Beck DC Appetizers, by christaki

Your 401(k) is shrinking, you’re hearing rumors of cutbacks at work, and your house is losing value by the day. You know what you need to take your mind off it?  A nice meal out.  

Restaurants all over the area are offering fixed-price menus designed to entice you through their doors, even while you’re cutting back spending on everything else.  Open Table’s Appetite Stimulus Plan is over, but there are still plenty of specials to be found all over DC.
 

Dino has been offering its Restaurant Week dinner special for months now- you can get 3 courses for $35.08 Sunday through Thursday. If you’re an early eater, Dino has recently reintroduced their early evening “Menu della Sera,” where you can have three courses for $24 if you order it before 7 PM. 

Georgia Brown’s has a 3 course lunch for $21, and if you haven’t had the fried chicken there… well, it just might make you forget all about the economy.  Vidalia has a 3 course tasting menu option for $19.90. And downtown isn’t the only place to find these specials- Hook in Georgetown has a 2 course lunch special for $19.

And don’t forget the venerable bar menu, friend of budget-conscious foodies everywhere. Restaurants that didn’t previously offer a special bar menu are introducing them to capture more business.

As always, do your research: Ensure that the special is still being offered, visit the restaurant’s website to check the menu, and above all, CALL if you happen to be going close to Inauguration. All bets are off when the city fills with political tourists, and while plenty of them are still offering Inaugural packages, many of them are not what you’d call “budget” (though many of them do come with champagne, which is nice).

Tiffany Bridge

Tiffany Baxendell Bridge is an Internet enthusiast and an incurable smartass. When not heckling the neighborhood political scene on Twitter, she can be found goofing off with her ukulele, Bollywood dancing, or obsessing about cult TV. She is That Woman With the Baby In the Bar.

Tiffany lives in Brookland with her husband Tom, son Charlie, and two high-maintenance cats. Read why Tiffany loves DC.