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From: Karen
Sent: Saturday, March 21, 2015 12:46 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Hilltop Steak House / Salad Dressing
Hi Uncle Phaedrus,
Your site is absolutely fantastic!!!! I have so many yummy recipes because of it and have learned
so much about food and particularly enjoy your posts answering requests concerning now closed restaurants
as well as past food provider recipes. The background information in your posts is very interesting to read.
The Hilltop Steak House in Saugus, MA closed in late 2013. It was a small family owned restaurant that grew
and grew and at one time it was considered the biggest with 1300 seats and the top grossing ($) restaurant
in the United States. The Hilltop had multiple dining rooms, and it was not unusual several decades back to
be given a number and to wait two hours or more some nights to be seated in one of their western themed rooms.
A hostess would be stationed at a podium at the front of each room and when there was a vacancy in the room
would phone it over to the “main room” hostess. This hostess would come over the speaker and call out the
next numbers awaiting a table or booth “#92 for Kansas City, #93 for Dodge, etc. Eventually the restaurant
was sold by the family and but seemed to be never the same.
Such wonderful memories . . . The salad dressing at the Hilltop was legendary! People loved it. It sold
bottled by the pint in the restaurant and was available in gallon containers at the Hilltop Butcher Store
which was located in the back part of the property. The salad dressing was unlike any other I have tasted.
It was a creamy Italian dressing, light yellow in color, somewhat vinegary, with what seemed some subtle
Italian spices and garlic. Every meal when the family owned the restaurant included a very large individual
garden salad with this dressing (other dressings available too). I have a brochure (published in the restaurant’s
hey day) that says that the Hilltop served 14,500 lbs. of lettuce each week!
Is this salad dressing recipe available? Perhaps a copycat recipe?
Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you, Uncle Phaedrus.
Karen from Boston
See: 8-12-2020
Hi Karen,
Be careful searching for this recipe. You get dozens of “hits” on Google, but most of them are malware sites.
If you don’t have adequate protection against malware, your computer might be infected by one of these sites.
I had no success finding a recipe. I found many raves about the dressing, but no recipes or copycats.
I’ll post this on my site. Perhaps a reader has the recipe or a copycat.
Phaed
-----Original Message-----
From: Leblancsrus
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2016 6:16 AM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Hiltop house dressing
Good morning, i have be on a quest to find out where i can find house salad
dressing they use to serve at hiltop steak house in saugus. Any information
would be greatly appreciated. Thank You
Sent from Leblancsrus
Hi ________?
I ask that people give their actual first name when requesting a search.
I searched for Hilltop Steakhouse house dressing about a year ago with no
success. See: 04/10/15
A second search today had the same result. Sorry. The only way to get this
recipe would be from a former owner or employee of Hilltop.
Phaed
See: 8-12-2020
From: Marc
Sent: Wednesday, March 18, 2015 6:25 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Brown's Bakery Russian Cake
Uncle P.,
I have been looking for "The" recipe for Brown's Bakery Russia Cake. The bakery was in North Hollywood California
on Victory Blvd. I, as a kid in the 60s, would enter through the back door of the bakery and was able to see how
marble cakes, angel food cakes, 7 layer cakes and cookies were made. I think this is where I found my love of baking.
But I digress.
They made an absolutely heavenly Russia Coffee Cake that I adored. It is not a Babka, yet it can be pulled apart.
It was a large sheet cake, with a nut/cinnamon/sugar topping. the cake had a "raspberry" jam lightly running through
it and raisins with a firm bread-like cake dough.
I know the bakery was resurrected in the late 90s or early 2000s in Northridge CA on Devonshire by one of the old bakers,
but the Russian cake was not an offering. (And the 7 layer cake cream filling suffered as well)
Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.
Marc
p.s. - now I need to go bake something - banana bread perhaps
Hi Marc,
I found lots of discussion about Brown’s Bakery in North Hollywood, but I did not find any mention of such a cake or
any recipes from that bakery. A Brown family member appears to have re-opened the bakery on Wilshire Blvd at some point.
I did not find anything called “Russian Cake” with the ingredients you list. There is a “White Russian Cake”, but it’s
made with white chocolate. There are lots of “Russian Coffee Cake” recipes, but I did not find any that are sheet cakes
and contain raisins and jam. They are typically tube cakes and often contain pie filling, although they do have a cinnamon
& sugar topping like you describe.
All I can do is post your request and hope that a reader can assist.
Phaed
From: Sally
Sent: Saturday, March 14, 2015 5:48 PM
To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com
Subject: Bavarian Jello
I am trying to find a recipe for Bavarian Jello that my Mother used to make.
She would usually use strawberry or raspberry Jello. She would get it
started according to directions on the box. When it started to gel, she
would mix in Whipped Cream or Cool Whip. I would appreciate it if
you could find the directions for Bavarian Jello for me.
Thank you very much.
Sally
Hello Sally,
The basic recipe is below. There are others on these sites:
Kraft Recipes
Bavarian Jello
Jello - Cool Whip - Bavarian
Phaed
Basic Bavarian - Jello Salad
1 pkg. (3 oz.) Jello, any flavor
1/4 c. sugar
1 c. water (hot)
3/4 c. water or fruit juice (cold)
1 c. whipping cream or Cool Whip
Dissolve Jello and sugar in boiling water. Add cold water. Chill until slightly thickened.
Then stir in Cool Whip. Stir well. Pour in a mold or dish. Chill until firm. About 4 hours.
Makes 3 1/2 cups or 6 servings.
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