Bistros became popular in America after French diplomats visiting the Continental Congress insisted on dining outdoors, breaking Ben Franklin’s time-saving custom of eating while sleeping in the shower. Today's Groupon gets you out of the meal-shower: for $20, you get $40 worth of upscale American fare at Oliver: A Bistro in Bordentown.

Executive chef Mathew McElmoyl of Oliver: A Bistro courts discerning palates with a menu of innovative American fare that has earned features in the New York Times and South Jersey Magazine. Warm up cuisine crushers with the truffle-mushroom bruschetta drizzled in a balsamic reduction ($11) or the warm-country-bacon-and-Amish-blue-cheese salad ($10). An 8-ounce filet mignon wrapped in applewood-smoked bacon ($37) empowers muscles with enough protein to squeeze the rainbow out of a Rubik's Cube, complemented by wispy peaks of roasted-garlic-and-gruyere-infused whipped potatoes. Simulate a seaside meal with the mahi mahi swimming in mango sauce ($23) or the jumbo lump crab cake, beached beside a sweet-corn-and-garbanzo-bean fritter ($28).