Hungry stomachs are forced to contemplate cooking their own food while our brains are busy plotting ways to make Hollywood starlets fall in love with our ungainly cousins. Quell an insurgent appetite with $20 worth of eclectic eats and drinks for $9 at Café Venus and the marsBar. Your Groupon is redeemable for lunch, dinner, weekend brunch and happy hour at the space-age South Lake Union café and bar.

The café's eclectic menu offers vegetarian and vegan-friendly fare alongside classic carnivorous creations with fresh twists. Share an order of the green planet dip ($8), or opt for the moonscape bruschetta, a decadent goat-cheese and caramelized-onion-topped option ($8). Daily soups and fresh-made salads entice the veggie-inclined, and a selection of plentiful sandwiches, such as the hummus-based Vega’s vegan love ($8.50) or the big-bang pulled-pork barbecue sandwich ($9), offer handy options for bread enthusiasts. Pastas and personal pizza rounds round out the menu. The baconaut pizza ($8.50) boasts a bounty of fresh bacon, avocado, and cheese, and the mars mac ‘n’ cheese ($10.50) updates classic cheesy fare with a saffron-cheddar sauce. Cleanse the stomach's lining with a freshly mixed Italian soda topped with whipped cream ($3.50), one of the café’s espresso creations ($2.75 and up), or a Tazo tea ($2 and up).

Lounge in one of the comfy booths in the bright and glossy café, or retire to the marsBar and unwind with a pint ($4 and up) or pitcher ($12 and up) of one of the six beers on tap. Swanky specialty cocktails, such as the Himpletini (muddled limes and Stoli Vanil with a splash of orange and cranberry juice, $8), take tongues to a limbo contest aboard a cruise boat in the tropics. The café and bar offers a plentiful happy hour and weekend brunch. Nosh vegan tofu scramble ($8.25) or saffron-cheese-smothered baked egg Florentine ($8.75) while sipping a mimosa pint ($6.25) and trying to recollect if you really did promise to donate your car to this year’s Pat Sajak parade.

Reviews

The Stranger and NWSource give Café Venus and the marsBar glowing reviews. Yelpers and Citysearchers give the venue an average of four stars, and 82% of Urbanspooners recommend it.

• …everything you eat in this little punk joint tastes like our yellow sun has made it a little more vibrant, a little more lively, a little more yummy than other earthbound food. – Sara Dickerman, The Stranger
• Café Venus offers a small menu of savory goodies. Its pizzas, sandwiches and salads are all tasty, but the "Mars Mac-n-Cheese" stands head-and-shoulders above all. Not only is it the best dish on Venus' menu, but it's one of the best plates of macaroni and cheese I've ever tasted. – Geoff Carter, NWSource
• Cafe Venus has a great vibe, amazing food, and a 5 star cheesecake. – Zachary Simonson Bond, Urbanspoon