THE BEST HALF-OFF DEALS

Make Mondays and Tuesdays your new date night.

The Allgood Cafe is on everyone’s list for brunch, but on Tuesday nights, we head down to Deep Ellum for the two-for-one entree special. We love the 12-ounce sirloin steak served with pomme frites ($15.99), or the huge skillet-grilled Gulf shrimp with peppers, onions, and jalapeños, served with wild rice pilaf. Take the normal price of the shrimp, $12.99, and put it in your 401(k).

Tuesday is also bargain night atBreadwinners (all locations). They offer all of their appetizers for half price. Our favorites are the cheese plate with Manchego, Brie, smoked cheddar, and spicy Genoa salami ($7.50), and the thin-crust Neopolitan pizza with fresh mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil ($4.50).

After 9 pm, you can get gourmet goodies at Eatzi’s for cheap. The buy-one-get-one-free policy applies to the bakery, pre-packed meals, and selected items in the chef’s case. Two meatloaf dinners, each with two thick slices of meat, mashed potatoes, and green beans, are yours for $9.99. Individual crème brûlée your favorite sweet? Grab two for only $2.99.

Skip Sunday dinner at home and head out to Kathleen’s Sky Diner, where entrees are half price from 5 to 10 pm on Sunday nights. A big bowl of shrimp and grits, with spicy jumbo shrimp, creamy grits, peppers, mushrooms, and bacon is a comfort food feast at $8.50 (normally $17), and Asiago-crusted trout with mashed potatoes and veggies is just $9.25 (regularly $18.50). Bonus: all entrees come with plenty of Kathleen’s freshly baked bread at no charge.

On Wednesday nights, Monica’s Aca y Alla in Deep Ellum pours 75-cent margaritas. But on Tuesday nights, Monica’s offers food—nachos, burritos, enchiladas, and more—for half price. We love Frankie’s combo, a sour cream chicken enchilada, a beef enchilada, and a cheese enchilada ($4.50).

Uptowners pack State and Allen Lounge’s large patio every night of the week, but on Mondays, they come for the half-off pizza special. Go for the 12-inch thin-crust Jimmy’s sausage pie covered with sautéed red and green peppers ($5). Good people-watching is always no charge.

The best night to hit Sol’s Taco Lounge in Deep Ellum is Monday. That’s when this funky joint offers half-price entrees. Try the carne asada, an 8-ounce center-cut tenderloin with Mexican potatoes, borracho beans, and guacamole ($7.79).

 

SEAFOOD

Dallas Fish Market was recently recognized as one of the top seafood restaurants in the country, but they keep their prices customer-friendly. The $30 sunset menu pairs three courses with a glass of their house wine, white or red. Savor the lobster corn chowder and grilled salmon, and see for yourself what all the fuss is about. Dessert is warm beignets to share.

Chamberlain’s Fish Market Grill offers a three-course lobster menu for $39. Okay, one man’s cheap is another man’s denied credit card. Instead think value: a creamy bowl of lobster bisque, the cool crunch of a lobster lettuce wrap, and an impressive finale of shrimp and crab stuffed Maine lobster.

Whether it’s Aw Shucks on Greenville or the two Big Shucks locations (on Mockingbird and in Richardson), these sibling neighborhood restaurants serve a different lunch special daily, like shrimp and fries or fish tacos (both $4.95). On Tuesdays, you can add a cup of gumbo for $1.50. There’s also something wonderfully appealing about their billing policy: you tell the cashier what you ate. On your honor.

The only problem at Fishmonger’s Seafood is that you might have to fight for a seat. This joint is always packed with locals taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat tilapia (Tuesdays after 4 pm) and fried catfish (all day Sundays and after 4 pm Wednesdays) for $11.99. That will also get you french fries, red beans and rice, and a choice of salad or coleslaw.

If you like your fish funky side up, head to Flying Fish and make friends with one of the many Billy Bass trophies on the walls while you wait for a basket of catfish fillet, hush puppies, and fries ($4.99). Dieting? Order a grilled, hand-sized slab of tilapia served on a mountain of fresh greens ($8.99). Want to know a real secret deal? An 18-ounce margarita is only $8.

STEAKHOUSES

There are many reasons to go to Dunston’s. One is the boldface names that frequent the back room at the Lovers Lane location. Another is the bacon-wrapped 6-ounce Prime tenderloin served with a choice of two sides for $16.95. This is hands down the best deal in town. Perhaps that’s why they’ve been in business for more than 50 years.

If you want a dose of kitsch with your cut, go to Charco Broiler Steak House in Oak Cliff. Its red-eyed rooftop bull, Sonny the Steer, has presided over Jefferson Boulevard for 44 years and is a fitting greeter to guests looking for a 14-ounce T-bone served with a baked potato, iceberg lettuce salad, and buttered Texas toast for $11.95. When you think of The Palm, you probably see dollar signs. But the downtown power lunch spot has a powerful secret: the business lunch special is a bargain. An entree (salmon, sirloin, chicken parmigiana, scallops, twin tenderloin filets Oscar, or veal piccata) along with a soup or salad and a side dish go for $18.95. And you will need a doggy bag. One regular calls Villa’s Grill “Texas de Brazil or Fogo de Chao on a government-bailout budget,” which, roughly translated, means a churrascaria-style restaurant with strolling waiters proffering tender slices of beef, pork, sausage, and chicken—but on a budget. While the cost of a meat feast at the swankier Texas de Brazil and Fogo de Chao hovers at around $40, here an all-you-can-eat meat parade is $16.90 (for dinner). And you can bring your own wine.

SUSHI

Pad thai is popular at the original location of Asian Mint, but $1 sushi nights on Mondays and Tuesdays draw the crowds. Graze through nine types of fresh nigiri, including yellowtail, salmon, and red snapper, or throw down a sawbuck on 10 pieces of yellowtail that would normally cost you $22.50.

Oishii sits in an off-the-radar spot on Wycliff. Go on Tuesday nights, when, from 5 to 10 PM, nigiri sushi—tuna, octopus, red snapper, and salmon—is only $1 a pop. We like to sit at the sushi bar and watch the chefs. And not just for their knife skills.

Everyone thinks tiny Seabose in Carrollton is his own undiscovered secret. If so, that’s not true anymore. Spicy tuna rolls are $4.50 ($7.50 at Nobu), and tuna nigiri is a bargain at $2. Vegetarians can order avocado cucumber rolls for $2.99 and tamago (omelet) nigiri for $1.50.

Tables at Steel are always filled with Uptowners and businesspeople, but on Wednesdays from 5:30 to 7, the place really gets hopping for its famous “free” sushi night (which actually costs two drinks). The buffet table offers California rolls, spicy tuna rolls, shrimp tempura, and Cajun rolls. For the price of two domestic beers ($3 each), martinis ($5 each), or glasses of Cadaretta S.B.S. white wine (a splurge at $13 each), “free” almost doesn’t need the quotation marks.