“Turkey Manhattan” and “Roast Beef Manhattan” appear to be primarily Indiana dishes, dating from the 1950s. They are open-faced sandwiches, similar to Kentucky’s “Hot Brown.” Sliced roast beef or sliced turkey are placed on a slice of bread, covered with mashed potatoes and gravy.
The origin of the name “Manhattan” for this dish is unknown. Perhaps it is because the sandwiches were piled high, or perhaps (since the “Roast Beef Manhattan” appears to be the earlier one of the two) the term is related to the New York cut of meat.
Wikipedia: Beef Manhattan
Beef Manhattan is a dish consisting of roast beef and gravy. It is often served with mash potatoes either on top or on the side. A variation on this dish is turkey manhattan, which substitutes turkey for the roast beef.
Dine.com
Wolff’s Tavern
1447 South A Street
Elwood, IN 46036
(765) 552-9022
Review #1
Genie B.
April 9, 2001
Great food in an old bar setting. Be sure to try the roast beef manhattans. They are a house speciality!
Review #2
eugenia B.
June 9, 1997
Wolff’s Tavern is one of Elwood’s older restaurants. It serves good food and drinks. They serve a wonderful Roast Beef Manhatten from an ‘old family recipe’ that just can’t be beat.
Recipezaar
Turkey Manhattan
Recipe #243845
Open faced sandwich full of home cooked comfort. Makes for a nice small plate, or when you are only hungry enough for just a sandwich, but want warm homestyle food. TNT
4 ounces moist roasted turkey (may use roast beef, roast pork, or roast chicken as well)
1/2 cup mashed potatoes
1 slice soft white bread (such as Wonder bread)
1 cup turkey gravy (or gravy appropriate to your meat choice)
1. Place bread on plate.
2. Top with hot mashed potatoes and hot turkey over that.
3. Cover all with gravy.
4. Serve.
Indiana Beach Amusement Resort (Monticello, IN)
Hot Roast Beef Manhattan
Sliced roast beef on bread with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Hot Roast Turkey Manhattan
Sliced roast turkey on bread with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Sunshine Caterers (Elkhart, IN)
Dinner Entrees
roast beef manhattan
turkey manhattan
Sutton Flatwoods Conference Center (Sutton, WV)
Turkey Manhattan Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Fresh Green Beans
Hot Roast Beef Manhattan Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Fresh Green Beans
The Heart Center of Indiana (Room Service Dining Guide)
Roast Beef Manhattan
Roast Turkey Manhattan
1 January 1954, Anderson (IN) herald, pg. 9, col. 1:
BEEF MANHATTAN…45c
(Duffy’s Tavern—ed.)
20 October 1954, Kokomo (IN)
HOT ROAST BEEF
Manhattan Sandwich
With Mashed Potatoes and Brown Gravy 49c
(Hook’s Dependable Drug Stores—ed.)
4 December 1958, Logansport (IN) Pharos-Tribune, pg. 7 ad:
HOT TURKEY MANHATTAN
Mashed Potatoes and Giblet Gravy with Cranberry Sauce 69c
(Hook’s Dependable Drug Stores—ed.)
7 October 1965, Kokomo (IN) Morning Times, pg. 12, col. 4 ad:
Beef of Turkey Manhattan ... 65c
(Pumpkin Vine Room, Cedar Crest Lanes—ed.)
6 June 1970, Anderson (IN) Daily Bulletin, pg. 6, col. 8 ad:
Turkey Manhattan Sandwich 90c
(MCL Cafeteria, Mounds Mall—ed.)
27 September 1994, Fort Wayne (IN) News Sentinel, pg. 1F:
Entrees include New York strip steak, barbecued ribs, filet mignon, broasted chicken, butterfly shrimp, beef and turkey Manhattan, orange roughy and cod.
17 October 1995, Fort Wayne (IN) News Sentinel, pg. 1F:
At lunch time, there’ll be meal-size salads, sandwiches and daily specials, such as turkey Manhattan and meatloaf.
