Indianapolis - Me Too

JimInLoganSquare wrote:

stevez wrote:Upon entering, it is immediately apparent that Shapiro’s is Manny’s Country Cousin. They are both approximately the same vintage (with Shapiro’s being slightly older) and of the same steam table/cafeteria school.

A minor point, but worth noting: Although the current visible structure is, indeed, of a vintage on a par with Manny's, Shapiro's has been operating at this location since 1905. The original, 101-year old structure is long gone (although the support columns visible in the current dining room are the remains of the original building's outline, and I suppose if you cut into them, you'd find the circa-1905 cast-iron originals). So, "Country Cousin" or no, Shapiro's is definitely not of the same vintage as Manny's -- and in fact had been serving up groceries and lunches to the heavily Eastern-European Jewish population of pre-war southside Indianapolis for around 40 years when Manny's first opened its doors. Of course, Philco made the first television, too, and look at where that got them. I'm not trying to make an argument that older means better; but to the extent folks care, Shapiro's is a much older operation than Manny's. A Capsule History of Shapiro's