Lunch

Going back to school, particularly if it's a new school, can be daunting for kids and parents. There's a lot to consider, from sleep schedules to nutrition and immunizations. Much can be accomplished by establishing good habits, says Julie Yeh, a pediatrician at Greater Baltimore Medical Center, who answered questions about handling the school year. Question: How do I get my child off a summer sleep schedule and back to a school schedule? How much sleep does a child need for school, and does it vary by age?

PRESIDENT OBAMA was the last person who 16-year-old Henry Shah thought he would be eating lunch with when he began volunteering as a summer campaign organizer in May. An elderly woman in Mount Airy, a single parent in Germantown, even a handicapped volunteer - who was also spending the summer registering voters - seemed to be more likely candidates. But on Monday, Shah sat across from Obama at Ted's Bulletin - a burger joint on Capitol Hill - and, over fries and a milkshake, swapped stories about his canvassing experiences.

After the tables were properly set, the ice water was poured, and everyone was seated, the chef greeted guests and described the lunch prepared for them: Beef lasagna with homemade tomato sauce and grated Parmesan cheese; roasted red peppers with rosemary; green salad with creamy herb vinaigrette; and for dessert, lemon granita. The table captains, outfitted in white chef's jackets, were summoned to carry trays of food and serve it family style. Not exactly the setting or menu you might expect for an urban school cafeteria, but such was the scene at Girard College in North Philadelphia last week, where 260 city kids ages 6 to 17 were having lunch at a camp program.

Are the lunches you send to school making your kid sick? They sure could be, according to a study by researchers at the University of Texas, Austin. They measured the temperatures of food in bag lunches 90 minutes before children at air-conditioned Texas child-care centers were scheduled to eat them. Ninety percent of the lunches were in insulated bags. Even so, the results were disgusting. Fewer than 2 percent of the perishable items were in what the researchers deemed a safe temperature zone: less than 39.2 degrees or more than 140 degrees.

When the historic inn reopens in August, it will serve lunch, dinner, drinks, and pub fare till 10 p.m. weekdays, 11 p.m. Saturdays, and 9 p.m. Sundays. The inn was closed Mondays when the DeMenczuks owned it from 1979 to 2004. Lunch entrees will cost $6 to $12, dinner entrees $9 to $24, and sliders and other pub grub in the tavern $6 to $9. A couple of touches from the past will return: piano music and valet parking Friday and Saturday. Free parking is available a block away.

Don't let their low profile fool you. Savory tarts are perfect for entertaining. "They're so versatile," said master baker Nick Malgieri, author of numerous cookbooks including Bake! (Kyle) and The Modern Baker (DK Publishing). "They may be used as hors d'oeuvres, or as a first course, brunch, or lunch dish," he said. "Best of all, most can be prepared entirely in advance and served at room temperature. " Savory tarts certainly deserve more respect. While the humble pie is lavished with buttery streusel topping or sweet whipped cream or billowy meringue, cheese savories are relegated to the appetizer platter at catered affairs.

In 1976, as the city marked the Bicentennial mere blocks away, Carlo Sena and his family opened a posh Italian restaurant on Front Street in Old City. La Famiglia was a revelation - a luxe dining room floored in pink marble, redolent of flowers, and bathed in candlelight. The fireplace mantel held dozens of bottles of potent grappa. An impressive wine cellar had been assembled in the basement - where construction workers had uncovered wells dug when the property was owned by Ben Franklin's daughter.

There's more on the menu than tasty lunch dishes and homemade treats at the new Black Cat Cafe in Devon. Scattered throughout the yellow-and-lavender restaurant are pictures of cats in need of homes. The one-of-a-kind spot is run by PALS, a Main Line pet-rescue group, and is serving up food along with a feel-good mission: to find homes for unwanted cats. Earlier this year, PALS bought the former tea shop at 42 Berkeley Rd. intending to rent it out, but decided to try its own paw, er, hand at running a cafe.

The outdoor grilling/picnic season is in full swing. If you covet your free time as I do, you cook enough for 10 when only eight are coming to dinner. You're counting on leftovers. You say leftovers is an ugly word? Get over it. Leftovers can make a great lunch, especially if you want to squeeze sunshine time into the workday. So grill an extra chicken half or beef steak, pork chop, or vegetables, perhaps zucchini or red pepper wedges. Make a little extra German potato salad, bacon-studded baked beans, or chilled marinated vegetables.

MY FAVORITE gifts-to-lawmakers story this year involves Rep. Mike Vereb. He's a Montgomery County Republican and a former West Conshohocken cop who reported a gift from a Virginia-based coal company: lunch for him and his wife in New York - $1,017. This struck me as a tad high, even for the Apple. I figured lunch must have included a pretty good Bordeaux, a fat tip and some $100 bills to go. But Vereb tells me, no, it was "a reception and lunch my wife and I were invited to" by Alpha Natural Resources, the nation's third-largest coal producer.