the tuna melt

[judiu]

I realize this may be a regional thing or might be purely semantics at this point, but the two sided sandwich definition isn't working for me with the word MELT in the title.

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But what about a patty melt? I've never seen one that wasn't 2 sided.

Edited to wave Hello to Sandy!

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Not to be argumentative...

A "Patty Melt" by any other name is a freakin' cheeseburger!! Isn't Patty Melt just a silly Cheeseburger alternative name? Is there something different about a Patty Melt that makes it not a cheeseburger??

I'm deeply confused now...

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By me, a patty melt is a sandwich made on rye bread with a hamburger, grilled to taste, with a slice of cheese (variety of choice) and sauteed onions, which is then grilled again to toast the bread. Darn, now I want one for lunch!

[MarketStEl]

Followup:

This thread inspired me to make some open-faced tuna melts yesterday.

Bread: Stroehmann white, toasted. (Note to self: Buy rye bread on next trip to store. Aside to my fellow Heartland native about patty melts: ISTR that these were always served on rye bread, and I think the same applied for tuna melts.) I then buttered the bottom of each slice.

Tuna spread: Not quite minimalist this time. Tuna, mayo, lemon juice, Old Bay, onion powder--I had no onions available to chop and not enough time to mix in dehydrated minced onion before cooking.

Cheese: Some Finlandia Baby Muenster that I ordered from igourmet.com.

Result: Not bad, if I say so myself.

Photos: None.

[MHarney]

MHarney, I'll gladly check it out! My mom works on 5th Street on Fridays, so when I take her to work, I'll swing by there. I'm rather doubtful, though. Downtown KC has changed so much--many old buildings torn down or converted to lofts.

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Thanks! Yes, after skimming around with the Google satellite photos for a while, it certainly looks a lot different from when I was there. I don't imagine the beautiful 1930s vintage Empire Theater, formerly mile or so south of that area, is there anymore. The more I look at the Google map and that intersection, the less sure I am that 8th and Broadway is the correct intersection, especially since I found Folger's is variously listed at both 701 Broadway and 330 West 8th, but I definitely remember that the Folger's plant, a tall (maybe 8-10 story) brown brick building, was on the right side of the street as I walked from Walnut Street where I lived to my office (which I think might be a parking lot now), and that the diner was right on the corner across from the plant and on the same side as Folger's.

[MarketStEl]

Thanks! Yes, after skimming around with the Google satellite photos for a while, it certainly looks a lot different from when I was there. I don't imagine the beautiful 1930s vintage Empire Theater, formerly mile or so south of that area, is there anymore. The more I look at the Google map and that intersection, the less sure I am that 8th and Broadway is the correct intersection, especially since I found Folger's is variously listed at both 701 Broadway and 330 West 8th, but I definitely remember that the Folger's plant, a tall (maybe 8-10 story) brown brick building, was on the right side of the street as I walked from Walnut Street where I lived to my office (which I think might be a parking lot now), and that the diner was right on the corner across from the plant and on the same side as Folger's.

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The Empire Theater is still standing at 14th and Main. The entire block to its northeast has been leveled and is now a parking lot. (I remember shopping at a furniture store in that block, Duff and Repp.) Looks like the Broadway Deli is still in business, across Broadway from the coffee plant (Google Earth will mark dining establishments on its satellite photos if you click the checkbox "Dining").

[MHarney]

The Empire Theater is still standing at 14th and Main.  The entire block to its northeast has been leveled and is now a parking lot.  (I remember shopping at a furniture store in that block, Duff and Repp.)  Looks like the Broadway Deli is still in business, across Broadway from the coffee plant (Google Earth will mark dining establishments on its satellite photos if you click the checkbox "Dining").

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That's good to hear -- after reading that, I found several stories about the Empire just now. The last time I googled "Empire Theater" "Kansas City", about two years ago, I got no relevant results. Now, there's a ton. The latest news (as of two months ago) is that years of attempts to raze it -- it's been shuttered for 20 years and has trees growing on its roof -- have failed, AMC bought it, and plans to restore it as the centerpiece of a 425,000 square foot entertainment area. Interesting tidbits on the theater here:

The Mainstreet Theater at the southwest corner of 14th and Main opened October 30, 1921. The popular vaudeville and movie house, with a seating capacity of 3,000, was the first theater in Kansas City to have a nursery for children whose parents were attending the show. Located in the basement and under the supervision of a trained nurse, the nursery had toys and games for older children and cribs for babies. It was quite an experiment in that pre-feminist day, when babies and their mothers were almost inseparable.

A tunnel from the lower level of the theater led to the President Hotel at 14th and Baltimore. This was mainly for actors who dressed in rooms adjoining the tunnel and then walked to the theater. The tunnel became infamous because bootleggers used the runway to escape police during Prohibition years.

