If humankind never learned to play with its food, it would never have learned to play with its ingredients, and the world would be one bereft bowl of gruel. Taste the fruits of culinary creativity with today's Groupon: for $25, you get $45 worth of upscale American cuisine and drinks at Tiger Ridge Restaurant and two tiger tours at Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary (a $65 total value). The picturesque restaurant and tiger sanctuary is located about an hour south of St. Louis in the rolling hillside of St. Genevieve County and near the grounds of the Crown Valley Winery.

Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary is a USDA-approved big-cat rescue facility providing a nourishing habitat to a family of five tigers and one wacky neighbor lioness. The 30-minute tour will take you on an informative, guided walk around the enclosures as guests learn the facts, tidbits, and credit history of each ferocious feline. As you meet Mohan—a white male tiger with blue eyes and a pink nose—or challenge the resident African black-maned lioness Alexis to an Auto-Tuned roaring contest, you'll discover the personalities of each big bundle of whiskered joy and why it's so critical to protect them. All tour revenue benefits the non-profit sanctuary and assists its conservation efforts. Your Groupon is good for tours at either 4 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, with dinner at Tiger Ridge Restaurant immediately following.

Tiger Ridge Restaurant coalesces creative American cuisine out of local ingredients, many of which are obtained directly from Crown Farms. Prep tongue papillae for punching your pleasure centers with a starter of squash blossoms ($9), battered in crispy tempura with braised duck, sweet-chili glaze, and zucchini compote, or the Tiger Ridge house salad ($5), which mixes Crown Farms' fresh tomatoes with cooling cucumber, radishes, and sassy asiago cheese into beautiful mouth music among an Italian-vinaigrette-dewed field of mixed greens. The bison cannelloni ($12) will sate stomach-tigers with a savory blend of hearty bison ragu, mozzarella, and pasta stuffed with roast-garlic béchamel. The free-range chicken marsala ($20) satisfies consciences as well with a serving of environmentally aware poultry, marsala wine, cream, and mushrooms. Herbivoyeurs will wish to dish on the ziti with broccoli ($12) after watching it secretly for a while. Finally, first dates can discuss whether Hobbes was a stuffed animal or a real tiger over a shared dessert of freshly made chocolate truffles ($12.95) accompanied by Crown chocolate shots of Norton and Fine Old Ruby.

Reviews

Ten TripAdvisors give Crown Valley Winery, including Tiger Ridge Restaurant and Crown Ridge Tiger Sanctuary, three and a half stars on average, and four Yelpers give it a perfect five-star average:

• Has some of the best food and the best atmosphere that you will find anywhere (try the Buffalo burger...YUMMO!!) Then of course they have the winery, brewery and even a tiger sanctuary. All of this is set in the middle of beautiful rolling hills and valleys. – ArkansasSleepyhead, TripAdvisor
• The wine and food were delicious and priced right. – lotekgirl, TripAdvisor