To prove their devotion to the body, taste buds willingly throw themselves into near-boiling beverages, violent biting attacks, and incoming asparagus spears. Thank your best buds with today's Groupon: for $12, you get $25 worth of innovative homestyle cuisine at Savory Chef during its dinner service on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. An entree is required with any order to use the Groupon.

Owned by Don and Leslie Jones, Savory Chef delivers innovative cooking in a warm and casual atmosphere. First opened as a kitchen accessories store and cooking school, Savory Chef's café features an open-style kitchen that showcases head chef Scott VanTuyl and his team of ingredient crafters as they prepare homemade breads, pastas, and desserts. A cheese and sundry fruit plate ($6.99) begins dinners with a choose-your-own-adventure of four cheeses, pairing each with deviously delicious partners in crime: fruit, nuts, and quince. A hearty chunk of toasted foccacia accompanies the grilled spinach salad, which comes drizzled with a truffled red wine vinaigrette ($5.99). The wooden dinner tables ably hold the heft of the grilled center-cut pork chop plate ($14.99) with sweet potato puree, honeycrisp apples, shaved fennel, and creamed swiss chard. Smoked duck breast ($19.99) travels with a carryon bag of blue cheese mashed potatoes, caramelized beets, and an ergonomically conscious pomegranate reduction.

Full of charm, the dining area separates itself from the store with a wrought-iron standing screen draped with strings of small white lights. Candle sconces illuminate the room's brick wall, and silver jewels in the shape of forks, spoons, and knives cleverly serve double duty as both broaches for tablecloths and glittering bite-delivery systems for human hands.

Reviews

The Tulsa World recommended Savory Chef in both May and September 2010. The Tulsa Food Blog also recommended the eatery:

• My friend ordered the beef Medallions w/ mashed potatoes and grilled vegetables. She described the flavor of the meat as biting into a juicy but lean piece of meat that had been marinated for weeks. – Tulsa Food Blog
• The day we visited, fewer than two weeks since the space opened, every table was full, some with groups of women lingering over dessert, others with men and women on working lunches and still others with single diners who comfortably watched the chefs plating the food. – Natalie Mikles, Tulsa World