A great meal is a lot like a well-structured drama in that it has three acts: the starter, the entree, and the exciting dessert-cart chase scene. Introduce your palate to scene-stealing savories with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of burgers, tapas, and more at 1409 Playbill Café in Logan Circle. This Groupon expires on April 7, 2011.

1409 Playbill Café brings down the curtain on hunger with a highly eclectic menu of American and international edibles. Begin your mouth-powered exploration with the Mediterranean tapas for two, a collection of hummus, fried eggplant, pita bread, and Egyptian fava beans ($12.90), which can be stacked into the shape of pyramids to attract nearby sphinxes. Eight-ounce burgers served on grilled pita bread ($7.99) promote carnivorous creativity with a choice of 12 extras, including gravy, sauerkraut, jalapeños, and feta cheese ($1.25 each). Floravores can tackle grape leaves ($4.99) packed with the power of rice, kalamata olives, and pepperoncinis, as well as the spinach quesadilla ($6.50) and a leafy lineup of veggie salads. A 16-ounce pork chop and its complement of garlic mashed potatoes ($16.99) take down even the amplest of appetites, and the shrimp and crab pasta ($15.99) unites the sea's greatest crustaceanary powers to rule taste buds in a benevolent flavor kingdom.

1409 Playbill Café's narrow, intimate dining room harbors the soft light of burning wax sticks, immersing regulars, theater-goers, and aspiring prop masters in a theater-themed environment heavy with memorabilia and local art. Each Monday, budding comics, passionate poets, and other performers step up to the open mic, and every Thursday amateur crooners serenade audiences on karaoke night.

Reviews

Nineteen Yelpers give 1409 Playbill Café a four-star average, and 72% of Urbanspooners recommend it:

• Great bar, particularly for Karaoke. – Huntting B., Yelp, 12/3/10
• The bar is laid back and has real character. – Logan Circle R., Yelp, 2/18/09