Maybe the people in Cafe Society know more about this.
Moved IMHO -> Cafe Society.
Gukumatz
Nope.
Wouldn’t it help if we knew where YOU are from?
(Yes, one of my pet peeves)
Minnesota
I’ve never heard of it and if I heard someone say it I would wonder if they were going into insulin shock.
If you told me you were eating a turkey commercial, I’d think you were licking your TV.
Never heard of that name.
Yep, it’s a beef or turkey sandwich (on white bread, generally) cut in half with a scoop of mashed potatoes plopped between the two halves. A generous helping of gravy is poured over all. Yum! It’s been a long time since I’ve had one.
I’m from Minnesota. 
Concur. The item in question is always called a ‘hot [turkey or roast beef] sandwich’ in Southern California (home of the ‘chili size’ 
)
Or someone was messing with him when he was growing up. ‘Look out, fisha’s coming! Everyone talk wrong!’
Here is a picture of a perfect Beef Commercial I found on some random blog.
This one isn’t quite right; it’s missing the top slice of bread, however I included it because it is served on an old Corelle plate, which reminds me of pretty much every single one I ever ate. And my Grandma.
That may explain why I have some weird word pronunciations as well.
Waves to yellowval
Scroll down on the second link-it’s the white plate with the decorative trim.
I’ve never heard it called that. I would have called that a hot beef sandwich I suppose.
Minnesota (but I will ask around the family this weekend to see if anyone else is familiar with the name.)
Never heard of it. We have hot beefs and hot turkeys and things like that, but those are open-faced and uncut, while the commercial, from your description, has two slices of bread and is cut on the diagonal.
I have never heard the Manhattan name, either.
Chicago.
I’d never heard of the term (obviously, southeastern US). It reminds me of an earlier thread on discussion of Who knows what a ‘buttered roll and regulare coffee are?’ Apparently a New York City thing, but some of the locals weren’t familiar with it.
Never heard of it. I’ve lived in Illinois and am now in Colorado. That’s an open faced Turkey/Beef sandwich (except it’s got another slice of bread on top)
The only Beef Commercial I know of is “Beef: It’s what’s for dinner!”
What you guys are describing, if you subtract the top piece of bread (or more accurately, turn that piece over and pile more meat on top of it), we would call a “Hot Open Sandwich”.
In NJ every diner has that on the menu with beef or turkey. I ordered it once in Indiana and they had no idea what I was talking about.
Never heard of it and I would have never guessed what it is from the name. I guessed it was a big, fancy meal spread like you see on TV. I don’t do ‘open faced sandwiches’ and the term itself always pissed me off. If you only have one piece of bread, it isn’t a sandwich at all. That is like calling an only child a semi-twin.
Never heard of it, based on description given I would have called it a hot beef sandwich. From Georgia: the State.
I grew up on open-faced sandwiches, but not the hot type. The breads we used in our family (European style rye, usually) were too hearty to use in a two-slice sandwich application. (Or when I bake my own white bread, two slices is just too heavy for a sandwich.) Is there a better word in English to describe them? Maybe canapé, but canapés are usually smaller, and the name can sound a bit pretentious.