![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PTB-L-POTEMPA-COL-0201-01.jpg\")
A menu printed in 2025 for Liberty Bell Caf\u00e9 in Liberty, Kentucky, prominently features Beef Manhattan as one of the restaurant\u2019s signature favorites for hungry patrons. (Image courtesy of Liberty Bell Caf\u00e9)<\/p>\nOne of the simple farm suppers we had last week was the hearty menu staple, hot beef Manhattans.<\/p>\n
We already had leftover thick and rich brown gravy from another meal, along with leftover mashed potatoes, therefore most of our menu items for this easy supper were prepared and ready for assembly.<\/p>\n
Our farm kitchen bread drawer had a loaf of wheat bread perfect for toasting, and after work, I\u2019d stopped at our favorite deli counter for a pound of premium, shaved sirloin roast beef.<\/p>\n
Voila!<\/p>\n
Hot roast beef Manhattans consist of generous mounds of cooked roast beef slices served on either plain or toasted bread slices with an accompanying scoop of mashed potatoes, all of it slathered in brown gravy. (Mom served this entree with delicious leftover creamed corn, which she said helped to add \u2018\u2019some color to our plates.\u201d<\/p>\n
I mentioned our hot beef Manhattan menu to my colleague, 23-year-old Luke Miiller of Hammond, who is one of my former Purdue Northwest college class students. He was both baffled and curious.<\/p>\n
A menu printed in 2025 for Liberty Bell Caf\u00e9 in Liberty, Kentucky, prominently features Beef Manhattan as one of the restaurant\u2019s signature favorites for hungry patrons. (Image courtesy of Liberty Bell Caf\u00e9)<\/p>\n
I explained the simple nature of the dish and that it ranked as a family favorite for decades. Not only at the farm as a remedy for leftovers, but this was also a menu item we all liked to order at roadside restaurants.<\/p>\n
Even during our annual summer family fishing trips, hot beef Manhattans held a special culinary distinction for our dining appetites.<\/p>\n
During most of my youth, our annual summer fishing vacation was in Northern Minnesota at Richardson\u2019s Shangri-La Resort, a tradition our family began shortly after 1960. In 1949, Ralph and Jan Richardson from our small town of San Pierre began building their dream of a quiet Minnesota fishing resort on the shores of Pelican Lake.<\/p>\n
Today, this classic Northwoods retreat of nine quaint and rustic cabins in tiny Orr, Minnesota, not far from the border of Canada, is still owned and operated by the third generation of the Richardson Family, caring for the recently renovated cabins and landscape of birch trees and white pines. During these family fishing vacations, on Sunday afternoons, we\u2019d have our family dinner at the only town diner where the Sunday menu special was always delicious hot beef Manhattans.<\/p>\n
Until some research last week, I did not realize this \u201copen-face sandwich\u201d also has Hoosier roots. Since it has the name association with Manhattan, New York City, I thought it must have an East Coast tale of origin. As it turns out, it came to popularity and gained its name in the 1940s. It was the workers at the Naval Ordnance Plant in Indianapolis who gave the dish its name after having eaten it in cafeterias while stationed near Manhattan. When the men were sent back to Indiana, they brought the recipe request with them to a popular Indy deli (which has now closed), which vaulted it as a top menu specialty.<\/p>\n
During my description chat with Luke, I also categorized hot beef Manhattan as \u201ccomfort food,\u201d \u201caffordable,\u201d and common on the menus of diners and cafes as \u201ca blue plate special,\u201d the latter term which also confused him.<\/p>\n
According to historians and likely due to wartime rationing and the need for frugal spending, the concept of diners, cafes and restaurants serving \u201cblue plate specials\u201d began in the 1920s and continued into the 1960s before fading.\u00a0 Dining establishments would promote a daily \u201cblue plate special,\u201d which meant a hearty multi-item meal with a generous portion at a very reasonable price. Inexpensive blue china plates, usually with three designated segmented areas on the plate, were divided by ridges to gauge portion control.<\/p>\n
Newspaper comic strips like \u201cBlondie,\u201d launched in 1930 by Hearst King Features Syndicate, often liked to poke fun at blue plate specials, especially the strictly enforced rule by restaurants about \u201cNO Substitutions!\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/PTB-L-POTEMPA-COL-0201-03.jpg\")
A rich yet delicate moist chocolate cake flavored with the hint of Irish cream liquor is a favored combination for a simple dessert recipe dreamed up by the older sister of columnist Philip Potempa. (Photo by Pamela Robinson)<\/p>\n
The past two weeks of cold temperatures and snow have had my older sister Pam dreaming up new dessert recipes to test. A sure \u201ckeeper\u201d is the easy pastry creation she\u2019s dubbed \u201cPam\u2019s Irish Cream Whip Cake.\u201d Moist and decadent, it\u2019s the perfect dessert to indulge in for this weekend\u2019s arrival of February, makes a great Valentine\u2019s Dinner sweet finale, and is an ideal option to savor before this year\u2019s Feb. 18 Ash Wednesday date and the start of Lenten sacrifice.<\/p>\n
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is a weekly radio show host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at\u00a0PhilPotempa@gmail.com\u00a0or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.<\/p>\n
Pam\u2019s Irish Cream Cake<\/p>\n
Makes 14 slices<\/p>\n
1 Devil\u2019s Food or Chocolate (16-ounce) Cake Mix<\/p>\n
1 Carton (8 ounces) frozen non-dairy whipped topping, thawed<\/p>\n
1 Carton (4 ounces) non-flavored or flavored yogurt of choice<\/p>\n
1\/2 cup Irish cream liquor<\/p>\n
Powdered sugar garnish as desired<\/p>\n
Directions:<\/p>\n
In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients.<\/p>\n
Pour batter into a sprayed 9-inch-by-13-inch baking dish.<\/p>\n
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.<\/p>\n
Once cake has cooled, dust lightly with powdered sugar. When serving, a dollop of whipped cream can be added if desired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"One of the simple farm suppers we had last week was the hearty menu staple, hot beef Manhattans.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":117869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[51951,51952,51953,51954,51955,51956,9424,33457,267,75,84,83,51957,51958,9,24,63,51959,51960,51950,51961],"class_list":["post-117868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manhattan","tag-crown-point","tag-east-chicago","tag-gary","tag-griffith","tag-hammond","tag-highland","tag-indiana","tag-lake-county","tag-local-news","tag-manhattan","tag-manhattan-headlines","tag-manhattan-news","tag-merrillville","tag-munster","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-portage","tag-porter-county","tag-post-tribune","tag-valparaiso"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}