Like attaching a fake mustache to a Halloween mask or cleverly changing your name from Obi-Wan Kenobi to Ben Kenobi, adding a new ingredient to something familiar can render it delightfully unrecognizable. Enjoy inventive eats with today's Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of contemporary American cuisine at Social 121 in Plano.

Social 121's modern, industrial space combines a laid-back lounge vibe with innovative, creatively plated bites. Peruse the menu for appetite inspiration, then meander toward small plates such as the black-bean hummus sprinkled with roasted corn ($7), or choose any three small plates for a sharable meal ($21). The grilled-chicken flatbread invites diners to the pizzaesque wedding of roasted peppers and portobello mushrooms sealed with jack cheese ($10). Taste buds swim upstream toward the sweet-dijon-mustard salmon, which lounges on a raft of bacon-and-scallion risotto ($18), and the LBJ rib eye consults with a presidential cabinet of grilled asparagus, roasted fingerling potatoes, and tomato chimichurri ($32).

The exposed brick walls, multihued light fixtures, cosmic video screens, and loungeable couches at Social 121 allow patrons to pretend they're at a nightclub owned by the aurora borealis, while down-home decadent desserts such as the Deep South key-lime pie ($7) and the warm apple galette ($7) bring palates gently back to earth.