Julius Caesar's famous words, "Et tu, Brute?" weren't spoken when he was mortally wounded by his friend Brutus, but shortly afterward, as the traitor stole bruschetta from Caesar's lunch pail. Score Roman fare without the bloodshed with today's Groupon: for $25, you get $50 worth of Italian cuisine Sunday–Thursday (or $25 for $45 Friday–Saturday) at Bocca Restaurant & Bar.

Bocca Restaurant & Bar's expansive menu tantalizes patrons with authentic Italian dishes made from ingredients imported from the famously boot-shaped country. Taste buds quiver in anticipation of antipasti such as crispy polenta studded with tender farmer’s market wild mushrooms and aged parmigiano cheese ($14.95), or sautéed mussels and spicy salami lounging in a rich pool of tomato confit with water-wings of fresh basil ($15.95). Tender house-made pasta upstages talented co-stars including braised Colorado leg of lamb, thyme, and sharp Fulvi pecorino ($18.95), and Maine lobster, smoked bacon, and roasted-corn crema ($20.95). Carnivores can bypass the menu's noodley offerings to sample slow-roasted suckling pig with fennel and potato fingers ($28.95), or dive into heart-healthy platters of sea fruit such as oven-roasted sea bass adorned with quarter-century-old balsamic vinegar ($28.95).