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The prix is right

Delicious discounts abound on area menus, even high-end ones: 35, 30, 20 bucks gets you three, four, five courses, and fills restaurant seats.

Poor man’s pudding of shortbread, bourbon maple caramel. The chef changes offerings monthly at Cochon, Queen Village/Bella Vista. (Eric Mencher/Staff Photographer)
Poor man’s pudding of shortbread, bourbon maple caramel. The chef changes offerings monthly at Cochon, Queen Village/Bella Vista. (Eric Mencher/Staff Photographer)Read more

Restaurateurs have staffs to pay and, especially early in the week in these recession-wracked days, empty seats to fill.

So they have taken to discounting.

Everyone, swanky and not so, seems to be offering a prix-fixe special on two, three, four, or five courses.

Bar Ferdinand in Northern Liberties recently began a tasting menu on Thursday nights that covers 13 plates for $35 a person.

Call them "recession menus" or "menus d'economie," they're keeping restaurants afloat and allowing people to get a somewhat discounted taste of a place that might otherwise seem out of reach. Many offer full-size portions and selections off the regular menus.

"We do it because it's interesting," said chef Michael Thomas of Bar Ferdinand, but he concedes that it is a challenge week after week.

"We have to find ingredients that are not breaking our bank. We look at what's fresh and what's coming into season, get out our Spanish cookbooks, and put it together."

Prix-fixes, the successor to the timeworn early-bird special, blossomed most recently during the Center City District's Restaurant Week in February, which offered three-course meals for $35.

They just kept going.

Arthur Etchells, who collects deals on his blog Foobooz.com, suggested that the $35 bundling has become passé already. "When you can get it at Le Bec-Fin, it's not so special," he said, referring to the Walnut Street landmark's deal now offered weeknights. (Not too long ago, Le Bec-Fin charged $155 for its priciest degustation.)

According to a dozen restaurateurs interviewed, the deals are working. They seem comfortable trading a few percentage points of profit for the prospect of keeping customers coming through the door.

For the most part, the deals are scheduled earlier in the week, traditionally the slowest time anyway.

Take the $30 three-course option on Sundays at Marigold Kitchen, the Southern-style BYOB in West Philadelphia. Patrons can pick from six appetizers, six entrees, and four desserts.

Sample: grits with butter-poached oysters and tomato jam (priced at $9 on the menu); seared scallops with spiced sweet potato puree, brussels sprouts and pepper bacon ($24); and dark chocolate terrine with candied orange and sweet sour cream ($8).

Ordered a la carte, the combo would cost $41.

Most restaurants aim for a food cost of 29 percent to 35 percent of total sales. Owner Steve Cook estimates this meal's total food cost at $11.75. When he charges $41, that comes to an acceptable 29 percent food cost. But at $30, the price of ingredients soars to 39 percent.

Still, when he's selling a lot of $30 dinners, higher costs seem easier to absorb.

Four courses for $30 is the special Tuesdays through Thursdays at Cochon on the Queen Village/Bella Vista border. Chef Gene Giuffi changes the offering monthly, and a recent offering included pork crackling with cornichons and pickled tomatoes; head cheese scrapple with Lyonnaise salad; 24-hour pork shoulder steak with celery root, sweet pea, and roasted mushroom hash with Madeira sauce; and a poor man's pudding of shortbread with bourbon maple caramel.

Zinc Bistro in Washington Square West serves three courses for $30 Tuesdays through Sundays from 5 to 7:30 p.m. Daddy Mims Creole BYOB in Phoenixville charges $30 for four courses Tuesdays through Saturdays.

How about $20? The Witch, a bistro in Pennsport, does four courses for $20 on Tuesdays. Etchells also likes the $30 three-course deal at Copper Bistro, a BYOB in Northern Liberties.

How about $19.95? All seven Iron Hill Brewery locations serve a 14-ounce prime rib, salad, baked potato, vegetable, and 16-ounce house pint of beer or glass of house wine for $19.95 from 1 to 9 p.m. Sundays.

Then there's quantity. The bistro dinner at Old City's Fork, etc. is priced at $40, but it includes four courses and wine. Michael O'Halloran at Bistro 7 in Old City charges $35 for a five-course tasting menu available Tuesdays to Thursdays.

And the deals allow people to dine within a specific budget, said Joe Varalli, who just started specials from three to five courses at his Upstares at Varalli and Sotto Varalli in Center City.

Along with prix-fixes, restaurants are offering bar menus with lower prices, such as happy-hour specials at high-end places such as Table 31 and Barclay Prime. "It's like [these owners] said, 'The gastropubs are packed. Maybe we should emulate them,' " Etchells said.

At lunch, the best deal in town might be the two-dish "Catalan Express" ($12.50) at Amada in Old City. Chifa near Washington Square does two courses for $18. Nineteen, in the Park Hyatt Philadelphia at the Bellevue, has three courses for $19. Caribou Café in Washington Square West does two for $16. Rouge in Rittenhouse charges $16 for two dishes.

"It's an opportunity for patrons to get what looks like a value purchase and make the decision to go out when they otherwise wouldn't," said consultant Ron Gorodesky of Restaurant Advisory Services of Blue Bell. "It's an opportunity for restaurants to keep people employed. You promise somebody full-time work, you have to keep them working."

From an economic standpoint, they make sense "as long as restaurants aren't giving [food] away."

The $30 "three-course recession special" offered Tuesdays through Thursdays at Rittenhouse Square's cozy Caffe Casta Diva offers a choice of several appetizers (including fennel soup, fresh mozzarella and tomato, and Caesar salad); entrees (including risotto brimming with seafood); plus dessert (cannoli, poached pears, crème brûlée, tiramisu).

All delicious, as chef Stephen Vassalluzzo knows his way around fresh pasta and Michael Riverso Jr. runs the front of the house with South Philly polish. The meal was so filling, we ordered dessert to go.

Ordered a la carte, the apps and entrees would have cost $64 - meaning that $60 would be only a modest discount. "Look at it as free dessert," Riverso said.

Two desserts (most $7 each) would have brought the total to $78. And spiked our cholesterol.