Style File: Recession Dining

WSVN -- Money. Dinero. Cash. Call it what you want, everyone's trying to save a buck.

Now local restaurants are helping you put your money where your mouth is with recession dining.

Marbeth Dunn, Prima Pasta Customer: "This is really giving a great opportunity to go to a first class restaurant at a great price."

Because of the hard economic times, Cafe Prima Pasta in Miami Beach just launched a new half off happy hour every day of the week.

Guillermo Etchebermy, Prima Pasta: "We are offering a fantastic special from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. We offer everything half off, and I mean everything."

Everything on their menu, from the best wines and cocktails, appetizers and even the seafood and pasta entrees. This is eating well for cheap.

Guillermo Etchebermy, Prima Pasta: "We do have the crab ravioli, which is our most famous dinner. It's crab meat ravioli in creamy lobster sauce, which is out of this world. Other than that, we have many veal dishes, chicken dishes and of course plenty of pasta which we make here at home."

You're going to like it so much that you're going to come at 8 o'clock and pay full price for it.

At Joe's Stone Crab in South Beach, they're cracking crab and the prices.

Stephen Sawitz, COO of Joe's Stone Crab: "Joe's Stone Crab has a very good perspective on history being that we were founded in the early 1900s. We've been through world wars, we've been through the recessions, the great depression."

To help with the cost of crab, they've created the "Joe's great lunch bailout."

Stephen Sawitz, Owner: "You get three large stone crab claws and the mustard sauce and the butter. You also get half a slaw, half of creamed spinach or grilled tomatoes, some hash browns and half of a slice of key lime pie. The price on the menu is $29.95."

Irv Welzer, customer: "Today, with the recession like it is, a meal like this is the greatest. It's a real bail out."

Joe's also has some other low-priced items. like their famous fried chicken chopped tenderloin and this gigantic turkey burger, all for $5.95.

For the first time ever, the Greater Miami Convention and Visitor's Bureau was just added a Winter Miami Spice.

It's just like the annual Spice where certain restaurants offer a special three-course lunch for $23 or a three course dinner for $36.

Peter Brito, G.M. China Grill: "Again, we thought people really needed a break after the holidays."

At China Grill in South Beach, their dinner Spice menu is done family-style, and it's a lot of food.

Peter Brito: "Some of the must-dos are the calamari salad, beef dumplings, the skirt steak."

So eat like a king, without spending a king's fortune.

Winter Spice runs through Feb. 12th. Also, at Beef O'Brady's restaurant in Sunrise they're offering "Pink Slip Paybacks where they're giving a free meal to anyone who's been laid off since last October. You must bring a copy of your termination letter.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: 

Prima Pasta
414 71st St
Miami, FL 33141
(305) 867-0106
www.primapasta.com

Joe's Stone Crab
11 Washington Ave.
Miami Beach, FL 33139
(305) 673-0365
www.joesstonecrab.com

Beef O'Brady's
www.beefobradys.com

Winter Miami Spice
www.ilovemiamispice.com