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| Philly's Barclay Prime Steakhouse |
The place: Barclay Prime Steakhouse in Philly's bustling Rittenhouse Square. The restaurant, which occupies the first floor of what once was a luxury boutique hotel in the late 1920's, couples a glamorous, old-world decor with decidedly modern accents. Guests are surrounded by richly-hued wood-paneled walls, bask in the glow of no-less-than-six crystal chandeliers, lounge in stark green and white leather chairs and rest their glasses on gleaming Carrera marble tabletops. The luxury doesn't stop there, either. Order one of Barclay Prime's tantalizing steaks and you'll soon encounter perhaps the restaurant's most unique feature: the steak knife tray.
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| The latest "tray"trend: Barclay Prime's Steak Knife Tray |
We were encouraged to touch each one, roll it around in our hands, try "sample cuts" (cutting an invisible steak just doesn't have the same effect, trust me) and make our selections. My friend chose the Shun, which sliced through her 8-ounce filet like butter. I went with the Global, simply to try something new. It was fine, comparable to its Shun/Henkel/Wusthof companions. The one stand-out was the Porsche knife (yes, that Porsche), but not in a good way. It was heavy with an overwhelmingly awkward handle. Not to mention, the metal "pearl" left divots in your fingers. No bueno.
No word on when the knife tray trend might make its way to LA, but I have to say it definitely left an impression on me. In the meantime, I'll have to stick with Providence's bread. One bacon roll, please.
Barclay Prime
237 South 18th Street
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 732-7560
BarclayPrime.com
My cupcake burgers (see left) take much less time and I'd like to say have a similar "wow" factor. I've made them for birthday parties and summer softball games, and each time they've been scarfed down by impressed onlookers. The ingredients are fairly standard: cake mix, brownie mix, vanilla frosting, and red (ketchup), yellow (mustard) and green (lettuce) food coloring. Sesame seeds are optional but add a cool touch to the burger "buns." Give yourself about four hours to make these, as you'll need time to let the brownies and cupcakes completely cool (no runny condiments here), cut out the brownies, mix the "condiments" to their appropriate shades, and let the finished burgers set up.
Finally, another beautiful, self-serve dessert from Mommy Topics (see right) that appropriately rings in the summer months are apple pie cupcakes with a frosting lattice "crust." The great thing about these cuties is that they can be made for any patriotic-themed holiday... 4th of July, anyone? The cupcakes are topped with fresh or canned fruit, then icing is piped to mimic a pie crust pattern. Use your imagination when it comes to the fruit "filling;" apple, cherry, peach, raspberry, blueberry, blackberry... the world is your dessert oyster!
Memorial Day weekend is over and it's back to life, back to reality, and perhaps most importantly, back to a healthy eating routine. I don't know about you, but for our family Memorial Day seemed to mean remembering how crappy you can feel after three days of stuffing your face with bad-for-you (albeit delicious) foods like Kettle's Salt & Pepper chips, homemade guacamole, Hebrew National hot dogs and chocolate chip brownies. Did I mention they were all washed down with bottomless margaritas? Suffice to say Fabulous Flavortown quickly went the way of Heartburn City.
Add vanilla and sour cream and mix to combine
This is what the wet ingredient batter should look like
Sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan. Smooth the top with a spatula. Bake in the center of the oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool to room temperature.
With mixer on low, add dry ingredients slowly to wet ingredients. The batter should look like this when all the dry ingredients are incorporated.
Spread the batter evenly on the baking sheet
Wash and dry blueberries
Line rows of blueberries for the "star" area of the flag.
Fill the entire "star" area with blueberries.
VERY GENTLY, clean and dry the raspberries.
Starting at top of cake, make two rows of raspberries. 
Using a large star tip in a piping bag, pipe two rows of icing below raspberries. 
Alternate rows of raspberries and icing until flag is complete (you can already see the flag taking shape!).
