RecipeMuncher

Dining out doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. A lot of restaurants are offering special menus and extended happy hour specials. The Edison in Downtown Los Angeles is offering up a great “depression era” special called The Soup Kitchen on Fridays from 5pm-7pm. Drinks are 35 cents, plus free cheese melts and tomato soup. Plus 25% of sales go to local food charities. [via EaterLA]

MappyHour is a great site that lists Happy Hours around town. It’s not too late to snag a table on OpenTable’s Appetite Stimulus Plan. Prix fixe menus for lunch and dinner ( and respectively) are being offered up by several restaurants around town. Some of the restaurants on the list are the likes of Asia de Cuba, Grace, Comme Ca, Boa, Katsuya, The Kress, and more.

Metromix has a “recession” list going, as does ABC7. There are a slew of restaurants that offer pre-paid dining cards at discounted prices here, here, here and my favorite site here.

LA Times has some great deals listed, like Dollar Mondays at the Stand, Tuesday specials at Murano Restaurant, 5.75 dinners at Sabina’s, and more. Citysearch has a couple of dining deals listed here and here. Chowhounders have a great list of always on the cheap meals and of course in these tough times of higher food prices there is always the 99cent Chef.