The best-kept secret in Manhattan is the Sale Barn Café. Located at the Manhattan Commission Company off Highway 24, the café offers home-cooked, made-from-scratch meals that delight every palate. Since the Manhattan Commission Company opened in July of 1900, the Sale Barn Café has been serving its loyal customers for nearly 125 years. The history of the sale barn itself adds to the charm and allure of the café. With only nine cooks since 1975, you can expect consistent quality in every dish.
Stephanie Luciano, the current chef, specializes in homemade fruit and cream pies, cheesecakes, and cinnamon rolls. While the Sale Barn Café is known for its beef, the menu also features chicken, pork, and shrimp dishes. Their hamburgers are made fresh daily, with hand-pattied ground chuck, ensuring top quality in every meal. The café serves breakfast every Thursday and Friday, with specials like steak and eggs or strawberry cream cheese-stuffed French toast.
In addition to the café, there is a cattle sale every Friday. Attending a cattle auction at the Manhattan Commission Company is a unique experience, offering a glimpse into the vibrant livestock industry. Witness the dynamic bidding process, interact with local ranchers, and feel the excitement as cattle are sold. It's an engaging and educational event for anyone interested in agriculture.
The Manhattan Commission Company once housed Lee’s Western Wear, a store where ranchers could find everything from boots and jeans to lassos and cologne. Opened by Mervin and Cecelia Sexton in the late '60s, the store was dedicated to outfitting ranchers with essential gear. The former area on the building’s east side that housed Lee’s Western Wear is now home to Grass and Grain magazine, the local agricultural newspaper.
During the 1993 flood, under the leadership of John Cline and Mervin Sexton, the Manhattan Commission became a sandbag center, allowing people to bag sand to protect their homes. The café stayed open to provide food and drinks to those in need, continuing to serve until evacuation. They also ensured that all the livestock were evacuated on trailers, demonstrating their commitment to both the community and their animals.
During the pandemic, the café operated with a skeleton staff, serving only the essential buyers in attendance. To help meet the nation’s food supply demands, they continued holding auctions, though most customers were unable to be present in the building to watch their cattle sell.
This year, in response to the Westmoreland tornado, current owners John Cline and Cindy Nelson arranged for the Sale Barn Café to send ground beef, French fries, and hamburger buns to the South 40 Café in Westmoreland. This effort helped feed both the affected community and the cleanup workers.
With its rich history, the Sale Barn Café even named a menu item after a regular customer who spent every weekday with the café staff. “The Rodger” is one of the top-selling items on the menu, featuring half biscuits and half hashbrowns, all smothered in sausage gravy.
Even though the Sale Barn Café is now open only Thursday through Saturday, it still attracts plenty of regulars. Many of them arrive before the staff to enjoy their daily dose of coffee, breakfast, and the latest news.
Even with all the breakfast talk, the Sale Barn Café also boasts an irresistible lunch menu. In addition to classic cheeseburgers and French fries, they serve chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, roast beef, pork tenderloin, and beef and noodles.
If you get the chance to stop by, even just for a cup of coffee, you won’t regret it. You’ll meet the friendliest staff and enjoy some of the best home-cooked meals around!
Manhattan's best-kept secret, the Sale Barn Cafe!