Hungry stomachs are forced to contemplate cooking their own food while our brains are busy plotting ways to make Hollywood starlets fall in love with our ungainly cousins. Quell an insurgent appetite with today’s Groupon: for $10, you get $20 worth of fare at the Polka Dot Pig Gastro Pub, a new restaurant bringing duck, lamb, and lobster to palates on Highland Avenue.

Open late Monday through Saturday, the Polka Dot Pig’s eclectic menu reaches beyond traditional pub food with dishes such as BBQ duck empanadas, filled with pulled duck, roasted cherries, and goat-cheese crumbles ($8), and fried lobster tails, which come with spicy remoulade, cheese grit cakes, and succotash ($24). Engage uptight saliva glands with friendly comfort cuisine such as the Cajun-marinated shrimp and grits ($14) or the gruyere and gouda grilled cheese ($6). The strategically sliced wedges of the chocolate-raspberry crème brûlée ($5) or caramelized brie with chocolate crisps ($5) act as universal finishing pieces for puzzle-shaped mouths.

Reviews

The Augusta Chronicle featured Polka Dot Pig Gastro Pub. Six Yelpers give it a three-star average.

• The pub serves "eclectic comfort food," ranging from fish and chips and fried lobster tails to Baltimore burgers, the restaurant's best-seller, consisting of a half-pound burger with crab meat and an onion ring on top. – LaTina Emerson, Augusta Chronicle
• This is a good place to meet with coworkers or to watch a game without feeling like your [sic] in a sports bar. – Lori G., Yelp