Off the Menu

by Frank Lewis

On April 6, 100 more cherry trees will be planted in Fairmount Park, part of an ongoing project that will eventually bring 1,000 of the blossoming trees to the park by 2007. Digging is hungry work, so on the second day of the weeklong Subaru Cherry Blossom Festival of Greater Philadelphia, Roy’s Philadelphia (124 S. 15th St.) will host a sushi tasting featuring master sushi chefs from Japan. Tickets will be $45; call 215-988-1814 for details. For more on the Cherry Blossom Festival, visit the website of the Japan America Society of Greater Philadelphia, www.jasgp.org.

A few months ago we told you about Cube Libre (10 S. Second St., www.cubalibrerestaurant.com) helping to send 35 Philadelphia School students to Cuba for nine days. The kids are back, and starting April 13, photos from their trip will be on display in the restaurant’s second-floor Galeria. An opening day reception will be held from 3 to 5 p.m.; call 215-627-0666 for reservations. And in May, the restaurant and the human rights organization Global Exchange will lead a chartered "Reality Tour" of Cuba. Contact Michele Greenberg (215-922-3200 x 122, michele@cubalibrerestaurant.com) for more information.

The occasionally maligned but resilient Trust (121 S. 13th St., www.trustrestaurant.com) celebrates one year on Friday, with a party from 5 to 9 p.m. Executive Chef Matthew Spector’s spring menu launches this week and the Bossa Nova Brunch -- featuring a DJ spinning Latin music -- debuts on Sunday, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Jones (700 Chestnut St., www.jones-restaurant.com) is now offering its comfort food menu to go. Call 215-223-5663 to place an order.

London Grill (2301 Fairmount Ave., www.londongrill.com) will host Passover Seders on April 16 and 17. It’s a $35 prix-fixe menu, and kosher wines will be available. Call 215-978-4545 for reservations.

Yards Brewing Co. of Philadelphia is one of the dozens of craft breweries from the Mid-Atlantic region expected to participate in the Fifth Annual Manayunk Brew Extravaganza April 26 at Manayunk Brewery & Restaurant (4120 Main St., www.manayunkbrewery.com). Tickets, which are $25, are available now; call 215-482-8220.

Morimoto (723 Chestnut St., www.morimotorestaurant.com) has opened a private, reservation-only "Omakase Room" -- where, for $120 per, you and up to 14 friends can sample former Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s dishes. Call 215-413-9070 for details. For significantly less, you’ll soon be able to sample an Iron Chef candy bar, from True Confections of Amherst, Mass. (www.trueconfections.com). The "theme ingredient" of Morimoto’s bar will be caramel.