Although smaller portions may not fill you up right away, they eventually add up, much like steps that lead to the top of a gigantic Rocky Balboa terrorizing the countryside. Knock out your hunger with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of eclectic tapas and drink at Small Plates, located downtown near Grand Circus Park.

Inside Small Plates’ villa of victuals, visitors discover appetite-sating secrets in a menu full of delicious tapas, pizza, and sandwiches. After observing the amber-colored walls and wood floors that lightly complement the browns of chairs and high-backed booths, unfold a miniature trampoline to bounce into a pile of veggie spring rolls served with hoisin, spicy mustard, and plum sauces ($8). Then, snag a Broadway baguette ($8), save the Boursin cheese and roma tomatoes for later, and force-feed yourself a plate of baby-back barbecue ribs with hand-cut fries ($15) or an eight-inch, thin-crust, brick-oven Italian sausage pizza with gorgonzola cheese and caramelized onions ($10). Once your stomach has gotten used to its new guests, sweeten your palate with the signature chocolate chunk cookie sandwich ($7), or with alternating nibbles of cheesecake ($7) and crème brulée ($6).

Thanks to an extensive drink menu, guests can thirstily swig glasses of Pighin pinot grigio ($10) or Santa Digna merlot ($9), quaff drafts of Hoegaarden ($5) and Heineken ($4), and build tall towers with empty cucumber-gin-fizz ($8) glasses. Drop all your plans to roll to Paris in an office chair and take a bite out of the restaurant that has won enough awards and recognition to make scrolling down its website a sweaty chore.

Reviews

Small Plates was named a 2004 Best of the Year by Bon Appétit magazine, a 2004 Best New Restaurant in the U.S. by Wine Enthusiast, and placed in CityVoter's 4 The Best contest three years in a row, ranking as the #1 Best Tapas in 2007, #2 in 2008, and #3 in 2009. Hour Detroit named it Best Appetizers in its 2009 Best of Detroit list, and the Metro Times and Zagat love the restaurant's American tapas concept. Yelpers give it an average of 3.5 stars, Citysearchers give an average of four, and TripAdvisors average three.

• Everything except bread, according to [founder] Stern, is made in-house, up to and including the ketchup. – Jane Slaughter, Metro Times
• As advertised, this Downtown New American, ideal for an “after-work wind down”, serves “consistently good” downsized dishes in its “cool”, narrow space… – Zagat
• The seafood here just all seems to be primo. The Garlic Shrimp comes with bread for dipping and is just so tasty. The Pan Seared Scallops have a heavenly brown butter sauce and are served over linguine. The Panko Shrimp are delicate with two delicious sauces. – Liz W., Yelp
• They make their own hand-cut fries here, their own aoli, their own mustard and ketchup, and the staff flies around like dervishes, smiling and engaging their guests. – SkyeMan, Citysearch