This Old-School Beef Dish Is Disappearing From Diner Menus

Many popular dishes of yesteryear are as good as extinct today, like turkey Devonshire — an old-school diner meal that's no longer popular — and various throwback sandwiches that hardly anyone eats anymore. Even ice cream has a host of bygone flavors that have nearly vanished from freezers. Another once-popular restaurant dish seems to be edging toward extinction: roast beef Manhattan. If you go to a more modern restaurant without the tradition of years behind it, you'll likely get a blank stare if you ask for it.

The origins of roast beef Manhattan trace back to a delicatessen in Indianapolis, Indiana, back in the 1940s. Also known by the names beef Manhattan, Manhattan hot shot, or simply hot roast beef sandwich, it consists of beef, bread, mashed potatoes, and gravy.

The arrangement of the elements can vary, with some variations on the dish featuring just one slice of bread and the meat piled on open-face style, while others have it topped with a second bread slice, sandwich style (cut into segments or served whole, depending who you ask). The exact nature of the meat can differ, as well, with some recipes layering on pot roast remnants, while others incorporate shredded beef or sliced beef. Some iterations have the mashed potatoes sandwiched in with the meat, while others include spuds on the side. One element upon which all recipes seem to agree, though, is the gravy, which is slathered generously over the whole compilation.

It seems that rather old-fashioned eating spots are the only places to find roast beef Manhattan these days. There's a group of restaurants in the heart of Ohio's Amish country, for instance, operated by a company called Dutchman Hospitality Group that's been around for over half a century. A glance at the restaurant menus would tell you time is standing still here. One of the items is, you guessed it, roast beef Manhattan. The meal is accompanied by some quaint, rather obscure dishes like noodles over mashed potatoes, broasted chicken dinner (which looks an awful lot like fried chicken ... ), liver and onions, and something called a trail bologna sandwich. Creamed corn, red beets, a side of noodles, and cottage cheese feature among the rather archaic side dishes on offer.

If there aren't any old-timey diners serving roast beef Manhattan where you live — and there likely aren't — it's easy enough to make the dish. Any rendition of bread piled up with beef, mashed potatoes, and brown gravy will do. Some use garlic toast as the base, while others say white bread is the way to go. Still others say any kind of leftover meat works just fine — it doesn't have to be roast beef in the traditional sense. However you choose to organize it, heap some gravy on top and you've got a roast beef Manhattan (or close enough).