Tracy Schuhmacher

@RahChaChow

"The Garbage Ball is here!!! Everything in a plate formed into a ball, coated in Panko and deep fried!! Doesn't get much better!!'

It was a single post on Facebook, along with a photograph of a sizable sphere of food, apparently deep fried, topped with a meaty ground beef sauce, a squiggle of an orange condiment and surrounded by a confetti of cheese.

The reaction was immediate. More than 2,400 people reacted with a like, love or wow on Facebook. A total of 2,963 people shared it. The post garnered more than 800 comments:

Sweet mother of God. ... Why can't we get these in the southern Adirondacks. Lived in Rochester and moved away, missing garbage plates let alone this beautiful creation!!!

Omgggggggg when we going.

I might have to try this instrument of death.

That looks amazeballs.

That one Facebook post initially promised a cash cow for the 585 Rockin Burger Bar in Gates. But the feeding frenzy that ensued wound up being as much of a headache as a help.

Chef and co-owner of the bar around the corner from Cinemark Tinseltown theater, Jerry Gallipeau enjoys concocting dishes with crazy twists. His pepperoni pizza melt has two pepperoni pizza grilled cheese sandwiches as buns. A chips and dip burger includes house-made onion dip and potato straws. And one of his specials, the mac attack, substitutes mac and cheese patties in for buns.

In the past, Gallipeau applied his creative twists to arancini. He started out with traditional versions of the Italian rice balls, which were stuffed with meat, peas and mozzarella cheese, coated with bread crumbs and deep fried. But he also made nontraditional versions, including Buffalo chicken, lobster and Cuban, stuffed with pulled pork and ham and served with a Cuban sauce on top. He also branched out to dessert arancini including peanut butter and jelly, cannoli, banana split, raspberry cream and lemon pie.

One day, he had a request for arancini based on a trash plate, so he stuffed the arancini with hamburger, hot sauce and mac salad; his customer was pleased.

That got his creative wheels turning. He took the idea a step further, eliminating the rice. In a huge bowl, he combined ground beef, french fries, macaroni salad and shredded cheddar cheese. Getting that concoction to hold together in a ball wasn't an easy process; he equated it to making a snowball out of slush. After several tries, he developed a technique for forming the balls, smearing them with egg, coating them in Panko bread crumbs and repeating the process. The ball consisted of more than two pounds of food, midway in size between a softball and bowling ball, meant for sharing.

He topped it with meat-based hot sauce and a squiggle of his Rockin Sauce, kind of a spicy mayo, and surrounded it with shredded cheddar cheese. It was served on a paper-lined tray instead of a plate.

He offered it as a special one night, making each ball to order. It was a hit with customers, but after the time-consuming process of making 30 to order that night, Gallipeau looked around the mess from the process and said, "I'm never going to do that again."

That vow lasted for a couple of years until a few weeks ago, when he decided to roll out the garbage ball again. This time, he premade the balls and chilled them, which helped compact the mixture. He figured this would streamline the process enough to make it workable.

His son, Jerid, 29, who also works in the family-owned restaurant, snapped a picture and shared it on the restaurant's Facebook page. The reaction was immediate, with many customers coming in for the balls.

The problem: Only two of the supersized balls could fit into a fryer basket, and the limited output slowed down the kitchen.

"It was delaying things quite a bit," Gallipeau said.

He serves trash plates to the stars

The next day, the restaurant ran a second Facebook post: Our sincere apologies for the long waits tonight. Our garbage ball special went viral on our post. They are made to order, as well as all of our burgers, so there was a backup because of it. Kudos to our kitchen staff for giving their all in the 200 plus degree kitchen.

After that, the garbage balls were downsized to a softball size — still a hefty pound of food — to fit more balls in a fryer basket. To avoid backing up the kitchen on busy weekends, it is now a Wednesday night special, sold until they are gone. They go for $9.95 each.

In the meantime, Gallipeau is brainstorming what he'll concoct next. He is currently pondering adding one more ingredient to the garbage balls: hot dogs.

If you go:

The 585 Rockin Burger Bar is at 250 Pixley Road in Gates, around the corner from the Cinemark Tinseltown theater.

The Garbage Ball is available on Wednesdays and occasionally other days; check the restaurant's Facebook page for updates.

TRACYS@Gannett.com