Looking for ways to splurge on city life without losing your shirt during the recession? Check out these deals on the finer things in life…. Spas

Graceful Services
www.GracefulServices.com
1095 2nd Ave. (bet. 57-58th St.) – 2nd Fl
212-593-9904

You don't have to go to an expensive spa to chill out and get pampered. This highly rated spa is offering a 50 minute facial and massage for $100 (reg. $160). Also, They've got a one hour massage for just $60 (reg. $120). You'll feel so great after you've visited, you'll forget all about your stress!

Hair Express

Family Hair Care Salon

This very popular salon chain has been serving Staten Island for over 10 years and are always packed – and for good reason! Customers from all over Staten Island are attracted by:

• The best prices in town (Regularly 30-50% lower than those of comparable Staten Island Salons - NYC salons)
• The highest quality services
• The latest cuts, colors and styles
• NO appointments – walk ins welcome
• Family orientated atmosphere

The salon owner has even appeared on the Style Network’s hit reality show “Split Ends,” as well as been featured in The New York Times, Sun times and the Staten Island Advance for her hair know-how. Best yet, they match competitors coupons – what a deal!

Restaurants

Water Street Restaurant & Lounge
www.waterstreetrestaurant.com
66 Water Street (Dumbo, BK) - between Main & Dock Street
718-625-9352

Whether you want fantastic food or just want to chill out, Waterstreet Restaurant offers the best of both worlds. For just $27, enjoy this delicious 3-course prix fix menu that includes dishes like their signature Vegetarian Pasta, Grilled Pork Steak Asada and their famed Dumbo salad! The menu is only available before 7:30pm.

STAGHORN STEAKHOUSE
"The Wild West of Midtown"
315 West 36th Street (bet. 8th & 9th Aves)
www.staghornsteakhouse.com
Tel: (212) 239-4390/(212) 239-0923

USDA Prime Beef in a Comfortable Modern Setting

Fall is the best time of the year to dine at Staghorn Stakehouse. From October to December try the famous Trio of Wild Game from the Wild West: Venison and Bison prepared with secret seasonings and served with wine, fresh pears and complemented with a thick, sweet & sour brown sauce. During their Octoberfest you also get a complementary glass of red wine with your lunch or dinner, with prices ranging from !

A place for beef purists, at Staghorn Steakhouse, all steaks are USDA Prime aged with rich marbling, essential to strong flavor and moisture content – juicy, charred to perfection and served with a homemade steak sauce. Prices, averaging $37.95 for a main course at dinner, are even more moderate at lunch – $21.95 for their #1 pick, the Rib Eye Steak Sandwich with peppers, onions mushrooms and American cheese, $26.95 for a 12-oz. Filet Mignon and $15.95 for the Staghorn Burger.

Island Grill
Glatt Kosher - Middle Eastern Cuisine -
Steak House - Sushi Bar
2279 Coney Island Ave. (bet. Aves. S & T) - Brooklyn
718-382-8999 or 718-382-3552

"It's the best food in Town." That's what customers have to say about the delicious fare served at Island Grill, a neighborhood eatery that opened in January 2006. Nowhere else in New York will you find crisp, doughy, fresh laffa bread, served hot, straight from their own Jerusalem oven, along with complimentary salads of Babaganosh, Moroccan carrots, turnips, matbucah, tehina, Israeli pickles, coleslaw and zhug (a fiery hot Iraqi condiment available nowhere else in the city).

Don't miss their customer favorites at prices that are too good to be true, including: Island Grill Steak ($29.95); Marinated Chicken ($23.95); Baby Chicken Kebab ($22.95); very juicy Chicken Shawarma ($19.95); and Jerusalem Mix, comprised of grilled juicy chicken, steak and turkey, sautéed in onions with secret Israeli spices ($22.95). There is something for everyone.

Lomito Restaurant
A culinary tango between an Argentinean & Italian
www.lomitorestaurant.com
300 Spring Street – West Soho
212-929-9494

A new sultry Argentinean/Italian eatery recently opened in Soho's western edge. It offers up a delightful urban dining experience in classic surroundings with 20-foot ceilings, cast iron chandeliers, candlelit tables as well as favorite vintage film posters and an inviting marble-topped bar.

The menu, while laid back, still retains the tried and true elements of traditional home-style foods, with homemade pastas, empanadas and the dish for which the restaurant is named – the Lomito: Argentina's most time-honored sandwich, made of pounded grilled filet mignon, lettuce, fresh tomato and homemade mayonnaise served with fries. Lomito is also well known for its grilled meats and chicken Milanese as well as its wonderful seafood parrillada. Other house favorites include grilled pizzetas, mouth-watering crepes filled with dulce de leche and bread pudding desserts that customers order again and again. Don't miss their specials:

* Night Owl Specials – available Thursday to Saturday from 11pm – 1am, featuring the Argentinean parrillada (bbq with short ribs, sausage and chicken breasts) menu.

