Manhattan lives in desert

There's plenty to choose from on the menu at Manhattan in the Desert. (Credit: Marilyn Chung, Desert Post Weekly)

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Visions of delectable cheesecakes, éclairs, and black-and-white cookies permanently stick in my mind after you you enter Manhattan in the Desert.

With its own pastry chef on the premises, everything is made at the restaurant. Owner Chris Zennedjian has achieved his goal of bringing New York to the desert with an extensive menu that covers everything from breakfast to dinner.

One of the things that makes Manhattan so special is that its meats are cooked on the premises. Zennedjian doesn't believe in taking shortcuts and serves his customers only the best. Manhattan is well known amongst deli aficionados, so don't be surprised if you have to wait a little bit to get a table.

Whenever I go into a deli, I immediately think of pastrami and corned beef sandwiches. Since I couldn't decide between the two, I went for Combo 39 which combines them served on, of course, rye bread ($11.95).

Sandwiches come with your choice of potato salad, cole slaw, Russian potato salad or three bean salad. The meat was lean, perfectly seasoned and piled high.

Other popular sandwich selections include chopped liver and chicken salad ($11.95), egg salad ($8.95), brisket ($10.95) and the triple decker club ($11.50).

For those of you with a really big appetite, check out the roast beef, turkey and pastrami ($12.95).

Manhattan has 102 sandwiches from which to choose, so it's a sure bet that everyone at the table will find something to enjoy. Portions are generous and reasonably priced.

One of my friends wanted to eat “light” and decided to order the Cobb salad ($10.95). Never in my experience has the word “light” been associated with “deli” and after seeing what landed on our table, that hasn't changed. You can easily get two meals out of the full salad portions.

In fact, it was so impressive that while all of us were staring at it, we heard a voice across the restaurant exclaim “Oh my!”

That phrase summed up Manhattan in the Desert perfectly.

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