In my neck of the woods (central-ish Ohio), there is a sandwich, found primarily in Amish- or country-style restaurants, known as a Manhattan. I had never encountered this before moving here. A Manhattan is similar to a hot roast beef sandwich (i.e., with gravy and mashed potatoes), only it is open-faced and generally can be ordered in turkey and roast pork varieties in addition to roast beef.
I have been entirely unsuccessful in finding out WHY theses sandwiches are called Manhattans. It does appear to be a midwestern thing. In searching for the answer, I found references to Manhattan sandwiches on a hospital cafeteria menu in Iowa (a low-fat Manhattan, no doubt – NOT!) and a school lunch menu in western Ohio, near the Indiana border.
Can anyone enlighten me as to the origin of the Manhattan sandwich?
I live in Akron, and have eaten in Amish/Mennonite restaurants in this general area of Northern Ohio, and had open-faced pork/beef/turkey sandwiches as you described. Never saw any of them called “Manhattan Sandwich.”
I found in a newspaper database an article from 1945 in Piqua, Ohio which described a new restaurant opening(not Amish or Mennonite) which served
Amazingly, the database which I used has tons of Midwestern papers going back hundreds of years. but I only got two hits for this, both in the Piqua paper.
I know that doesn’t help you with an answer. I"ll keep looking. All I can deduce from my results is that it wasn’t called that in many places.
“Sliced roast beef, cream cheese, honey mustard, lettuce, tomato, onion & cucumber on grilled Focaccia bread. A real East Coast original!”
My WAG as to why it’s called a Manhattan Sandwich is that seems like something that would be served at Katz’s Deli, or some other well-known kosher establishment, mostly likely in New York City. When it first came out, Manhattan was probably the only place you could get one.
The problem is, that is a different sandwich than the one freckafree is talking about. There were “Manhattan” sandwiches as far back as 1905 in NYC. But they were more like the kind of sandwich you’re describing–meat/and/or chese on bread. We’re looking more for the open-faced hot pork/turkey/beef sandwich with gravy and mashed potatoes.
A Manhattan sandwich, around here, has been (since I was a kid) sliced meat (usually roast beef) on a couple slices of white bread, slathered in matching gravy. I always figured it was because it tasted like a man’s hat. No, seriously, it’s not bad, but whole wheat bread would be better.
I have a vague recollection of an item called a Turkey Manhattan that made a regular appearance on my lunch tray in grade school*. I don’t remember much more a slice of processed turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes in some configuration.
*Central Indiana, late 70s to maybe early 80s.
Further west, out here in Minnesota, that sandwich is called a “Beef Commercial”. Said to be a favorite of people in commerce, like local business people, traveling salesmen, etc. Also comes as ‘Turkey Commercial’ and (less common) “Pork Commercial”.
You can see a mention of them here, an online menu from a small restaurant in western Minnesota: http://www.gomarshall.net/pageads/mikes%20cafe%20menu.htm
P.S. To a restaurant, these are common as good ways to use up the leftover roast beef from the previous day. Slice it, add bread & mashed potatoes, cover it with the leftover gravy, and you have a tasty sandwich.
A key to successful restaurants is not wasting things – selling their leftovers to customers the next day.
… and to follow up on my own post, a quick Google of “turkey manhattan” brings up several links in the first couple of pages to school lunch menus indicating that Indiana schools are still dishing it up.
Of course, the web page also starts off with the phrase “Like nothing you’ve ever had.” Speaking as an East Coast native, I can certainly agree with that.
Round here that type of sandwish is pretty common, but it’s always called a open-faced (insert meat type) sandwich. The term Manhattan is one which is new to me. Nevertheless I’m craving one now.
After reading Pork Rind’s post, I Googled “turkey manhattan,” too, and was heartily amused by one of the hits, a review of Yoder’s Restaurant in Sarasota, FL.
Without getting my ass out of the chair and going to look, I’m guessing there are more Yoders in the Wooster, OH phone book than Smiths and Joneses.
Around here, those who earn money by driving vans to transport Amish folks to job sites, shopping centers, etc. are known as “Yoder Toters.”