In Mary Magley's book on the great theater heritage of Missouri, she tells of the Mainstreet having a basement and sub-basement where animals were kept for shows: "It even had an elephant cage, a pool for seals and an elevator large enough and powerful enough to haul elephants to the stage. Noted performers such as Cab Calloway, Charlie Chaplin, Sir Henry Lauder and Olson & Johnson all head-lined at the vaudeville house."

Huh...even cooler than I knew. A recent color photo is here.

I'm not sure the Broadway Deli is the place, but it may well be. Wouldn't that be a kick? That name doesn't ring a bell and it was more of a diner (with counter, booths, and tables, I think), but my memory might not be perfect (for example, I can remember every phone number I've ever had except the one in KC). I'm going to give them a call.

[CharityCase]

Solid white tuna, capers, pickles, celery, dijon, olive oil, parsley, s&p,

multigrain loaf, toasted, buttered and topped

with mix, and grated emmentaler cheese

Toaster oven

mm...good.

[Osnav]

OK, I'll be back In Kansas City for 2 weeks very soon. I'll have a tuna melt there and see if I'm still right. 

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This is partially off-topic, but...if you happen to be in the downtown vicinity in your travels, I would love to find out if the diner, whose name I cannot remember, across the street from the Folger's Coffee plant is still in existence. I lived in downtown KC for about 18 months back in 1978-1979, and that place had an excellent tuna melt -- close-faced, I'm certain. The best tuna melts I've ever had, though, were those at Polly's Pies in southern California -- very thick-sliced baked-on-the-premises whole wheat butter-grilled to crispy perfection, a thick slice of cheddar, with a tuna salad with onion, celery, mayo, and nothing else. It always arrived piping hot and it wasn't open-faced there, either. (Open-faced tuna melt...t'huh. Who wants to use a fork? Silly.)

But the real reason I'd like to know about the diner is this: Every morning at this greasy spoon (which I think had been around since the 1940s at least), they would make 30 or 40 dozen of the most delicious oatmeal cookies you could ever imagine: very thin, a huge diameter of 6-7", crunchy most of the way through but still chewy in the center, and a flavor that the years are only partly making me call otherwordly. If I recall correctly, they'd start selling them, still warm but set enough so they wouldn't fall apart, at about 7am and would usually sell out before 8:30 or 9:00 every morning.

When I lived there, I walked the five or six blocks to my job every day past this place (in the midst of the most intense coffee smell, what with the Folger's plant being right there), and it was always a struggle not to stop in there more than once or twice a week to get a dozen. It wasn't a problem at lunchtime (when I would often get their tasty tuna melts, he said, in a somewhat feeble attempt to keep things on topic) since the cookies were long gone by that hour. In the intervening years, I have spent much time trying to duplicate their cookies, but have only come about 9/10ths of the way.

Anyway, it's an odd request, I know, but if you happen to be in the area or have relatives there, I'd love to know if the diner is still there and what the heck the name of the place is so I can call them and see if they can send me some of their oatmeal cookies for, say, all the money I have handy.

This google map shows the Folger's plant at 330 W. 8th, and I'm almost certain that the diner was at the base of the white-topped building across the street at the upper left corner of the intersection of 8th and Broadway.

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[MHarney]

Looks like the Broadway Deli is still in business, across Broadway from the coffee plant (Google Earth will mark dining establishments on its satellite photos if you click the checkbox "Dining").

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Alas, I still don't know if that's the place or if it's another surrounding Folger's. When I called the Broadway Deli's number: "We're sorry, but the number you have reached has been disconnected."

[JumblyJu]

My fav is Coral chunk light Hawaiian Ahi tuna with mayo, onions, lots of sweet pickle relish and pepper on buttered sweet bread and american cheese. It's the simplicity of it all that makes it so wonderful!

[joiei]

I haven't thought about a tuna melt for more years than I care to confess. But I remember eating tuna melts at the old WT Grants lunch counter in Northside Shopping Center in Tampa. Served up with fresh cut fries. Now I am going to have to make one. Just wish I could find some egg bread to put it on like they did.

[judiu]

I haven't thought about a tuna melt for more years than I care to confess.  But I remember eating tuna melts at the old WT Grants lunch counter in Northside Shopping Center in Tampa.  Served up with fresh cut fries.  Now I am going to have to make one.  Just wish I could find some egg  bread to put it on like they did.

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If you can't find egg bread try the Potato Bread by Morrison(?) or even Wonder has a decent potato bread now. Or in the spirit of Tampa, use a nice eggy Media Noche bread!

[woodburner]

Some people tune piano's,

Some people tune guitars's,

Only Melt, tunes a fish.

Introducing our Tuneafish

woodburner

no charge

[Maison Rustique]

I'm still in KC and while I haven't been dining out much, I've not come across a tuna melt on any menu yet. Hunh! Somehow I remember eating them lots when I lived here. Enough posting on dial-up. Cable has spoiled me!