Someone named Mon Frere once told me I'd never find an affordable French restaurant. Then he bit my ankle. Well to him I say Au Contraire! Just check out today's Groupon to Manhattan's Le Périgord at 405 E 52nd St. in Midtown East. For just $20 you get a $50 Groupon (60% off!) to one of the finest French restaurants this side of the Atlantic.

Check out Le Périgord's menu and examine the exquisite French cuisine described as "scintillating" in this New York Times review. It's full of refined and delicious dishes that are exemplars of French culinary art. Even the most blasé bon vivant will be impressed with Le Périgord's haute cuisine. Even Crain's New York was in awe. It's hard to impress the business people at Crain's because they are usually too preoccupied comparing the kitchen team's efficiency with their Swiss watches to fully savor the subtleties of fine dining. While the Crain's crew didn't entirely break their bad habit, it does seem that they truly enjoyed their experience at Le Perigord. Here's what they said: "The new kitchen team is as consistent as a Swiss watch, deft in meats as in seafood, and quickly developing a new dessert identity....light but lingering fruit-based specials augment Le Périgord's familiar and friendly trolley of tarts, mousses and floating islands."

Once you are at Le Périgord you will learn that France has the most poetic culture in the world; who else would have recognized the majesty of the noble bass with the moniker "wolf of the sea?" You'll appreciate the beauty and flavor of this fish when you try Le Big Mouth Billy, a a flavorful serving of fish surrounded by a sea of rustic mustard sauce. Just kidding, it's actually called the Le filet de loup de Mer a la Dijonaise. C'est bon! Too bad the equally delicious land wolf is currently unavailable. Le Perigord is also known for its outstanding soufflés, more delicate than the single tear of an orphaned ballerina, more fleeting than the first spring cherry blossoms in the Jardin des Plantes (which is quite fleeting indeed, because like all cherry blossoms in the Jardin des Plantes, as soon as it blooms, it is eaten by the lazy Royal Jardinier, who believes he can avoid the spring's garden work if he eats enough plants as they blossom). As one Citysearch user comments, "the soufflés are perfectly weightless." In fact they are lighter than the breath of doves alighting on the gargoyles of Notre Dame. You may be thinking that's not so impressive, given that a Notre Dame doves have grown fat from tourists feeding them baguettes. But the breath of a fat dove is actually even lighter than that of slender one. How else would a fat dove get airborne?

Don't be intimidated by French sophistication. Just don some of your fancy "goin'-out" duds (gentlemen--slacks and a jacket are required) and bone up on a few French phrases to drop in your dinner conversation. Click here to learn a useful phrase to say to your waiter. And don't worry, he won't quack to the gentleman at the corner table that you got the duck for 60% off.

Get your Groupon!