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Health & Fitness

Eating out Cheap: Aqua Bleu

Eating out Cheap — fine dining on a budget — visits Aqua Bleu on Pacific Avenue, the home of some great food deals, even on weekends.

Welcome to Eating out Cheap, your source for fine dining on a beer budget.  Technically, and we are constantly being reminded about this by the grammarians out there, the title should be “Eating out Cheaply.” That's because this isn’t necessarily about cheap places to eat; it’s about finding those deals and specials that allow you to eat at fine restaurants for much less than the normal prices.

To be a true EOC’er, a person needs to juggle multiple information sources and keep them up to date. Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? Well that’s what we’re here for, to do some of the legwork for you.

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So let’s dive right in.  There a lots of different ways that restaurants offer deals, and rather than try to list them all at once, we’re going to cover a different way in each article until we’ve got the basics explained.

Santa Cruz and the surrounding Monterey Bay area is blessed with numerous great restaurants, and, amazingly, you can find a deal at most of them.  For this first article, we were at a loss for where to begin. Luckily the weather this last weekend was fantastic and we decided to to walk from Lighthouse Point to Downtown Santa Cruz, when it struck us, why not start at the center and work out.  So we walked the length of Pacific Avenue checking out the signs in front of the restaurants to see what we could come up with.

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As it was Sunday, we weren’t too hopeful that we’d find what we were looking for; weekends aren't usually the best time for restaurant deals. That’s the first tip: Mondays through Thursdays are the easiest days to find deals, as these are usually slow days in the restaurant biz.

AQUA BLEU

A sign that caught our attention was “dinner for two $37.00,” but what really got our attention was that this promotion was good Friday-Sunday, 4pm. to closing! A promotion like this is like finding the holy grail to a true EOC’er.  Not content with just one promo, there was also an extensive happy hour menu, which included various appetizer and drink specials, and that was good EVERY DAY fron 3-6pm and extended to closing time on Wednesdays.  If the food was as good as the deals, we might be on to something here.

Aqua Bleu is one of those places that we’ve walked by dozens of times and never gone into. Why? Because it looks classy and expensive. Luckily, Irina — she’s the reason I say “we” not “I” — is not such a wuss as me. She went in, talked to the hostess, looked around and concluded we had to give the place a try. Good for her, because this place is a true find.  It's cozy, would be good for a romantic dinner, but it's not stuffy. The wait staff was extremely friendly and very helpful with suggestions.

Okay, so what’s this dinner special?  Well, for your $37.00, each person gets a Miso soup, salad, choice of entrée from the specials menu, choice of side and a choice of large sake, draft beer or glass of wine (house pinot noir or chardonnay).  Sounds good, but one thing I always do is make a quick calculation of  what this would cost me if I ordered from the regular menu. My guess was the normal price for all of this would be just over $50.00. Well, that looks like a good savings to me, just over 20 percent. The thing I really liked is that I knew exactly what I was going to spend before we had even made our choices.

Choices are in abundance here. There are eight entrees and six sides to choose from, really something for everyone.  It's also the kind of place you could come back to several times and not repeat a meal. I’m liking this more and more. Now, how about that food?

First were drinks. Irina had the house chardonnay, and I ordered a draft beer, wondering what the house choice would be. Well, it was my choice, Full Moon, Sierra Nevada or Sapporo? Okay, so when to they start skimping?  From the parade of food that followed, apparently they don’t believe in skimping. The soup and salad were large servings. The miso tasted complex, like homemade, and the salad was a nice mixture of organic greens with a few veggies and sunflower seeds. The dressings are homemade, and I had a nice peanut dressing. I stole a few of Irina’s greens so I could sop up the last of it.

Choosing an entrée was tough. There is Thai BBQ chicken, grilled salmon, pad thai, garlic pepper beef and a selection of premium sushi rolls.  Irina went for the grilled salmon teriyaki, and I had the fried tilapia with panang curry. We had white and brown rice. For a side, we could have also chosen a baked potato, roasted yam, fries or steamed broccoli.  Our server, Malissa, said her favorite was the yam, so we will have to try that next time.

Irina’s salmon was a large portion and was  delicious, nice teriyaki sauce, and it came with some grilled zucchini.  Fried is a crude description for the wonderfully juicy filet that was served coated in a  light tempura batter and covered with a peanutty panang curry. The portion was large and almost all fish, very little excess batter. We were pleasantly stuffed at the end of the meal and are planning our return visit very soon.

It's going to take quite a few visits to explore the specials menu, and then there’s that happy hour menu to try.

A quick note about the service: Our server was attentive, willing to answer all our questions and offer suggestions. A look around the room seemed to confirm that that attitude extended throughout the room.  The thing we liked was the service was measured. Meaning we got to finish a course before the next one was brought out. We were never made to feel rushed, yet we weren’t left sitting for a long period between courses — perfect for us.

I know a lot of people who won’t take advantage of these kinds of specials, because they don’t want to appear cheap or they’re afraid they’ll be treated like an unwanted relative. I was the same way, but since I started Eating out Cheap, I have never had a bad experience or made to feel like a second-class customer.  These specials are to keep a restaurant full, and they’re there to introduce you to the establishment. They’re win-wins for both you and the restaurant.

Aqua Bleu

1108 Pacific Ave.

Santa Cruz

831-423-6999

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