Throughout much of history, European collaborations yielded only convoluted crusades and the unfathomable mysteries of the metric system. Savor simple old-world alliances with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of Mediterranean fusion fare at El Manantial in Reston.

Zagat-rated El Manantial melds a mouthwatering marriage of French, Spanish, and Italian culinary traditions on their expansive dinner menu. Diners bask in a bevy of tapas, which include spanish omelettes ($5.95), crispy thai chicken ($5.95), and embutidos—a divinely delectable combination of cured meat, pork loin, sausage, and manchego cheese that fills conversational gaps and blazer pockets with scrumptiousness ($8). The restaurant's elegant dining room, which is lined with sweeping murals of Mediterranean seascapes, comfortably houses massive entrees from flounder imperial—a blackened mahi mahi filet bedecked in cognac cream sauce ($22.95)—to thinly sliced duck breast ornamented with raspberry dressing ($25.95). The extensive wine list regales palates with Spanish tempranillos and other international vintages by the glass (starting at $7), bottle, and trough.