Recently two of my favorite coworkers (actually, we’ve all since given our two weeks notice, so now they’re simply two of my favorite friends), decided to have a ladies-only dinner to catch up. Since two of the three (myself included) quit our jobs to go back school (hello poverty!), we let price dictate our destination.

I browsed Restaurant.com and purchased a certificate (at 70% off) to Luna Piena, located on the restaurant-laden block of 53rd between 2nd and 3rd Avenues. We were quickly seated, even without a reservation on a Friday night, and they had a small outdoor area in the front and a garden in the back, giving it a nice ambiance.

They started us out with freebies which I always love: bread, olive oil, olives and lentils - an interesting addition and one that I enthusiastically welcomed. We decided to split a bottle of Pinot Grigio which naturally increases the bill, but with our Restaurant.com certificate we felt it was well worth it. True to the reviews, their “specials” list was as long, if not longer, than their traditional menu, and while it all sounded delicious, we decided to stick to the regular menu.

My first love is gnocchi, so I naturally ordered that but with an arrabbiata sauce versus the bresaola with radicchio in a pink sauce. Alicia ordered linguine with clams and McKenna had the penne ala Siciliana (penne with eggplant, tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella). All dishes ranged from $17-20 and all were delicious.

I was pretty much obsessed with my meal. The gnocchi were perfectly soft and fluffy and the sauce had just the right amount of chunk and spice to it. I devoured my dish and would order it again in a heartbeat. Alicia’s clams were still in their shell and cherry tomatoes were added into the mix. I liked the shells and tomatoes, although Alicia seemed to think that a few clams never made it into her pasta. And McKenna seemed to enjoy her dish which looked fresh and hearty.

We were so stuffed that we couldn’t even think about dessert, so we just asked for the check. With our bottle of wine, three dinners, tax and tip, minus our $25 certificate (which cost us $3), it came to $27 a person. Not bad for a Friday night (yes, we all went home afterward so this was our total cost for the evening). I’m not sure if I’d go here without a Restaurant.com certificate because although I absolutely adored my gnocchi, I’m not sure I could justify a full $20 on the dish…at least not on a grad school budget.

Check out these deals today!

• Get 30% off your bill at the Wright in the Guggenheim Museum. There are limited number of BlackboardEats codes available, so you have until tomorrow am.

• KGB Deals is offering $20 worth of Indonesian and Southeast Asian Cuisine at KUTA Satay House and Wine Bar on the LES for $10. Grab this deal by Saturday.

• BloomSpot has a deal at Caviar Russe. For $50 or $65, get an exclusive lunch or dinner with a wine pairing. This deal is worth between $85-$110 and expires tomorrow.

• Grab $20 worth of cupcakes at Chikalicious for $10. Get this deal from Homerun by tomorrow.

• Beermenus is offering $20 worth of food and drink at the Half Pint for $10. This deal expires on Monday.

• Enjoy $50 worth of Argentine-Spanish food and drinks at La Zarza for $25, thanks to the Dealist. You have until next Wednesday to snag this deal.

• Groupon is offering $40 worth of Italian food and drinks at East Side Social Club for $20. Get your Groupon by midnight.

• Like crepes? Get $30 worth of crepes, hot chocolate and more at MarieBelle’s Cacao Bar and Tea Salon for $15. Get your Groupon by midnight.

• If you like specialty coffee, you may want to grab this Groupon. Get $30 worth of specialty coffee blends for $15 from Harry & Beans Coffee. You’ll just need to redeem this Groupon online!

By now you should know the drill. It’s only slightly changed up this time: Print this coupon and get half-priced cracked Alaskan King Crab today only when you order any appetizer (not a soup or salad this time) at City Crab. Enjoy!

We moved into our apartment 11 months ago, and on our first morning in our new home, we went to NY Bagels & Cafe.  Since then, I haven’t walked into another bagel place on the weekend.

NY Bagels & Cafe is located on 1st Ave between 34th and 33rd.  When you walk in, you may be slightly confused as there isn’t really an organized line, but if you head towards the griddle, the staff will know you are there and will immediately ask you what you’d like to have.  Like most bagel places, NY Bagels & Cafe offers your standard bacon, egg and cheese and cream cheese, but there are also omelets, deli wraps and salads made-to-order.

I don’t eat cream cheese, so my standard order is a bacon, egg and cheese on a toasted onion bagel.  I like that I can specify how many eggs I want on my sandwich and that the staff always asks and doesn’t just assume I want two eggs.  I love that there is a huge variety of cheese so you can get something other than American if you’d like.  Since I’m a cheese fiend, I enjoy that my guy behind the griddle always puts two pieces on my sandwich.  And speaking of my guy behind the griddle, if you walk in and see a man in a hat who is heavily tattooed, you are in luck.  This guy knows how to make a dominate sandwich and let’s just put it this way - my roommate and I are moving in a month, and we’re contemplating how much we can offer this guy to move with us and make us breakfast each weekend.

In addition to delicious sandwiches, NY Bagels & Cafe offers tons of different beverages, which is perfect when you are hungover on the weekend and have no idea what will help quench your thirst.  More often than not, I go with the iced coffee which is delicious.  Just keep in mind there isn’t a medium size, so you’ll have to choose between a large or small.  If you like orange juice with pulp, you may want to swing by the cooler with the Tropicana orange juice.  You’ll notice there is a plastic container with no label on it.  My roomate swears this orange juice is amazing.  It is also worth noting that there is a $10 card minimum, so make sure you save some cash for your breakfast.

NY Bagels & Cafe is a great way to start my Saturday and Sunday mornings.  From the pleasant staff to the delicious breakfast sandwiches, this is the number one thing I’ll miss when I leave the neighborhood.

Check out some of these deals today!

