Pioneering Italians were not only the first to put tomatoes in cuisine, they were also the first people to take photographs of themselves pretending to hold up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Delight in their inventiveness with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of Italian cuisine and drinks at Amici Ristorante in Kenmore.

Honored by Taste of Buffalo in 2009, Amici Ristorante's authentic Italian menu flaunts award-winning sauce and piquant pastas. Twirl fork tines around fettuccini alfredo with parmesan and cream sauce ($15.95) or pirouette in pasta puttanesca with mushrooms, kalamata olives, capers, and penne dressed in a marinara-wine sauce ($14.95). Generously portioned entrees include chicken or veal à la Amici, which combines tender cutlets with fresh tomatoes, capers, onions, garlic, herbs, and wine ($18.95–$21.95), and baked fish Bourgeons with crab, shrimp, and either lemon sauce or florentine sauce ($18.95). As the restaurant's signature sip, Nero d'Avola Regaleali wine ($25/bottle) lends Sicilian flavor to a global libation list. The warmly lit dining room houses wooden chairs and linen-draped tables that double as canvases for pepper-flake blueprints of Randy Newman’s sleeping quarters.