Yet again, you woke up recently lamenting your dry mouth, your alcohol-oozing pores and your raging headache. That's when you swore off drinking. Again. For once, stick to your new determination--at least for a day--by enjoying a new kind of happy hour. Between now and September 15th (5pm-8pm), stop by the East Village outpost of Chocolate Bar, where $5 gets you a mini brownie, a truffle and either a liquid chocolate (iced hot chocolate) or a classic egg cream. While you're at it, also check out our extended list of Restaurant and Bar Deals.

It's probably going to be hard scoring a reservation at the big boys like Bar Boulud (pictured above) or Del Posto during Restaurant Week, but don't fret--there are still lots of opportunities to chow down on a cheap prix-fixe lunch ($24.07) or dinner ($35). Try something with a slightly lower profile like Rayuela or Wildwood, or maybe get a time machine and travel back a month to make a reservation early like you should have done in the first place. Restaurant Week runs from July 21-25 and July 28-August 1.

If you're like me, your salary isn't high enough to dine regularly at restaurants like Bar Boulud (pictured above) or Del Posto (if it is, then we should be best friends). Luckily for not-so-rich types like myself, there is NYC Restaurant Week. This summer, more than 200 restaurants are offering three-course, prix fixe meals for $24.07 (lunch) or $35 (dinner). The actual event takes place from July 21–July 25 and July 28–August 1, with general reservations starting June 26. The good restaurants are always booked super-fast, so don't procrastinate. As for me, I'm looking forward to getting around to some notable restaurants I haven't visited yet, like Rayuela and Aquavit. Yum.

In an era when the economy's collapsing, why are food prices going up so much? This morning the Times tells us that we're paying 17 percent more for milk and 25 percent more for eggs. Even burgers are going for $81, for crying out loud! That's why last night I was so pleased to notice that charming little Chiyono's omakase is still a steal. $30 buys a 4-course chef's tasting of appetizer, entree, soup and dessert. That's $7.50 a course. And while it is by no means Morimoto, the ingredients are fresh and dishes are cooked carefully, if simply. Diners might end up with a soft, slow-simmered pork belly. Plump pork, shrimp or vegetable gyoza. Or a huge, moist, roasted salmon collar. Otherwise, entrees a la carte are all under $12. Try finding those prices at any other Japanese in New York. Or maybe even Peoria, for that matter.

For more bargains, click through to read our list of restaurant and bar deals.

With all due respect to Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats, I do like Mondays--at least as a night to eat out. Restaurants tend to be emptier as the rest of the city recovers from the weekend and there are some great deals to take advantage of around town. Here are two to kick the week off right on 3/31.

The "Greens"--the James Beard Foundation's foodies-under-40 set--will be hosting a seven-course dinner paired with sake at Asian tapas spot Kuma Inn. Know your gingo from your daigingo alongside bites like wasabi pork shumai and adobo duck with a soy, garlic and vinegar marinade. $70 for members; $85 for non-members. Advance reservations required: (212) 627-2308.

If you're on more of a budget, The East Village's sexy snack spot, the Bourgeois Pig, sells every bottle of wine on the list $60 and under for half price on Monday nights.

Some recent developments afoot at Dennis Foy's eponymous restaurant in Tribeca. Lunch and brunch service has started, with the lunch prix fixe sounding like an especially good value at $24.08. Foy's pretty platings seem to have extended to the midday menus, as seen in this dish on the brunch menu, smoked salmon with fingerling potatoes and golden beets ($14).

Morimoto isn't alone in offering its $24.07 Restaurant Week lunch deal all year round, but it's probably offering the most generous deal around. I popped in for what I thought was going to be a "light" lunch recently, choosing the prix-fixe chef's choice of sushi. First, a tofu miso soup arrived, followed by a mizuna salad nicely dressed with kabosu vinaigrette and crispy shallots. Then--wham--came a giant circular platter with a whopping nine pieces of sushi (chu-toro, toro, ika, fluke, saba, eel, hamachi, shrimp, and salmon) and a six-piece roll (the terrific spicy hamachi and scallion). Given that the lunchtime toro tartare appetizer alone is $28, the hamachi roll $9 a la carte, and that single pieces average $6 a pop, this is one, giant ichiban bargain for the books.

(Photo courtesy of Morimoto)

They say nothing really comes for free, but I think "they" are people who just didn't look hard enough. There are honest-to-god freebies to be had throughout the city, and I'm not just  talking about little slices of sausages on toothpicks at Trader Joe's.

For years, Columbia students have been enjoying their Chinese food with a side of free wine buzz, courtesy of places like the Cottage and Silk Road Palace. But maybe, for you, the combination of greasy Chinese food and cheap wine comes up on the wrong end of the save-money/feel-bad graph, in which case you'll probably be happy to pay a little (say, half-price?) for a better bottle of wine. Either way, we've got you covered with our list of restaurants where the wine is cheap or free.

Also, be sure to check out our full list of New York restaurant deals and events.

(Photo courtesy of Nolita House, where wine is half-off on Tuesday nights)

In celebration of its fifth anniversary, davidburke & donatella has launched a $55 three-course menu featuring some of the restaurant's classic dishes and a few new ones from chef de cuisine Eric Hana. Accompanying wine flights run $25, or a reasonable $5 a glass. One of the new appetizers is this lobster and sea urchin "BLT," made with sourdough gnocchi, oven-roasted tomatoes, sauteed pancetta, uni and lobster, prepared in a lettuce emulsion. Perhaps someone's been digging El Quinto Pino's much-discussed uni 'wich?   

Between the Super Bowl and Super Tuesday, February has kicked off with a bang. So much so that you may have forgotten all about Valentine's Day next week. Now, it's perfectly understandable if you're one of those people whose shoulders tense at the mere sight of red cardboard hearts. Restaurants are notorious for jacking up their prices for February 14th, and nothing kills a romantic vibe more quickly than paying $75 for a $35 bistro meal. Which is why it's especially nice to see the V-Day meal at Fort Greene's cozy bistro Chez Oskar costing ... $35. But if you do want to throw down a few more bones at a place like Fleur de Sel (pictured), we've got you covered, too. It's all on our list of 17 Valentine's Day dining options.

And for singletons who are just trying to carry on with their usual, regularly priced Thursday night fun, be sure to check out our anti-Valentine's Day planner.

(Photo courtesy of Fleur de Sel)