If humankind had never learned to play with its food, it would never have learned to play with its ingredients, and the world would be one bereft bowl of gruel. Savor edible innovation with today's deal: for $20, you get $40 worth of new American cuisine at Philip Marie Restaurant in the heart of the West Village.

Philip Marie is a spacious but intimate restaurant, garnished with simple décor that pays homage to the American heartland, a theme also reflected in many of head chef and owner John Philip Greco III's recipes. The menu provides a multitude of creative takes on American classics to choose from. Lunch-hungry lunch-seekers may want to wet their lips over a bowl of butternut-squash soup ($4.95) served with cornbread crumbs. An overstuffed chicken potpie ($10.50) is a hearty classic, great for warming up chilly afternoons, while a pan-seared red-snapper filet ($11.50) in lemon-wine sauce, served with sautéed spinach and steamed broccoli, is a lighter choice, excellent for snappy dressers, finger-snapping street gangs, and cereal elves.

Dinner offers up hearty portions of seafood, meat, and pasta. The Maine lobster black ravioli ($16.95) served with pink sauce is a colorful option, while a grilled ostrich filet ($21.95) is an exotic gander into the game world, drizzled in black mission-fig sauce and offset by parsnip-pear puree. Sides of creamed spinach, grilled cornbread, roasted rosemary beets, and shoestring potatoes help keep things feeling home-cooked at $6 a piece. Extensive wine and cocktail lists are also available as merry companions for the evening meal.

Chef Greco and wife Suzanne Marie's culinary vestibule is housed in a building with a storied history. It began life as a Civil War hospital and later was used as a speakeasy during Prohibition. For this reason there are secret passageways hidden throughout the restaurant, adding a touch of mystery and a convenient array of exit options in the event of a cloverfield. Be sure to muse over the possibilities while savoring a mouth-moistening dessert. Keep things Americana with cranberry-pear cobbler, pumpkin fritters with wet walnuts, or a slice of triple-milk cake at $7.50 each. A variety of ice cream, gelato, sorbet ($6.50), and dessert wines ($8–$12) are also ready and willing to be consumed.

Reviews

New York magazine, the New York Times, Time Out New York, and Gayot all recommend Philip Marie:

• This warm, welcoming husband-and-wife operation is the kind of place where you can smell the comforting aroma of a wood-burning fire, even though there's no fireplace. Service is efficient but casual, and the food — hearty American fare with some creative twists — inspires good feelings. – Eric Asimov, New York Times
• Murals touting the beauty of rural America set the scene for Philip Marie's high-class interpretations of regional recipes. Fresh seafood--from Nantucket scallops and Prince Edward Island mussels to Maine lobster--lead the charge, but you'll also find homey favorites like an overstuffed chicken potpie and a whiskey-braised lamb shank served with dirty rice. There's a clambake dinner every Tuesday, and come weekends, you can brunch on omelets or biscuits and gravy while grooving to a live jazz band. – Chelsea Mauldin, New York
• A parsley salad, for example, elevates what is normally an unassuming garnish to star billing. Entrées prove similarly innovative, including the salmon, cooked and served on an oak plank, and molasses-glazed pork chops stuffed with wild mushrooms. The waitstaff is unfailingly courteous. – Time Out New York

More than 100 Zagat users give Philip Marie a "very good" rating, and more than 100 Citysearchers give it 4.5 stars. Yelpers give 3.5, and 73% of Urbanspooners like it:

• Simply one of the greatest finds in New York City. Understated and elegant, with great food and excellent service... – GriffN6766, Zagat
• Above average new french food with an interesting ambience and perhaps the hardest working staff in NYC. If it is not right at first, they will kill themselves trying. – Jim Francis, Zagat
• Can't remember when I last had such an all-around good experience. – anitaL, Citysearch