The gerber is an open-faced sandwich made in st. louis, missouri. the gerber consists of a half section of italian or french bread, spread with garlic butter and topped with ham and provel cheese (the original sandwich was made with provolone), seasoned with a sprinkling of paprika and then toasted. the "gerber special" was first made by the local family-owned ruma's deli, and named after their customer and next-store-neighbor, dick gerber. mr. gerber owned a tire store next to ruma's deli in the covington manor strip center, and the rumas would allow him to create his own sandwich in their kitchen for a small fee. dee and tom ruma were so impressed with the sandwich he concocted one day ...

Source: Wikipedia