Unlike having bicycles, apartments, and guard dogs, having many small plates can be just as effective as one big one. Enjoy the satiating power of tapas with today's Groupon: for $15, you get $30 worth of tapas and drinks at Motiv.

Winner of the Santa Cruz Weekly 2011 Gold Award for Best Bar, Best Bartenders, and Best Dance Club, Motiv expertly slings tapas-style eats and a wide selection of cocktails in a lively lounge space. Diners can perform stomach stretches with smaller bites, such as garlic fries ($4) and fried zucchini ($4), before filling orders suited for hibernation preparation with the grass-fed burger ($8). Skirt streak tacos folded inside a corn tortilla and sauteed alongside black bean and corn salsa ($9) and grilled sliders topped with caramelized onions and cheddar cheese ($9) teach the importance of sharing to emotionally stunted adults and encourage conversation by eliminating the formal aspects of eating from one plate piled high. A sweet and spicy, cilantro and jalapeno margarita ($8) or a Pearl Alley Old Fashioned with rye, brandied cherries, and cherry and rhubarb bitters ($8) wash down meals along with a variety of other cocktails.

Tucked along Pacific Avenue and Pearl Alley in a stucco building with a corrugated-tin roof and flowering window boxes, Motiv’s serene Old World–exterior belies its energetic dance floor, sleek wooden bar downstairs, and intimate restaurant-lounge upstairs. Nightly live music delivered by a stable of DJs encourages diners to extend evenings by shaking a leg or showing off neon puffy-paint monograms under the colorful disco lights.