Italian cuisine was born when, after building the city of Rome, Romulus and Remus discovered Greece didn’t deliver to their new address. Taste the origins of an empire with today’s Groupon to Portalli’s in Ellicott City. Choose between the following options:

• For $20, you get Sunday brunch with unlimited bloody marys and mimosas for two (a $43.90 value).
• For $25, you get $50 worth of anything on the menu. Pasta, steak, and seafood entrees range from $11 to $23 each, and glasses of wine range from $6 to $14 each.</p>

Portalli’s celebrates traditional Italian dining with classic preparations that appeal to families and discerning foodies alike and service that earned praise from Richard Gorelick of the Baltimore Sun. During Sunday brunch, chefs exploit their extensive cooking knowledge to forge a robust lineup of tried-and-true American breakfast dishes that unfurl along a sprawling buffet. Dining duos can customize made-to-order omelets, nab slices of applewood-smoked bacon, and procure inspiration for next Halloween’s jack-o-lantern at the carving station. Return trips to the well-equipped smorgasbord yield smoked salmon bedecked with capers and hard-boiled eggs, or pancakes accessorized with home fries. A limitless flow of bloody marys and mimosas bolsters morning merrymaking more than a wake up call from a noisemaker. Portalli’s interior swathes guests in stylish comfort with a warm mauve palette, slits of sunlight streaming in through windows in the ceiling, and ornate sconces spaced along the walls. Gaggles of diners chuckle and trade theories about the origins of the first human pyramid over crisp white tablecloths and ebony dining chairs.