Attractive décor makes dining more enjoyable, as it stuffs eyes so full of eye candy that they don't have the strength to fight the stomach over who is larger. Use striking scenery to sedate quarrelsome organs with today's Groupon to Charlie's in Malibu. Choose between the following options:
• For $15, you get $30 worth of New American cuisine at dinner, served from 5 p.m. to close Monday–Friday.
• For $30, you get $60 worth of New American cuisine at dinner, served from 5 p.m. to close any day of the week.
Charlie's restaurant sprouted from the dreams of owner Charlie DiLorenzo, who envisioned a stylish dining room and lounge awash with steak, seafood, and free-flowing wine. Creativity abounds on the dinner menu, where diners can find dunkable lamb lollipops that come perched on the edge of blue-cheese fondue ($34). Wild-mushroom pizza ($16) dances a truffle-oil shuffle set to the tune of warbling goat cheese, and penne à la vodka coats fork intruders in tomato-vodka cream sauce ($16). On the lunch menu, classic plates such as white pizza ($12) and angel-hair pomodoro ($16) welcome newcomers such as the applewood-bacon- and avocado-topped Charlie burger ($12), made with Australian wagyu beef and ground boomerang. Pair meals with an on-tap Firestone Blonde ($6) or other bottled or draft beer, or choose from wines by the glass ranging from an Argentinean malbec ($11) to a sauvignon blanc hailing from Napa Valley ($9).
DiLorenzo drew from a degree in design and architecture to outfit her restaurant with contemporary accouterments including Dolce & Gabbana leopard-print chairs and a hand-blown glass chandelier that belts out a full opera every hour. The airy dining room is speckled with tables and booths set against walls festooned with artwork.