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Get Out!

by Lauren Fleming

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Shakespeare's Birthday Tasting Tour

Billy Shakes' 445th birthday is this week, and City Food Tours is celebrating with this three-hour lunch and tasting tour. Party guests will start off on the stage of the Philadelphia Shakespeare Theatre, where they'll be invited to sip on Spanish sack, mead and traditional English ale. That's following by an Elizabethan dessert sampling featuring treats incorporating dates, hazelnuts and Indian spices. Since much of the food from this era was, well, disgusting, tourgoers will then dine on more contemporary cuisine at Naked Chocolate Café. Following lunch, it's over to Reading Terminal Market to sample cheeses, including one from Verona, Italy (that's where Romeo and Juliet fell in love). An oyster tasting at Solefood will cap off the tour. Tour starts at 21st and Sansom streets, 800-979-3370, zerve.com/cityfoods/shake.

There nothing fishy about the fact that Fishtown is honoring the shad, the swimmer that helped the neighborhood sustain economic development throughout colonial times. Although still somewhat overfished, shad can and will be had at the 2009 Shad Fest, sponsored by the Fishtown Area Business Association. Guests can munch on shad sandwiches courtesy of Johnny Brenda's and Standard Tap in between listening to live music and browsing local artists' booths. Other grub will be supplied by Sweet Lucy's BBQ, Cosmic Catering and Mandi's Deli. Admission is free unless you'd like to run in the festival's 5K — foot race participants will pony up $25 that goes to the Friends of Penn Treaty Park. (For more, check out the Agenda section.) Penn Treaty Park, 1199 N. Delaware Ave., fishtownshadfest.org.

You'll actually feel good about spending money on eating out during the nationwide Dining Out for Life event. This initiative invites restaurants to donate 33 percent of the night's earnings to the licensed AIDS agency in their respective cities. More than 200 area restaurants will participate this year, including Buddakan, Mexican Post, Race Street Café and Tattooed Mom. Don't forget to sign up for the charity raffle when you dine — you could win a vacation for two to Mexico. Go ahead — order dessert and feel good about that, too. For a full list of local participants, visit diningoutforlife.com/philadelphia/participating.

The recent earthquake in Abruzzo, Italy has devastated thousands of families. To support victims, Le Virtù is holding a benefit event. For a minimum $40 donation, guests will be invited to dine on an Abruzzese buffet, which'll feature antipasti dishes, grilled and roasted meats and pasta. They'll also be selling a DVD on Abruzzo as well as CDs that feature music from the region. All proceeds will go toward Abruzzo Earthquake Relief. Le Virtù, 1927 E. Passyunk Ave., 215-271-5626, levirtu.com.

Saturday nights can be rough (on the liver), but thankfully, APO's resident doctor/bartender, Christian R. Gaal, is in on Sundays — and he's got a cure for your meanest hangover hidden away in that glorious stache of his. What's on his list of remedies? The "Prescription Julep," made with cognac, rye whiskey, sugar, spearmint and crushed ice; and the "Scandal in Bohemia," with rye, port, absinthe, Cointreau and orange bitters, just to name two. Even the nastiest katzenjammer will seem to magically disappear after imbibing a few of these. APO Bar and Lounge, 102 S. 13th St., 215-735-7500, apothecarylounge.com.