Comfort food, unlike a hot-air-balloon ride in a parka, warms you from the inside out. Bring the heat straight to your belly with today's deal: for $20, you get $40 worth of home-style eats at Old Hickory Grille in Falls Church.

The comfy eatery boasts a massive menu of house-made comfort food alongside Cajun and Creole fare spicy enough to evoke or create vivid memories of New Orleans. Treat your book club president with an order of the deep-fried pickle chips ($7.50) with a dip-worthy creamy horseradish sauce, or opt for the buttermilk-coated and flour-breaded deep-fried Cajun crawfish ($11.50) with a spicy chipotle mayo. Over 20 bread-swaddled southern-inspired sandwich creations entice hunger haters, from the hickory-smoked, hand-pulled pork sandwich ($8.50) smothered in barbecue sauce, to an oyster po' boy ($13.75) with corn-flour-breaded bivalves smushed in a fresh baguette, and half-pound burgers ($7.75 and up) with over 15 tasty toppings from which to choose. Indignant fork loyalists can stick their tines into entrees such as the buttermilk-marinated fried chicken breasts ($13.50) served alongside garlic mashers and sautéed vegetables, or the Bourbon Street pasta ($13) in Cajun cream sauce with Andouille sausage and fresh mushrooms. Barbecue-bound diners can reach for a half rack of hickory-smoked pork ribs ($15) grilled to order and served with beans, slaw, and mashed potatoes, or the surfy-turfy barbecue shrimp and roasted chicken combo ($22).

Wash down a decadent meal or Pop-Tart-addiction confession with an old-fashioned milkshake ($4.75) or refreshing fruit slurry ($4). The eatery's full bar also offers conversation-enhancing specialty cocktails, such as the pink lemonade ($5.50), a vodka-based beverage with Chambord and lemonade, as well as foamy barley-pops ($3.25+) and a selection of wines by the glass ($5.25+). House-made desserts such as the sweet-tart margarita lime pie ($4.50) or the warm peach cobbler for two ($6) topped with vanilla ice cream promise a sweet conclusion to any dinner or night-long dance off.

This Groupon can also be used toward any of Old Hickory Grille's lunch or dinner specials, with the exception of the Monday/Tuesday pulled pork or pulled chicken sandwich.

Reviews

Northern Virginia magazine featured Old Hickory Grille. Ninety percent of Urbanspooners recommend it, and Yelpers give it four stars:

• The Fatboy sub is another welcome adaptation, delivering a pound-plus po’boy stuffed with blackened chicken (tender white meat stained orange from Cajun spices), hearty bacon strips, a split Andouille sausage (chock full of smoke, beef and spice), melted cheddar (a worthwhile foil for this motley meat crew) and fried onions. – Warren Rojas, Northern Virginia
• The service was good and they clearly didn't mind us sitting there for an hour after our bill came so one of my friends could detox from the Long Island Ice Tea that she drank. – Vanilla Nugget X., Yelp
• Did I say delicious? It was. Really, really, really delicious. – Daryl N., Yelp