>>>Amada (217-219 Chestnut Street) is offering a four-course prix fixe menu for $60 or $75 per person (plus tax and gratuity). Offerings include Dry-Aged Strip Steak with chard and smoked bacon demi, Lobster with sea beans and blood orange; and Pastel de Chocolate with alpaco-cardamom mousse, almond dacquoise, canella ice cream and orange. Wine pairings are also available.

>>>The Valentine’s menu at Barbuzzo (110 South 13th Street) features La Quercia Prosciutto Rossa with smoked tomato tapenade, burrata from Puligia, arugula and saba; Lancaster Beet “Love Letters” with red beet ravioli, sheep’s milk ricotta filling, roasted butternut squash, beet greens, hazelnut brown butter and balsamic; and Marcie Blaine Chocolate Fondue with espellete chile and cinnamon infused 70% single origin dark chocolate, toasted almond pound cake, fresh strawberry, espresso brownie, vanilla bean marshmallow and pineapple. The four-course prixe fixe meal is $65 per person.

>>>Cuba Libre (10 South 2nd Street), from February 11th to the 14th, will be offering a three-course tasting menu for $78 per couple. Selections include Ostras Julio Lobos (baked oysters with spinach, goat cheese, scallions and aguardiente sauce), Filete de Res (pan roasted filet mignon with tortilla de planto maduro and culantro béarnaise), and Langosta Thermidor (lobster tails gratin with butter, cream, gruyere cheese, mushrooms, “forbidden rice” and lobster sauce).

>>>On top of their regular offerings and an a la carte menu, City Tap House (3925 Walnut Street) will be serving an amazing sounding Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Float, made with vanilla ice cream, Timmerman’s Strawberry Lambic and Young’s Double Chocolate Stout.

>>>Fork (306 Market Street) will offer guests a $70 three-course menu, including: House-cured Duck Prosciutto , Roasted Paradise Shrimp, Butter-poached Lobster, and Crispy Skin Wild Striped Bass. An optional wine pairing will also be available for $20 per person.

“Monday, January 30- Thursday, February 2
Celebrating the Chinese New Year: The Year of the Dragon

Good Fortune
Pork dumplings, pickled kohlrabi, crispy shitakes

Longevity & Happiness
Shanghai noodles, sweet shrimp, snow peas, chilies & garlic

Abundance & Good Luck
Sauteed red snapper, szechuan cucumber, ginger-scallion sauce

Prosperity & Fertility
Five spice duck breast, pineapple fried rice, peanuts, sweet soy

Black Sesame Ice Cream

$45 Prix Fixe does not include tax, beverage, or gratuity”

Matyson, 37th South 19th Street.

In addition, Zahav will be holding celebrations for Chanukah and New Year’s Eve. Event details are below.

Chanukah at Zahav
From Tuesday, December 20 until Wednesday, December 28, Chef Solomonov will offer a Chanukah Menu for $45 per person, plus tax and gratuity. The menu will not be served on Thursday, December 22 or Sunday, December 25. Dishes will include: Hummus with Glazed Brisket, served with house-made laffa and a selection of salatim; Celery Root and Green Apple Soup with smoked salmon burmuelos; a selection of Latkes, including Potato with labaneh, caviar and chive, Rutabega with smoked lamb belly and horseradish and Yam with English cheddar and apple; Young Chicken Al Ha’esh with eggplant salad and sweet bulgur; and Sufganiyot with dates and orange.

“A Very Jewish Christmas”
On Thursday, December 22, Zahav will celebrate its second-annual “A Very Jewish Christmas” with Israeli-inflected Chinese food, movies shown on a big screen and, of course, hot buttered popcorn. Screenings will be at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. and Zahav is accepting movie requests via twitter @zahavrestaurant, but like last year, guests won’t know what movies they are going to watch until the lights go down and the opening credits begin to roll. For $50 per person, plus tax and gratuity, guests will enjoy: Shrimp Salad with green papaya, cashews, tahina and nigella; Szechuan-Style Pork Belly with shifka peppers and carrots; Veal Dumplings with harissa oil and cucumbers; Salt & Pepper Sweetbreads with lo mein; Chinese Broccoli with smoked mackerel; Moo Shu Duck with walnuts, black garlic and carob; and White Chocolate Cake with mandarin orange sorbet and star anise.
Zahav will also offer a selection of creative Chinese inspired cocktails, each $9, and will include: General Solo’s Dynasty, cognac, Mandarin orange, lemongrass; Crouching Tiger, gin, honey, green tea; Ancient Chinese Medicine, vodka, saffron, ginger; and Shaolin Shadow Boxer, rum, almond and lime. For $100, movie goers can purchase a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black for the table.

Celebrate New Year’s Eve at Zahav
On New Year’s Eve, Saturday, December 31, the restaurant will serve a spectacular four-course dinner for $65 per person, plus tax and gratuity, or with drink pairings for $100 per person. The menu will include: Hummus with Spicy Beef Cheeks, served with pickled artichokes, porcini salad and olives, paired with Sparkling Wine with fresh-pressed pomegranate juice; Fluke Crudo with labaneh and caviar and Squab Breast Al Ha’esh with squab leg kibbe, blood orange and black harissa, paired with Golan Heights Chardonnay, Katzrin Vineyard, Galilee, 2008; Glazed Veal Shanks with saffron, apples and cinnamon, paired with Clos de Gat Syrah “Har’el,” Judean Hills, 2008; and Chocolate-Hazelnut Babka with orange-vanilla ice cream, paired with Cafe Sylvester, a Turkish-coffee based cocktail.

