If humankind never learned to play with its food, it would never have learned to play with its ingredients, and the world would be one bereft bowl of gruel. Taste the fruits of culinary creativity with today's Groupon: for $34, you get a dinner of upscale American cuisine for two at The Quays in Hoboken (up to a $78 value). This Groupon is valid for entrees up to $24, and each meal includes:

• A shared appetizer (up to a $12 value)
• Two entrees (up to a $24 value each)
• Two drinks, including wine or beer (up to a $9 value each)

With Hoboken's picturesque shoreline as its backdrop, The Quays fuses stunning waterfront views of Manhattan with an innovative menu of upscale cuisine. Taste buds take a warm-up lap around appetizers such as the asian crab cake cradled within a hammock of napa slaw and mango-chili sauce. Anchored by a lineup of succulent meats, entrees arrive in the form of barbecue baby back ribs or red-wine-braised lamb, which stews atop blue-cheese polenta and fall-root gratin. Southern black beans and rice abut piquant cuts of Cajun catfish, and pork tenderloin boasts a chile-maple glaze aftershave. Pairs can tipple drinks from a robust menu of beers and wines, including sips from small-lot artisanal producers and larger vino crafters such as Shafer Vineyards.

Inside The Quays, bowed wooden columns arc gracefully around dark wooden tables and floors set aglow by ethereal blue lights. A curtain sways gently across the center of the restaurant, separating the spacious dining room from the bar’s contemporary-style booths like a chalk line drawn down the middle of two feuding twins’ shared bedroom.