Dining Deals

A couple of weeks ago, Marie and I bought a deck of cards. Not for playing Solitaire, or Kings, or Poker (though in the absence of cable TV or internet, we could probably use those as well). Instead, we paid $20 for a full deck of restaurant cards, each offering $10 off. Without a doubt, it’s a good deal—all we have to do is visit three and we will have made up for it. But more than that, it’s a fun way make sure we keep experimenting with dining choices. Finally, it’s for a good cause—all the restaurants are chef-owned, and a portion of the proceeds from the card sales goes to a really interesting charity.

So, Saturday night, we decided to try out restaurant-card-roulette for the first time. We shuffled and picked a random card. Unfortunately, this one had three dollar signs, and we had to throw it back (even with the $10 discount there was no way that was going to work). The next one that surfaced was a sushi place that looked good, but I wasn’t in the mood for raw fish. (OK, so maybe our adventurousness is a little tempered). Finally we landed one that seemed like the perfect match, Trattoria Roma: one dollar sign, Italian, and in nearby Old Town.

Tiny (no more than 15 tables) and inconspicuous (we almost walked by it), Trattoria Roma is the perfect place to go to satisfy a craving for salty-garlicky-olive-oily-starchy Italian food. The menu is handwritten--and in some places illegible--because it changes daily. It took me about three seconds to decide what I wanted—tilapia with capers, olives, tomatoes and grilled vegetables—and luckily, Marie was on the same page. The card may have said $, but the prices aren’t cheap, so it’s a good thing their portions are generous enough to share. The wine list was short, but it had everything covered, and the service was friendly and helpful.