Beef Manhattan


Beef Manhattan is a dish consisting of roast beef and gravy. It is often served with mashed potatoes either on top of the steak or on the side of the plate. A variation on this dish is Turkey Manhattan, which substitutes turkey for the roast beef. The term "Manhattan" is a misnomer as the beef and turkey variants are usually referred to as
"open-face sandwiches" in New York City and much of the eastern United States and the term "Manhattan" is limited to the Midwest, the South, and parts of the western United States. It is unlikely that restaurants in the New York City area would understand what a customer was asking for if the diner used the "Manhattan" phrase.
The dish was first served in a restaurant under the name "Beef Manhattan" in a now-defunct Indianapolis deli in the late 1940s where it gained traction as a Hoosier staple. The dish was named by Naval Ordnance Plant Indianapolis workers who were trained on a fabrication of the Norden Bombsight in Manhattan during World War II. They enjoyed the open-faced sandwich they had in Manhattan and brought it back to their cafeteria as the "Beef Manhattan". In Indiana, it is served on bread. The roast beef is sliced and put on the bread like a sandwich, then cut corner to corner and plated in a V shape. Mashed potatoes are served between the two halves, and the whole is covered in gravy.