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: choose from one of the following deals at Max's Bistro:

• $15 for $30 worth of dinner and drinks
• $10 for $20 worth of lunch and drinks

Head chef Scott Sauer oversees a rotating menu of inventive cuisine catered to discerning Fresnan tongues fluent in gourmet. The dinner menu raises the curtain with an appetizing aria of jalapeno-enhanced sweet-potato fries ($9) or calamari ($10) dotted with roasted sweet peppers. The feta-cheese and poppy-seed dressing of the strawberry and spinach salad ($12) likewise provides a sweet counterpart to savory evening entrees such as the osso bucco–style short ribs ($27), served with braised greens and polenta cake, and the Peruvian potato-crusted salmon ($27). Dining dates, meanwhile, can keep their busy hands doggy-bag-free for a romantic evening of casino implosions and roller-tango with light entrees such as the petite filet mignon ($26) and the crab cakes with house-made tartar sauce ($16). Before capping things off with a dessert of cinnamon-raisin bread pudding ($6) or crispy boysenberry pie ($5), be sure to take a scenic detour among Max's extensive list of wines by the bottle or glass, draft beers, and specialty martinis, including the Pretty Woman ($11), which blends Stolichnaya strawberry, orange juice, and strawberry puree with a champagne float and a lock of Julia Roberts's hair.

For midday munchers who've tunneled their way out of their cubicle, the lunch menu includes the dinner menu's greatest hits, plus sandwiches such as the grilled-chicken club ($12) with applewood-smoked bacon on toasted focaccia—a welcome noontime respite from ordered-in subs and snarky televised judges. Shipwrecked sailors on lunch break, meanwhile, can fill up on the three scallop lunch ($18) and the ahi-tuna tostada with black-bean jicama relish ($15). Max's Bistro gives local gourmet diners two menus’ worth of reasons to meet up and a place for veterans of the West Coast's synchronized-eating circuit to relax and casually show off their moves.

Reviews

Max's Bistro was given a positive review by Fresno Magazine's Lunch Ladies on Urbanspoon. More than 50 OpenTable reviewers give it an average of 4.4 stars. Yelpers give it a four-star average, and 83% of more than 90 Urbanspooners recommend Max's.

• Whatever your fancy -- be it fresh baked bread, premium wine or the latest in French-inspired California Cuisine -- Max's is sure to satisfy your every whim. – Lunch Ladies, Fresno Magazine on Urbanspoon
• Fabulous, fresh, well-thought combinations, a notable wine list, excellent service, and a perfectly variable atmosphere that can be whatever you need it to be… – An OpenTable reviewer who dined on 06/24/2010
• The scallops on the Appetizer menu were to die for. I try never to pass on the Poached Pear Salad, delicious. – Carrie H., Yelp