Menus for all three events can be found here.

If you’ve ever wondered how chefs eat when they go out, Matyson has a tasting menu this week that caters to those with more voyeuristic tendencies. “Eat Like a Chef” promises a culinary experience customized to the tastes of Chef Ben, featuring a $45 prix fixe for five of his favorite dishes.

Fin de la Baie oyster – fresh horseradish
Beef Tartar & Roasted Bone Marrow – Caramelized shallots
Brandade Fritters – Saffron & chorizo
Duck Pho – Foie gras dumpling, rice noodles, pickled turnips
BBQ Pig Tails – Collard greens, coffee
Funnel Cake – Bacon-maple

Matyson is located at 37 S. 19th Street. Prix Fixe does not include tax, beverage or tip. Matyson’s tasting menus are offered with a new theme every week, Monday through Thursday.

Patrick Rodgers (you may remember him from this) spent sixteen years in the music industry, traveling all over the world, and it is on a trip to China where he fell in love with Uyghur cuisine. The Uyghur people, who live in the Xinjiang province of China, borrow some of their culinary influence from neighbors in Russia, Pakistan, India, and Afghanistan. After falling in love with the food, Rodgers returned to the United States only to find there are only two restaurants in the country that specialize in Uyghur cuisine. So Rodgers set out to find a way to bring Uyghur cuisine to Philadelphia.

Next Sunday, November 6th, National Mechanics (22 South 3rd Street) will be bringing in Chef Ahmet Mamut, an Uyghur chef from Phoenix, Arizona, to treat the people of Philadelphia to this rare cuisine. “As far as I know, this is the first time an Uyghur menu has ever been presented in Philadelphia,” Rodgers says.

The dinner will consist of four courses: cold salad, soup, entree, and dessert, with four options for each course (including one option each for vegan and halal diners). Two choices of traditional Uyghur bread (Rodgers’ favorite) will also be included. The menu costs $35 per person, and will feature such dishes as:

Lagman - long, handmade noodles topped with vegetables and beef or lamb
Gul Tavak – a meat and vegetable salad arranged to look like a flower with multicolored petals
Polo - a rice dish usually reserved for honored guests
Parmudin - warm bread rolls stuffed with lamb, onion, and spices

Further information and reservations can be found here, along with the full menu and list of ingredients.

This could truly be your only chance to ever eat Uyghur cuisine, and you don’t want to miss it. As an added bonus, we’ll be giving away a dinner for two to this in the near future, so keep your eyes over here.

[Photo via Serious Eats]

We mentioned yesterday that Top Chef winner Kevin Sbraga was set to open his first restaurant, Sbraga, in Philadelphia this Saturday. The 440 South Broad Street spot will be a “modern American restaurant” featuring a $45 prix fixe menu we detailed yesterday, including deserts made by the chef’s wife, Pastry Chef Jesmary Sbraga. We sent out own Madeline Bates down there today to check out the 65-seat dining room as they make preparations for the doors to open this weekend. Check out more of her images after the jump.

Reservations are currently being accepted.

[All Photos by Madeline P Bates]

Corn & Lobster “Cappucino”
Black pepper corn muffin, vanilla honey

Shaved Summer Melon
Serrano ham, fried manchego, arugula, saffron-vanilla

Foie Gras & Vanilla Bean “Ganache”
Apricot-jalapeno jam, pistachio

Vanilla & Rum Soaked Pork Tenderloin
Pineapple, coconut, sweet potato

Vanilla Profiteroles
Chocolate sauce, hazelnuts

Matyson’s tasting menus are offered with a new theme every week, Monday through Thursday.

Lobster Soup
Miso, buckwheat noodles, Japanese turnips, asparagus

Spicy Lobster & Charred Watermelon Salad
Saffron-lime, fava bean tapenade, opal basil

Lobster Stuffed Squash Blossom
Local baby squash, white beans, tomato, lemon verbena

Butter Poached Lobster
Seared foie gras, jalapeno corn cakes, truffled peaches

Lemon Cheesecake
Stewed blueberries

$45 Prix Fixe does not include tax, beverage or gratuity

The menu for the event is as follows:

Hiramasa Sashimi
Seared Peach, cucumber salsa verde, yeast yogurt
Royal Weiss Ale

Sauteed Bay Scallops
Grapefruit, avocado, jalapeno, rosemary popcorn
113 India Pale Ale

Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras
Figgy bun, crispy serrano ham, espelette pepper
Ichor Quadruple

Smoked Pork Belly
New potatoes, leeks, tempura mussels, dynamite sauce
Saison VOS

Spiced Apple Ice Cream
Beer battered aged cheddar, coffee caramel
Incubus Tripel

Bistro La Minette, 623 S 6th St, 215.925.8000