Google Groups: misc.rural
Newsgroups: misc.rural
From: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) (Derek R. Larson)
Date: 1997/11/21
Subject: Re: Kentucky Food
They have something in Kentucky that I don’t see in Indiana—they call it “Hot Brown” but it’s really a Roast Beef Manhattan, or an open-faced roast beef sandwich depending on where yo come from. I find “Hot Brown” to be perhaps the most appropriate name though…
Derek R. Larson
Indiana University
Department of History
Google Groups: alt.callahans
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
From: Janet D. Miles
Date: 2000/01/18
Subject: ChattaCon 2000 Scene Report
Robert suddenly looked up and said, “Wait a minute. Wasn’t the Turkey Manhattan supposed to be a hot, open-face sandwich? This is turkey, lettuce, and tomato on a croissant.”
14 April 2001, Indianapolis (IN) Star, “Wolff’s beef Manhattans serve up a towering taste”:
ELWOOD, Ind.—This northern Madison County town and New York City may be miles apart in culture, style and distance, but they share one common trait: an impressive Manhattan. New Yorkers are proud of their tall skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan, and Elwood residents can’t gush enough about the roast beef Manhattan found at the staid Wolff’s Restaurant and Bar. The meal may not be worth a drive from New York, but many Hoosiers are willing to travel a distance to sink…
Google Groups: alt.usage.english
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english
From: Tony Cooper
Date: Tue, 01 Oct 2002 00:01:17 -0400
Local: Mon, Sep 30 2002 11:01 pm
Subject: Re: Menu
>> Lord knows how he’ll react to “Manhattan”.
>I’d never heard of that term being used to describe a sort of hot
>open-faced sandwich (which isn’t a sandwich, by the way).
See: http://www.ikdist.com/leftoverrecipes.htm I do like the inclusion of instructions to make a depression in the potatoes to form a gravy well. This recipe uses two slices of bread instead of one,
but I am not a fussy person at all, so I’ll accept this.
This is commonly on the menu at restaurants in Florida, Indiana, and Chicago. Beef Manhattan or Turkey Manhattan. Mostly places that aren’t chain restaurants.
Shakopee Valley (MN) News
A hero ain’t nothin’ but a sandwich
By Ruth Anne Maddox
Created 11/27/2007 - 2:37pm
And, according to my husband the bartender, a Manhattan is only a drink—so when I offered to make Manhattans, he looked at me oddly since I can’t even mix a rum and coke properly on my own.
He’s singing a new tune today, though, after I introduced him to a new Manhattan last night—the Turkey Manhattan. I couldn’t believe that he had never heard of this delicious meal and I can’t believe that we’ve been married four years and I hadn’t built him one before this!
Post-Thanksgiving is a perfect time for the Manhattan, which requires gravy and, of course, turkey (unless you’re making its brother dish, the Roast Beef Manhattan). Typically, this is served with mashed potatoes, but we had cheesy hashbrown potato casserole for Thanksgiving and the substitution was divine.
Simply heat the leftover gravy and add as much cut-up turkey to it as you’d like. Then, put a slice of soft bread (I like white bread for this) on a plate, put a scoop of warmed potatoes on top of it and cover everything with turkey and gravy.
Since nobody around here seemed to know what I was talking about when I bragged about my Turkey Manhattan (and I did come ALL THE WAY to Minnesota from Indiana), does this dish have a name in this region? And don’t tell me Hot Dish, because it wasn’t all coagulated into one bowl.
Indy.com
Top Ten Cold-Weather Foods
by caralyn
Posted: Jan 02, 2008 in Dining
Turkey Manhattan
(...)
COMMENTS
I would add chicken and dumplings to the list. And a roast beef manhattan instead of turkey. And you have to have tomato soup with that grilled cheese sandwich!
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on Jan 03, ‘08 at 10:05 AM