Food is always in the forefront of Italian culture, as evidenced by Botticelli's famous portrait of the buttery, crab-clawed goddess of seafood. Appreciate cultural cuisine with today's Groupon: for $25, you get $55 worth of Italian cuisine at Il Sogno Ristorante on Staten Island.

Curtains drape across warm, yellow walls at Il Sogno Ristorante, where chefs transform fresh ingredients into authentic Italian lunches and dinners. Antipasto plates include fresh, raw oysters ($10), and oranges, raisins, goat cheese, and raspberry dressing sweetly coddle a deserving green bunch of well-behaved baby arugula ($8–$11). White or red clam sauce paints a plate of linguine con vongole ($12–$20), and vitello saltimbocca sends sage and sherry wine sauce into a dish of fresh mozzarella, prosciutto, and tender veal ($23). Live musicians occupy the aural real estate on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, encouraging diners to set aside ravioli sculptures of themselves and tap their feet to the music.