Bistros are remarkable in that they somehow manage to be both fancy and casual at the same time, much like a necktie with Taz on it. Feel gussied up without too much fuss with today's Groupon: for $15, you get $30 worth of Lowcountry and French cuisine for dinner at Claude & Uli's Bistro, located in Hilton Head Island.

Featuring dishes created by Claude, a Normandy-born, European-trained chef, Claude & Uli's Bistro merges Lowcountry fare with French-inspired plates to create an eclectic array of dinnertime options. The menu intrigues tongue buds with soupy starters, such as onion soup with swiss cheese ($5.50) and Lowcountry she-crab soup ($5.50), and the main courses overload taste receptors with choices of French steak and frites ($19.95) or the Austrian-style veal schnitzel ($19.95), featuring crispy, breaded veal in ravishing cutlet form. Seafood supporters can select the red snapper with a hint of parmesan cheese ($23.50) or the cognac-infused lobster and seafood pot pie ($24.95), in which puff pastry swaddles shellfish like newborn chicks in an incubator.

Red high-backed stools line the fully stocked bar and hanging lights hover above as patrons lubricate their larynxes with an assortment of drink and vino varieties. Cloth-draped tables, oversized artwork, and wooden wine displays adorn the dimly lit dining space—a peaceful eating environment inside a food fortress that easily staves off hunger and repels attacks by hunger-stricken Huns.

Reviews

TripAdvisors award Claude & Uli's Bistro an average of 4.5 owl eyes and OpenTable reviewers give it a 4.5-star average:

• I've never been disappointed. Good service, nice, quiet atmosphere. This is a winner. – StaceyStudleyCollins, TripAdvisor
• Wonderful food, great ambience, good service. A little bit of european elegance here in the Lowcountry. We have never been disappointed dining here. – OpenTable.com reviewer on 12/24/2010