The Week In Eats

Get Out!

by Dena Merlino

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Re-ring in 2008 — the year of the rat — with chef Joseph Poon. Offered after his famed "Wok 'N Walk" Chinatown tour, Poon's 10-course dinner is served family-style for groups of six or more. Dishes will include a cantaloupe bowl with rice, barbecue pork, shrimp, chicken and egg; fresh ginger lemongrass seafood combo consommé; and crispy stuffed crab claw with vermicelli in a Thai chili sauce. A glass of champagne is included for you to toast the new year one more time. Chef Poon's Kitchen Table, 1010 Cherry St., 2nd Floor, 215-500-9774, josephpoon.com.

Sick of the same old V-Day stuff? The Mütter Museum wants to prescribe you a remedy: red wine and dark chocolate. Long praised as a health-boosting pairing, the delicious combo will take the spotlight as the Philadelphia Dietetic Association breaks down beneficial properties as part of Heart Month. Dark chocolate will be provided by Naked Chocolate Café; amazing anatomical info courtesy of the Mütter (who else?). Mütter Museum, 19 S. 22nd St., 215-563-3737, collphyphil.org.

Mother's Wine Bar's five-course Italian dinner has Chianti on the brain. Wine expert Gina Pio will be on hand for epicurious questions as chef Michael Kanter cooks up a fantastic spread. Pairings will include a carpaccio tasting matched with a Tenuta Farneta Chianti; a Villa Branca Bellarco to go along with a deconstructed caccuccio fish course — mussels and clams, prawn and cod; and lamb lasagna, lamb shank over eggplant and sage ravioli and rack of lamb over rosemary bean salad with a Villa Calcinaia Chianti Classico Riserva. In other words, you won't need anyone to remind you to manga. Reservations required. Mother's Wine Bar & Restaurant, 34 N. Main St., New Hope, 215-862-5857, mothersnewhope.com.

Xochitl chef Dionicio Jimenez has created a four-course prix fixe regional menu that reflects Frida Kahlo's life and love of food in honor of the artist's exhibition opening at the Art Museum this week. Try the sopa de fideos — noodle soup with vegetables — that Kahlo once served to Nelson Rockefeller. The turkey meatballs in chipotle sauce appetizer and drunken lamb entrée are traditional dishes that doubled as two of Frida's favorites. Check out the pumpkin flan with apple chutney for dessert. Feel free to sneak onto the regular menu to order the guacamole, made table-side in a lava bowl. Xochitl, 408 S. Second St., 215-238-7280, xochitlphilly.com.