PHOTOS BY KRISTY GRAVER

I had lunch at PileZ in Oakland the other day and it was garbage — delicious garbage.

Located in the former Mad Mex at 370 Atwood St. near the University of Pittsburgh campus, the 24/7, take-out eatery serves a disheveled dish that originated at Nick Tahou Hots restaurant in Rochester, New York. 

Nick trademarked the name “Garbage Plate,” but other late-night spots around the Empire State peddle “trash plates” or, the vegan counterpart, the “compost plate.” I think “Dumpster Dinner” has a nice ring to it. 

If you suffer from brumotactillophobia — the fear of different food items touching each other — bypass PileZ. If, like me, your plate regularly resembles a pig’s trough, go hog wild, Porky!

My order, the Red Hot Pile, was an artery-clogging medley of fries, macaroni salad, onions and Zweigle’s Red Hots, two seasoned, skinless, pork-and-beef hot dogs that are split down the middle, laid flat and topped with meat sauce. This type of thing is acceptable to eat when you’re three beers deep at a backyard cookout on the Fourth of July.

At PileZ they slop it all together in a sturdy to-go container, put it in a paper bag with a roll, condiments, plastic utensils and one overworked napkin and send you on your merry way. 

There’s limited seating inside the space, which is just a big, white room with three ordering kiosks and a pick-up window. Human interaction is limited, and that’s probably for the best.

I had planned to dine alfresco in Schenley Park, but I soon realized a Pile is a gloriously gluttonous guilty pleasure that is best enjoyed alone on the couch in your sweats while you binge-watch reality TV shows. 

In addition to varieties of gut-busting goulash, there are burgers, steak sliders and breakfast sandwiches available along with French fries, zucchini fries, funnel cake fries, loaded fries, cheesy balls, Buffalo chicken dip, mac ’n’ cheese, quesadillas and, for the health-conscious, build-your-own smoothies.

Even if you refuse to order anything (wuss!), you’ll enjoy reading the hilariously dramatic menu. The Buff & Steak Pile, for instance, is described as “Buffalo chicken meets sizzling steak on a battlefield of fries and mac. Our famous meat sauce, chopped tomatoes and onions join the fray. Ranch surrenders on the side.”

Kate Clemons and Dan Galusha owners of Brown Bear Bread Cafe in Mt. Oliver, hail from Rochester, New York and were delighted to learn that their hometown comfort food is available in the ‘Burgh. The key to PileZ’s authenticity, they said, is the Zwiegle’s hot dogs that New York natives simply refer to as “hots.” The couple stocked up on the weenies before they moved to the Steel City. 

My favorite clothing company, Fright-Rags, is based in Rochester, so I wore their “Toxic Avenger” T-shirt on my first date with a Garbage Plate.

Ben Scrivens, who runs the monster merch operation, grew up chowing down at Nick Tahou’s (pronounced Ta-Hoes). 

“I think it’s great that garbage plates are making their way to Pittsburgh and, hopefully, other places,” he says, “While some purists may only want the original Nick’s plate, most people have their favorite place for a plate which is a source of great debate around here. To see it expand to other places is cool, as hopefully more people will learn about ours through their regional offering.”