Weekend must-tries: Good, cheesy fun

If you've totally abandoned the New Year's Resolution to eat better, head to The Abbaye in Northern Liberties.

Now on the menu is a tasty special from chef Bruce Reckan's bag o' tricks: a bacon-wrapped-meatloaf sandwich ($11). Just what it sounds like.

The meatloaf is topped with Swiss and a tomato sauce and comes out on dinner-plate-size slices of buttered-and-toasted challah. With the tangle of crispy frites on the side, you're about to eat something bigger than your head.

Cheese Ball II. Blogger Tenaya "Madame Fromage" Darlington is hosting her second Cheese Ball on Saturday, Jan. 18 from 7:30 to midnight at Ruba Club, 414 Green St., Philadelphia. It's a dairy potluck. Admission is $10 plus a hunk of cheese and/or something that would tastily accompany cheese. Proceeds will go to Sue Miller of Birchrun Hills Farm to seed her Kickstarter campaign to build a cheese cave.

Japanese beer. Foobooz reports that Zama, the Japanese restaurant off Rittenhouse Square, has obtained a keg of Hitachino Anbai Plum Wheat Ale - making it one of only a handful of U.S. restaurants to obtain the brew, made from a base of Hitachino Nest White Ale that is then mixed with Japanese plums. After soaking for six months, mo-shio (natural sea salt) is added, creating a salty and sour brew. This will be available only this weekend.

Restaurant weeks. Ambler restaurant week ends Monday, Jan. 20, though Trax Cafe will extend its special through Jan. 24. ... Center City District Restaurant Week starts Sunday, Jan. 19.