Eating Big and Spending Small

If you've read this blog for very long you know that I love to save money. When dining out in South Mississippi it's easy to eat big and spend small if you're willing to take a little time and do some research.

By now pretty much everyone knows about WDAM-TV's Half-Off Thursday's, where they feature a local eatery almost every Thursday and provide an avenue for readers of their website to purchase $50 in gift certificates to local restaurants for only $25.

Over the past couple of months they've featured Brownstone's, Dickey's Barbecue, El Taco Loco, Wagon Wheel Steakhouse and more. Each Thursday that they offer a new deal they put up between 75 and 150 certificates and it's a first come, first serve, you can buy up to 5 (five), and they usually go fast. Sometimes they sell out within minutes.

The next offering they have is $50 in certificates for Walnut Circle Grill for $25, those will go on sale on Thursday Dec 3rd at 8:00 AM, expect them to go fast. They currently have $50 in certificates to Miki's in Laurel for $16.50.

I've recently come across a very similar offer made by several local radio stations including 103.7 The Fox. They call their promotion Discount Deals and it's not related solely to restaurant gift certificates. It's pretty much the same deal, you purchase $50 worth of gift certificates for $25, but the number of certificates offered is a lot more limited, between 30 and 50 for each promotion. That's ok, because not nearly as many people seem to know about this promotion and it usually takes a couple of days for them to sell out.

Discount Deals also features a good selection of local eateries with recent offerings from - La Fiesta Brava, The Magic Tomato and Plaid Rhino. They currently have limited certificates left for past offerings - Magic Tomato, Plaid Rhino and La Fiesta Brava (Laurel location). Their next new offering will begin on Wednesday, Dec. 2nd at 8:00 AM.

Links to these two promotions can be found on the left hand side of the blog. I wanted to give links to a couple of deals that I have found around South Mississippi, that are not permanent links.

Coast Cuisine from WLOX - Is basically the same promotion as WDAM's Half off Thursday's.

Dealz on Mealz from Coast Radio Group - Another similar program to those above. Deals starting from $12.50 on $25 certificates.

By taking advantage of these deals you can eat out in South Mississippi on a regular basis, at a variety of restaurants and save a lot of money!

Traditional Tacos at El Taco Loco

Last night the wife and I tried El Taco Loco for the first time. We took advantage of the Half off Thursdays promotion sponsored by WDAM-TV.

Located at 603 Broadway Drive in Hattiesburg, from the exterior it looks like Tijuana threw up on a long forgotten chain restaurant. But, don't worry about that you can't see the outside once you're inside. The interior decor is probably best described as Mexican tacky, but it was very clean and the the service was top notch.

El Taco Loco is one of the first Mexican restaurants in Hattiesburg to merge their Tex-Mex menu with a menu of traditional Mexican fare. Over the last few weeks I have heard a number of positives about El Taco Loco.

The menu is a bit difficult to read, not because of the language, but because the bright artwork on the pages make it difficult to read the print on the menu.

We ordered the Loco Dip with our tortilla chips and it was pretty good, a mix of cheese, beans, avocado chunks and pico di gio. I know it sounds a little weird, but just mix it all together and dig in.

I went straight to the back page and found the authentic Mexican tacos. The list was pretty extensive and they're served a la carte, at $2.25 each. I decided on one each of the Al Pastor, Barbacoa, Chrizo, and Tripita. I finished my order with sides of beans and Spanish rice.

The tacos were served Gringa (using wheat taco shells) instead of the corn shells you will find at some establishments. They were topped simply with fresh raw onions, chopped cilantro, and a very nice pico di gio.

The highlight was the barbacoa, the slow roasted beef with spices and chilies was so tender it falls apart. The Chrizo was good not great, very spicy, but not over powering. The Al pastor was good and was perfectly complimented with the pico di gio and a squeeze of fresh lime. This was my first experience with the tripita (tripe), and I was pleasantly surprised. The texture was quite good and the flavor was pleasing, also great with a squeeze of the fresh lime.

The rice and beans were good, they are more of the Tex-Mex standard that the beans and rice you may get at other places, but they were fine.

My wife ordered one of the Tex-Mex offerings - shrimp quesadilla with a side of Spanish rice and a Tex-Mex taco. She had positives to say about the quesadilla, which was packed with large, tender shrimp. Her taco was a bit on the bland side, and I think in the end she may have had some entree envy over the great tacos I had on my plate.

I think I may have found a new favorite Mexican restaurant in Hattiesburg, the authentic Mexican dishes are something that I will work my way through over time while my wife will have the option of ordering the more traditional Tex-Mex offerings.

Interestingly, not long after we arrived, local celebrity chef Robert St. John and family arrived. Which leads to only one question...."RSJ are you following me?"

Half Off Thursdays from WDAM-TV

I just wanted to let our readers know about a way you can try some great Hattiesburg area restaurants on the cheap. WDAM-TV has an ongoing promotion called Half-Off Thursdays. This promotion allows you to purchase $50.00 in gift certificates to select restaurants for only $25.00 (28.75 including S/H).

The selection changes weekly and the sponsoring restaurants will make anywhere from 50 to 150 of these certificates available. Sometimes they go fast. This week Wagon Wheel Steakhouse in Petal offered 75 certificates and they were sold out with in a few hours. As of this writing there were to previous offers still open El Taco Loco in Hattiesburg and Miki's in Laurel.

In the upcoming month they will feature Dicky's Barbeque Pit, Brownstone's, and The Bottling Company.

In these tough economic times, us foodies have to stick together and pinch our pennies anywhere we can. Taking advantage of this promotion from WDAM and their partner restaurants is a great way to dine out on the cheap, and it may even convince you to try a new restaurant or two.