How to eat for free or get some kind of deal on every dinner you have over the weekend:
1. Use the gift certificates you've been hoarding for the last year: I am bad when it comes to gift certificates. I will save them forever, waiting for a "special occasion." This weekend, I realized that "having too much credit card debt/needing to pay a rental deposit on new house in Petaluma" qualifies as a "special occasion." So Friday night we used the $40 certificate I got for my birthday (which was all the way back in May) and went to Thep Phanom, arguably the best Thai restaurant in the city. (Why is it so good? Two words: Crispy basil.) Thep Phanom is already pretty reasonably priced, and when you skip the alcohol, you can have a fabulous meal for two (appetizer, two entrees, rice) without paying a cent over $40.
2. Order a lot of pizza: We probably order from Pizza Orgasmica at least once every two weeks. And every time you order a pizza from them, you get a magnet. And if you collect 10 magnets, you get a free pizza, any size. On Saturday night, we cashed in our 10 magnets on an extra-large Kama Sutra pizza (yes, don't you love these names?), topped with hearts of palm, roasted garlic, spinach and mushrooms. Then we raided the wine refrigerator for a bottle of Maloy O'Neill 04 Petite Sirah (super, super fruity -- like swimming in an ocean of ripe red and black fruits). It turned out to be a pretty nice evening (if you ignored the unnaturally cold weather and complete lack of heat and insulation in our apartment).
3. Take advantage of Dine About Town specials: Dine About Town is one of my favorite deals ever. During the month of January, a number of amazing San Francisco restaurants offer three-course lunches for $21.95 and dinners for $31.95. Seriously, this is a great way to check out places that may normally be out of your budget. Last night Jenn and I did the Dine About Town thing at Americano. Typically, entrees alone at this restaurant (see the photo above) are in the $20-$30 range, so Dine About Town is a fantastic deal. We started with a cranberry bean and bacon soup, then had a fennel sausage pasta and finished with warm chocolate pudding topped with ice cream (which was the best part of the whole meal -- it was so damn good). And we brought our own wine -- the Taltarni 02 Pyrenees Shiraz -- and shared it with our server, so no corkage.
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