Boston's Best Bar Menu Deals

Ever wonder why there are no Happy Hours in Boston? The reason is that--due to our residual puritanical nature--it is illegal for a restaurant or bar to change the prices of its drinks during the week. While this is bad news for the budding tippler, it's great news for the noble foodie. Since restaurants can't hold Happy Hours, they use food deals to bring people in during the off-hours.

As a result, Boston is full of astoundingly good Bar Menu Deals that let you sample top quality food at extraordinarily cheap prices. The Food Monkey has compiled a list of Boston's Best Bar Menu Deals to make it easy for you to find and enjoy these hidden treasures.

	denotes a restaurant with a bar menu I find to be exceptional overall.
	denotes a specific menu item I particularly like.

All of these menus are subject to change on a whim and I’ll do my best to keep these up to date. You should call ahead to confirm before you make the trek.

If you have any new Bar Menu Deals that you’d like to share or spot anything that needs to be changed, send me an email.

Fate is a fickle temptress. The very day my Ph.D. diploma was placed in my hands, I received an invitation to audition to host a show for The Food Network, which will feature cheap, hidden, gourmet food around the country. The casting agents had found my bar menu deal map as well as my Chronicle piece, and requested an audition video talking about myself, inexpensive deals around Boston, and the ways they were found.

I chose to focus my audition piece on Estragon, in Boston’s South End, which serves dollar tapas at the bar from Monday through Thursday from 5:30-7pm.

Items on the dollar tapas menu may include:

• Pan Tumaca con Jamón – Serrano Ham on Tomato-Garlic Toast
• Queso de Cabra con Tomate – Warm Spanish Goats’ Cheese & Tomato on Toast
• Boquerones con Manchego y Tomate – White Anchovies, Manchego Cheese & Tomato on Toast
• Patatas Bravas – Feisty Fried Potatoes
• Lengua con Mojo Verde – Beef Tongue, Canary Island Salsa on Toast
• Torreznos - Crispy Fried Pork Belly, Salsa Picante
• Tortilla Española – Traditional Spanish Omelette
• Chorizo - Grilled Spanish Sausage on Toast
• Pringá - Braised Beef Shank, Pork Belly & Bone Marrow on Toast – Garbanzos Fritos
• Crispy Paprika Chickpeas – Aceitunas Marinadas
• House-marinated Olives – Alcachofas Fritas
• Crispy Fried Artichoke Hearts, Alioli

Estragon is among my favorite places for tapas in the city, mixing exceptional food with reasonable pricing (especially with the dollar menu). Despite its chic decor, with walls adorned with pictures of Salvador Dali and half-naked women, Estragon serves traditional tapas from Chef Julio de Haro’s childhood in Madrid. Incidentally, Chef de Haro claims that Estragon is the only tapas place in the greater Boston area in which the chef is actually a Spaniard. This is a leg up on the McDonald’s dollar menu, as I’ve yet have a true Irishman make my McDouble.

If you do stop by for dollar tapas, make sure to order the artichoke hearts and pringá (a buttery marvel). You will not regret it.

We’ll see how the audition goes. Wish me luck….