Comfort food garbs your tongue in luxurious velveteen knickerbockers of flavor, as opposed to discomfort food, which clings to the face like an overtight ascot. Avoid the embarrassment of culinary crampers with today's Groupon for creative, home-style sips and sups at Tonic Restaurant. Choose between the following options:

• For $20, you get $40 worth of dinner
• For $10, you get $20 worth of lunch and brunch

This Groupon is good at both the Foggy Bottom and Mount Pleasant (brunch and dinner only) locations.

Tonic Restaurant, The Washington Post Editors' Pick, serves classic American comfort food prepared with fresh ingredients and imbued with gourmet flair. The hearty brunch menu offers creative plates such as the eggs mediterranean, updating the staid benedict with feta, sautéed spinach, and roasted red peppers ($10.99). Lunch options include the BLTA sandwich, a towering sourdough stack of applewood-smoked bacon, avocado, herb mayo, lettuce, and tomato ($8.99). Bottomless brunch mimosas ($12) whet whistles and inspire whistles of admiration. If evening dining better suits your appetite, choose from an extensive dinner menu of heart-warming and belly-filling fare. Start with fried oysters with a trio of sauces ($10.99), or make a beeline to a main course with comforting cookery such as basil, ricotta, and smoked mozzarella ravioli in a roasted tomato sauce ($15.99).

Finish the evening with one of Tonic Restaurant's signature sweet sips. The Ron Burgundy, a mix of Glenfiddich scotch, sweet vermouth, and jasmine liqueur, with sweet-and-sour and a drop of honey ($9), adds a splash of color to the restaurant's chicly muted décor. Rich wood tables and chairs adorn the Mount Pleasant eatery, and the Foggy Bottom locale has bare brick walls and natural light pouring through tall windows and glass statues of famous ice sculptures.

Reviews

The Washington Post featured Tonic's new bar, Tonic Up Top, on its GOG blog and named the restaurant one of its Editors' Picks. Washingtonian magazine profiled Tonic's cocktails in its web segment, "Buzzed." Zagat reviewers praise the beer selection at Tonic:

• “Great draft beers”, somewhat “reliable” American chow (burgers, tater tots, etc.), affordable tabs and a “lively” scene make for “one-stop shopping” at these “popular” pubs… – Zagat
• Every time I stop by for a drink, I find myself staying to eat. – Fritz Hahn, The Washington Post