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• Screw It

Let's face it. The economy sucks.

Doesn't matter who you are these days, you're feeling the squeeze. Soaring gas prices, plummeting real estate values, low returns on your mutual funds. So what do you do? You cut out the non-essentials: fine wine, fancy dinners, charitable giving. After all, who has the money to go out to eat or worry about starving children when there are April heat and snow removal bills to pay?

The answer is: You do, at FireLake Grill House & Cocktail Bar. Tomorrow night.

Starting on April 6, FireLake began running a pretty unbeatable special every Sunday night. The restaurant is waiving its usual $15 corkage fee, which means you can bring in a bottle (or two) of your favorite reasonably-priced wine. They'll not only uncork it for you, they'll chill it if it's white, furnish appropriate glassware, give you a voucher for 10% off your next purchase at any Haskell's, AND they'll save the cork in a bin that represents the amount FireLake will donate to Second Harvest Heartland and the World Childhood Foundation.

In other words, your meal will run only as high as food and tip. You can enjoy a bottle that might cost $30 on any restaurant's wine list for as little as ten. And simply by allowing FireLake to uncork it, you'll be ensuring that money is sent to a worthy cause.

Add to this that in my opinion, the food at FireLake is too often dismissed. Yes, it's hearty Midwestern comfort food — buffalo ribeye, smoke pork, trout, and chicken and herb ricotta dumplings — at a price point about 15% below most other "fine dining" establishments downtown. But Chef Paul Lynch is a talented guy who puts out some of the best authentically regional food. And there's no doubt, he and his team are Minnesota's masters of the woodfire grill.

This honestly is the best deal I know of in town right now. And if you're truly in a mood to splurge, keep in mind that the Four Diamond Radisson Plaza Hotel (adjacent) is running a Sunday night special as well: $99 for a double room.

Think about it, if you make a hotel reservation, you can bring THREE bottles of wine. Then get up from the table and walk to bed. . . .