Hot potato, the earliest dish designed to be passed, is nearly extinct due to the constant ravages of grade school appetites. Today's Groupon revives shifting sustenance: for $14, you get $30 worth of Spanish cuisine, tapas, and drinks at Tapas Gitana in Northfield. Today's deal is valid for $5 martinis on Wednesdays, but not with any other offers.

Chef and owner Andrew Novak created Tapas Gitana to be a private piece of Barcelona in the northland. After touring Spain, he smuggled back a menu of his own versions of the cuisine, as well as an all-Spanish wine list (bottles $30+). Nibble and pass plates of traditional tapas, such as grilled slices of chorizo and morcilla sausage ($5.50) and baked dates snuggled by bacon ($5.50). Saffron rice sets up the selection of paellas, including the vegetariana (bell peppers, onions, and assorted seasonal vegetables, $9.95 per person), and the Valenciana (chicken, shrimp, mussels, and clams, $13.95 per person). Entrees come in tapas-size small plates or in twice-as-tastable portions, such as grilled sea scallops assembled over sautéed spinach, in the vieiras con espinaca ($8.95).

Live guitar music fills the warm-toned dining room on Wednesday nights, when martinis are only $5, and on Thursday evenings. Bring your dog or borrow a co-worker's pettable plant on Tuesdays, when dogs and their owners take residence on Tapas Gitana's patio.

Tapas Gitana is closed on Mondays.

Reviews

Yelpers give Tapas Gitana an average of 4.5 stars, as do Citysearchers.

• Everything here is seasoned perfectly. Our staple cold tapas dish is the patatas alioli, and this place was the best hands down! – Monica K., Yelp
• Regular menu has real winners (like the dates!) but the specials are always tempting. Clean, friendly, delicious--it's easy to drop a lot of money when you're having fun, but still quite economical. – rosequeen, Citysearch