* On weekends, Lomito is a popular spot for brunch – pre fixed ($19.95) including unlimited mimosa, Bellini or bloody-maries.

Strada 57 Ristorante Italiano
www.Strada57.com
315 W. 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
212-757-1620 Fine northern and southern Italian cuisine

While Italian cuisine is universally popular, what makes an Italian restaurant really exceptional is the freshness and quality of its ingredients. That's the secret at STRADA 57! Ignacio Pietra, who has been in the restaurant business for 15 years states, "Our ingredients are flown from Italy, they arrive daily, like the fresh buffalo mozzarella that we serve with sliced tomatoes and roasted peppers." Strada 57 is known in particular for its wonderfully fresh, homemade pastas, including whole wheat and spinach pastas, made daily by Chef Coronel from scratch using the highest quality ingredients, including semolina flour from Italy.

Portions are always generous and Monday-Wednesday, Strada 57 serves up ALL YOU CAN EAT PASTA, plus a glass of wine and Italian espresso coffee for only $30 per person. There's also favorites like: raviolis of many types, including cheese, spinach, lobster, porcini mushroom, butternut squash as well as fresh pappardella (wide pasta), gnocchi (potato pasta) and spinach fettuccini. All come with a choice of sauce: pomodero (fresh tomato), pesto, Alfredo, sage & butter, garlic & oil, meat, shrimp and pink vodka.

Fino Wall Street
1 Wall Street Court (between Pearl & Beaver Streets)
212-825-1924
Classic food & wine…Italian Style

A traditional classic Italian restaurant has been in Wall Street for 6 years. Owner, Peter Vuli, who's a chef himself, has been in the restaurant business for 30 years, managing 20 restaurants learning the ropes from his mentor, John Lanza of the renowned Piccolo Mondo. Simple elegance is the key to FINO WALL Street's success. Hidden away under the sidewalk, the romantic dining room is done in gold with modified lighting. Country-style cooking is the hallmark to this restaurant. Appetizers include the popular golden grilled heart of artichoke with mozzarella, pan steamed in broth – his secret recipe - discovered in Rome back in the 1970s.

The entrée to die for is paperdella pasta, composed of wild mushrooms cooked in three different secret broths made with rabbit stock and fontina cheese, cooked to perfection. Leg of Kobe beef is also popular. Deserts customers keep coming back for the famous key lime pie and freshly made pecan pie served warm with vanilla ice cream.

Also, the restaurant has just opened a secret wine cellar room surrounded by thousands of bottles of priceless vintage wines. Fino Wall Street is the best Italian restaurant in the Financial District, with private parties being one of their many specialties!

SUSHI EXCELLENT
Japanese Fusion Cuisine
336 New Dorp Lane, Staten Island, NY
Tel: (718) 667-5362

Sushi Excellent, located in the heart of Staten Island is a trendy, Asian restaurant, famous for - you guessed it - excellent sushi, seafood and steak! People from Westchester to NJ travel here because Sushi Excellent offers a restaurant for people who love food that is healthy, delectable and affordable. Serving up tasty modern nouvelle fusion cuisine and blending the best dishes of Japan with those of France and Italy is something to savor. There is a special menu for the season, with your food being served amongst lovely Japanese décor that features hues of warm burgundy and forest green. Prices are always affordable.

STEVEN DOMINICK'S AMERICAN BISTRO
3932 Amboy Road
Great Kills, Staten Island, NY
Tel.: 718-967-2000

Steven Dominick is one of Staten Island's most notable chefs and his American Bistro, opened in June 2007, is emerging as one of the borough's hidden treasures. The menu is a celebration of simplicity and natural rich flavor, with no culinary camouflage. Classic American dishes are Steve's specialty, with warming comfort foods – exactly what you're looking for in the chilly winter months. Signature dishes range from almond-fried calamari, beef short ribs in a horseradish cream sauce and chicken potpie to the roasted pepper or onion-roasted butter to spread on your olive-studded Italian or cranberry nut bread. Most recently he has been featuring the Autumn Crepe: a pan-fried crepe filled with shredded duck, pistachio, goat cheese, panchetta & butternut squash served with a balsamic vinaigrette & tangerine reduction.

The restaurant has even created a special pre fixe menu to satisfy small and large families. "Family Style Sundays" offer a series of family sized entrées like chicken breast, pan-seared pork medallions, beef short ribs, veal marsala, veal parmesan, chicken parmesan, salami, salmon, shrimp scampi and medallions of filet mignon. There are also family sized salads, combination appetizers & generous helping of pasta. All priced to fit the family's budget!