Eat Beat

by Kirsten Henri

It‘s been a particularly bad year for Italian white truffles. Already an elusive luxury, they’re especially scarce this year. And what is scarce also becomes exorbitantly expensive. A 26-ounce truffle from Piedmont, Italy, recently sold at a charity auction for $208,000, while the wholesale price has jumped from $1,600 to $3,500 a pound. If you think about it that way, $90 for a five-course truffled meal—as served by Little Fish chef-owner Mike Stollenwerk—isn’t so hard to swallow. Each course will include the reputed aphrodisiac, from a first course of asparagus terrine gussied up with truffled tempura egg yolk and shaved white truffle, to a veal tenderloin poached in truffle oil to ice cream made with black truffle. Reservations are required and there will be two seatings. Although it’s BYO, Stollenwerk has asked Moore Bros. wine store to make pairing recommendations, which can be found on the Little Fish website. >> Tues., Dec. 4, 6pm and 8:30pm. $90. Little Fish, 600 Catharine St. 215.413.3464. www.littlefishphilly.com

Eat It for Eight Days!
Made of potatoes? Fried in oil? Count us in! The fifth annual Latkepalooza at the Gershman Y is upon us. This festival celebrates the start of Hanukkah (which officially begins Dec. 4) by serving 3,000 potato pancakes getsatsked up by local chefs and restaurateurs. The event includes a celery and black truffle latke from Marigold Kitchen, a Spanish-influenced latke made with saffron aioli from Bar Ferdinand, and a spinach and feta “spanolatke” from Greek restaurant Estia. Prepurchasing tickets online or by phone is recommended since the event usually sells out, but there’ll be tickets at the door for stragglers. >> Sun., Dec. 2, 2-4pm. $10-$15. Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad St. 215.446.3021. www.gershmany.org

Buy It for Someone Else, Please!
I’ll admit it—I’m one of those people who goes shopping for holiday gifts for others and instead ends up buying a bunch of shiny new presents for myself. That’s why I’m staying far, far away from the new 11,000-square-foot Foster’s Homeware, the store that likes to take all my money every December. But now their website is stalking me at home. It has holiday gifts conveniently broken down into categories like “For the chef,” “For that special woman” and “Gifts up to $100.” Pick out the perfect Scandinavian-inspired dinner plate from Finnish designers Iittala. Or that fancy Wusthof cleaver you’ve been coveting. Or I’ve been coveting. >> Foster’s Homeware, 399 Market St. 215.925.0950. www.shopfosters.com