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Hop Sing visits Vetri for a cocktail class, and hilarity is served

Marc Vetri hosts the single-named Hop Sing proprietor Lê for a sold-out cocktail class in the event space above his Spruce Street dining room.

Hop Sing Laundromat, the Chinatown cocktail lounge, is so popular that even Marc Vetri has to wait to get in.

"I once stood outside for half an hour," he said, referring to the queue that regularly forms in front of the nondescript, blue-lit gate at 1029 Race St.

Earlier this week, Vetri made the sought-after libations slightly more accessible — or at least reservable in advance — by hosting the single-named Hop Sing proprietor Lê for a sold-out, $150-a-head cocktail class in the event space above his Spruce Street dining room.

Though they probably could have gotten away with it, none of the guests showed up in sneakers (something that's not allowed at the actual bar). Guests were warned, however, that no photography would be allowed during the class, a rule familiar to anyone who has been booted out of Hop Sing after getting caught surreptitiously snapping a pic of a drink.

Lê, who had never before given an official lesson on drink making, came well prepared. He brought with him more than 60 bottles of top-shelf liquor — the only kind used in his bar, which stocks about 1,800 bottles total. He also had fresh fruit (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes) delivered directly to the restaurant.

"I've never seen this kind of atmosphere in here before," observed Vetri private dining manager Kane with a half-smile, as guests whooped and hollered watching Hop Sing bartenders go to town with a series of synchronized two-handed cocktail shakes.

Things didn't start off all that boisterous.

While attendees sipped a superfluous welcome glass of champagne, Lê gave a short lecture on tools of his trade. Large, solid ice cubes are essential, because they won't quickly melt and change the character of your drink (you don't need a $10,000 ice machine — make them in your home freezer in silicon molds). Also recommended were  stainless-steel shakers, so you don't risk the chance of breaking a glass during a vigorous shake.

As Lê allowed his cocktail-in-progress to fall on the floor in a bit of slapstick demonstration, his special guest arrived: Le Bec-Fin's Georges Perrier.

"I brought an extra chef in case they don't know how to cook here," teased Lê. Does Perrier, whose affinity for wine has been well documented, enjoy cocktails?

"I wouldn't say no to 'zem," he confirmed.

Vetri himself arrived shortly after Perrier, and as he slipped past his friend toward the front of the room, Lê reached under the counter, pulling out a jar of premade tomato sauce and bag of commercial pasta.

"I had to move these around for space, Chef. On what shelf should I put them?" He grinned as he ribbed Vetri, whose kitchen prides itself on fresh-made pasta and house-simmered sauce.

Lê softened the tease by handing Vetri a cordial glass filled with bright pink liquid, before doling out duplicates to guests. It was filled with the Fuggedaboutit, a Hop Sing signature drink that contains nothing but an assortment of different spirits, but tastes unmistakably like grapefruit. "Very hard to believe there's no juice in there," said the chef.

"This is brutally good," observed one guest, sipping an unlikely concoction of gin, coffee and fresh cream, topped with a dried rosebud. Called the Nevermore, it was the first Hop Sing bartenders ever served to Craig LaBan, and it turned Philadelphia Inquirer critic into a believer, according to Lê.

"What I want to know is what name was on LaBan's driver's license when he came in?" shouted Perrier.

Lê, whose doormen scrutinize every single ID before allowing customers inside, was ready with an answer. "Pretty sure it said, 'Marc Vetri.'"

Within an hour, the room had picked up an obvious buzz.

Plenty of cocktail knowledge was being divulged — for example: when mixing drinks, always add the least expensive ingredients first, so if you mess up, there's less loss — and guests busily scribbled down notes on provided pads.

But it was obvious that note-taking did not keep anyone from tasting the results of the wisdom. One person slipped unceremoniously off her stool on the way to the bathroom ("I'm fine! I'm fine!") and another saw fit to chomp down a whole raw Thai chile pepper, something he accomplished without even a single grimace.

Of the 12 guests, only a handful had ever been to Hop Sing before. Jennifer Napp of Center City had only been once, but heard about the class and bought a pair of tickets as a Mother's Day gift. Stephanie Napp nodded in approval of her daughter's present. "Every Christmas Eve I throw a big party at my house in Lansdowne, and I always make cocktails," she said. "But now I'm thinking I've got to step it up a bit from the cranberry martinis I usually serve."

Glenna Stone, an interior designer from Doylestown, had never stepped foot in the Chinatown bar, but said she'd definitely make her way there sometime soon. She volunteered to test out the stirring technique Lê had just demonstrated, and succeeding in doing a decent job.

"She over-stirred it a bit, but that's normal for a beginner. Look, it's not the end of the world if you don't do it exactly right or have all the right tools," Lê said. "If you're desperate for a cocktail, you'll find a way to make it."

"Desperate for a cocktail" was certainly not applicable to anyone at that evening's table. As the class neared its conclusion, each place setting had an array of at least seven or eight glasses of various shapes and sizes surrounding it, each with a different level of liquid remaining.

Vetri private chef Matt Buehler provided a selection of bar snacks throughout the class — foie gras pastrami, bonito-topped burrata, Green Meadow Farms crudité with balsamic cream dip — but he also had a very welcome final course to help wrap up the evening with decorum.

"I'm serving risotto on purpose," he explained. "They need something to help soak up all that booze!"