• Thanks to Eversave, grab $25 worth of wine from winebuy.com for $12.50.  You have until tomorrow to buy this deal.
• ScoutMob is offering a code to save 50% off Swich (so yes, you’ll be getting sandwiches) in the Financial District.  You have until tomorrow to get this deal.
• InBundles is offering $25 worth of French-Vietnamese cuisine at DOB 11.1 for $12.  Grab this deal through Thursday.

A couple weeks ago, my friend Manisha from NY Social Agenda emailed me with a new site her company has created, called Crowdtap.  With Crowdtap, you share your opinions and in exchange, earn points and rewards.

To get started with Crowdtap, you need to log in through Facebook Connect to verify that you are a real person.  Once logged in, you can answer different questions called “Quick Hits.”  These are usually multiple choice or short open ended questions like favorite drinks, how often you go to the movies, etc.  For some of these questions, you get paid anywhere from 5 - 25 cents.  You can also earn money by joining different discussions, called “Actions”.  Recent discussions include July movies and laundry habits.  If you contribute to the discussion and the moderators think you have the best response to a question, you can earn up to $10.

I’ve played around with Crowdtap for the past month and earned $12.40.  Once you earn over $10, you are able to cash out.  So I decided today to give the cash out process a try.  When you cash out, 95% of your earnings go to an Amazon card (which says takes three days to process, but I got my gift card code in about 10 minutes) and the other 5% goes to a charity.  You are provided with four charities to choose from and I decided to donate to charity:water.

Now I know an $11.78 gift card doesn’t seem like I’m rolling in money, but literally, it took me maybe less than 15 minutes over the course of a month to earn this money.  So if you have some time at work, I suggest checking it out and signing up.  You’ll be emailed too whenever new questions are available, so you don’t have to continuously log in to see if you have an opportunity to earn money. I think Crowdtap is a pretty cool site and I’m looking forward to seeing what unfolds over the next few months.

Check out some of these deals today!

• KGBDeals is offering $10 to Tease for $5.  At Tease, enjoy bubble tea, baked goods and more.  Pick this deal up through next Friday.
• Through Monday, get $14 worth of pizza, pasta and more at Pizza Shack on the LES for $7, thanks to CBS Local Offers.
• Get $40 worth of Italian food and drinks for $20 at West Village’s Gusto.  Get your deal throughBuyWithMe by next Friday.
• By Monday, get the passcode from ScoutMob so you can save 50% off at 123 Burger Shot Beer - so yes, that’d be 50 cents for a burger, $1 shots and $1.50 beers.

After a night at Brooklyn Bowl, I smelled tacos on the walk back to the L, and immediately informed my friend Tim that if we found a taco truck, we had to stop.  And then on the corner of North 7th and Bedford Ave, right near the Salvation Army, was Tacos Morelos.

While the truck had other entrees, I was purely interested in a taco. For $2.50, I could choose different tacos like chicken, goat, beef, pork and more.  I’m a carne asada type of girl, so I went with a beef taco.  I was asked if I wanted everything on it, and this included cilantro (Caryn’s favorite), onions, avocado sauce and a spicy sauce.

The guy went easy on the spicy sauce, and even after I dumped more spicy sauce on it, there still wasn’t much of a kick to it.  I found the taco to be good though, and I really enjoyed the avocado sauce on it.  Compared to other street tacos though, it wasn’t that big.  Most of the meat could be contained in the soft tortillas, and unlike recent taco truck experiences, you could pretty much eat it all in a few bites.  At the last taco truck I visited, the meat was so plentiful, it didn’t fit in the taco shell, and as a result, I was picking it off my plate at 2:30 am. This did not happen at Morelos, but maybe I became classy in just a few nights (eh, probably not).

Overall, Tacos Morelos was good, but not a reason to go to Williamsburg if you are craving tacos.  And even if I was in Williamsburg, I remember from a few years back some cheap Mexican restaurants that may be worth a visit instead.   I will argue though that if you have a few beers and stop by Morelos, it’ll definitely curb your hunger.

Laura recently wrote about her experience at 16 Handles, and I must say, I really like the neighborhood hot spot because it allows you to have complete control over the quantity of your fro-yo and toppings, and thus the total cost since it’s on a “pay for what you buy” model. I’m liking 16 Handles even more now that they’re supporting the 2010 Komen NYC Race for the Cure® (which raises money for community-based breast health organizations serving medically underserved women and their families). On race day - Sunday, September 12 - each person who completes the race (proven by their ID and bib) is rewarded with a tasty treat: 50% off fro-yo and toppings.

If you’re interested in joining 16 Handles team, then sign up here (select “Join a Team” and then “16 Handles”). The first 16 people to sign up will receive a free t-shirt and 100% free cup of fro-yo on the 12th. Furthermore, all 16 Handle team members who meet the minimum individual fundraising goal of $150 will also receive a $16 16 Handles gift card.

Check out some of these deals today!

• Eversave is offering $30 worth of treats from harvardsweetboutique.com for $15.  Grab this deal by Monday.

• $15 will get you a $30 voucher to Tuscan steakhouse Il Bastardo.  Grab this InBundles deal through Monday.

• Bloomspot is offering two deals at South African restaurant Madiba.  You have until tomorrow to get a $40 brunch for 2 (worth $80) or for $60, get a three course dinner for 2 (worth $110).

• KGBDeals is offering through Tuesday a $20 voucher to Cafe Nunez for $10.  Cafe Nunez offers Latin American cuisine.

• Like nuts? Get $25 worth of nuts from the Nutty Guys for $10.  Get your Groupon from Groupon Queens by this evening.

• Purchase an entree at Gradisca, and you’ll get a free piadina and three scoops of gelato.  Get your passcode from BlackboardEats by tomorrow am.