped with meat sauce, your choice of cheeseburgers, white hots, or red hots, plus mustard and raw onion. Nick Tahou Hots trademarked the Garbage Plate name in 1991; many Rochester restaurants sell plate variants under other names. The original counter has operated continuously since 1918.

1970s, Chicken French takes root

Chicken French, an egg-battered chicken cutlet in a lemony white wine or sherry sauce, became a Rochester Italian-American standard in the 1970s. The dish is widely attributed to the now-closed Brown Derby restaurant on Monroe Avenue but was adopted by dozens of Italian-American restaurants across the metro area. It appears on menus across Rochester that have no Italian connection, having become a city-specific comfort dish as distinct to Rochester as the Garbage Plate.

1991, Rohrbach and Rochester's craft beer era

Rohrbach Brewing Company opened in 1991 as Rochester's first craft brewery, establishing the city's brewing revival. Three Heads Brewing, Swiftwater Brewing, Strangebird, Genesee Brew House's pilot program, and a wave of brewpubs followed over the next two decades. Genesee Brewing, which has operated since 1878, relaunched its Brew House as a pilot craft taproom, giving the city's oldest operating brewery a craft-beer face. Rochester now supports over a dozen independent breweries within Monroe County.

2010s, Finger Lakes wine and the urban winery

Rochester sits at the northern gateway to the Finger Lakes wine region, home to over 100 wineries producing Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Cabernet Franc, and Pinot Noir. As Finger Lakes wine gained national recognition through the 2010s, Rochester developed its own urban wine culture: Living Roots Wine and Co opened as the city's first urban winery in the Neighborhood of the Arts, sourcing from both the Finger Lakes and South Australia. Carnegie Cellars and a wave of curated wine bars brought Finger Lakes bottles to neighborhood tables across the city.

Immigrant influences

• Greek: Greek immigration to Rochester built the city's diner culture and Italian-American hybrid restaurants. Nick Tahou, founder of the Garbage Plate tradition, was a Greek immigrant. The Park Avenue corridor still carries Greek-influenced diners including Jines and Voula's Greek Sweets, both neighborhood institutions.
• Italian: Italian immigrants brought the trattoria and red-sauce tradition that produced Chicken French, Rochester's own egg-battered chicken cutlet. Italian-American restaurants on Monroe Avenue and throughout the suburbs made Chicken French a city-wide comfort standard. Mr. Dominic's at the Lake is the most cited contemporary version.
• German: German immigrants shaped Rochester's meat-processing culture in the 19th century, including founding Zweigle's. The white hot itself descends from German Weisswurst brought to Rochester by German butchers. German-style lagers became the base for Genesee Brewing's long-running beer production.
• South Asian and Ethiopian: South Asian and East African immigrants built Monroe Avenue's most-visited international dining corridor. Thali of India on South Winton Road earned Best of Rochester 2025 for best Indian restaurant. Natural Oasis on Monroe Avenue serves Ethiopian vegan food that draws both the Ethiopian community and citywide vegan diners.
• Mediterranean and Middle Eastern: Lebanese and wider Mediterranean communities established Aladdin's Natural Eatery as a long-running local chain and shaped the Monroe Avenue falafel, hummus, and shawarma culture that continues with Halal Spot and newer arrivals.

Signature innovations

• The Garbage Plate (since 1918): Nick Tahou Hots' trademarked pile of meat sauce, macaroni salad, home fries, and hot dogs on a single plate, born at 320 W. Main Street.
• Zweigle's white hot (since 1880): uncured veal-and-pork frankfurter in natural casing, a Rochester-specific hot dog variety with no national equivalent.
• Chicken French (1970s): egg-battered chicken in white wine sauce, Rochester's adopted Italian-American dish now on menus across the city.
• Abbott's Frozen Custard (since 1926): the Lake Avenue stand that defined Rochester summer eating, now in its 100th season.
• Wegmans prepared foods (since 1960s): Rochester's supermarket chain pioneered in-store food counters, cooking classes, and a sushi department before these were industry norms.