Off The Menu

Ever watch The Godfather: Part III, remote in hand, just so you could learn how to make gnocchi properly? Well, the Restaurant School at Walnut Hill College in West Philadelphia has realized how frequently food takes a cameo role in movies -- and has teamed with their West Philly neighbor, International House, to put together a program of food classes corresponding with their film series. First up comes Vive La France!, a two-part course beginning this week, to coincide with the ongoing program of contemporary French cinema at I-House (which continues with On Guard!, on Wed. Oct. 15). Future classes include El Cubano Feast, matching with the film portion of El Festival Cubano (running Oct. 2 to 10), and, alongside I-House's New Authors of Italian Cinema series in November, a two-part introductory class on Italian cooking, where gnocchi may finally get your full attention. Call the Restaurant School at 215-222-4200 ext. 3067 for more information and to enroll.

With unprecedented bookings, September's first annual Restaurant Week turned out to be the most sought-after reservation in town: A final list of 44 restaurants (after the last-minute closure of Bookbinders) opened their doors to patrons offering a $30 prix fixe three-course meal, and in the process found themselves fully booked. The event's organizers, Center City District, were so bowled over by the advance demand at restaurants such as Audrey Claire, Bleu and Los Catrines that they decided to capitalize on the buzz -- by extending Restaurant Week, which had been planned to end on Friday, Sept. 19; diners were able to snag the same deal from Sunday, Sept. 21, until Tuesday, Sept. 23. (Saturday night's reservations didn't count, sadly.) One immediate upshot of the event, modeled on a similar scheme available in D.C and New York, has been to encourage the return of the prix fixe the rest of the year: Georges Perrier cites Restaurant Week as the primary reason he has reportedly decided to introduce a three-course dinner menu at Le Bec-Fin, available for $65 from Monday to Thursday throughout October, while Le Bar Lyonnais manages a bistro-style three-course selection at $35.

In Short: Joe Poon, Chinatown's foremost proponent and tour guide, has been announced as the recipient of the 2003 Human Rights Award for Community Service from the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, recognizing his efforts to open up Chinatown to visitors through his long-running Wok 'n' Walk tour. The award will be presented at the Commission's 2003 Human Rights Awards luncheon on Oct. 16.

Send tips for Off The Menu to Juliet Fletcher, juliet@citypaper.net.

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