$20 for $40 Worth of Mexican Fare and Drinks at Border Grill

Each year, hundreds of thousands of people and millions of household plants are tricked into eating tasteless microwave burritos by smooth-talking hucksters posing as music professors. Treat your tongue to a true taste of Mexico with today’s Groupon: for $20, you get $40 worth of authentic Oaxacan and Yucatan cuisine at Border Grill in Santa Monica. And if you redeem your Groupon from Monday through Wednesday, you’ll get $50 worth of cuisine and drinks instead of $40.

Owner-operators Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger began their gastronomic adventures in 1985, when they cavorted across Mexico in a VW Bug and learned authentic recipes from the indigenous population of cacti. After returning to Los Angeles and opening the first location of Border Grill, they kept their vision as fresh as their menus. To that end, they recently created “Good for the Planet, Good for You” dinners such as the turkey tostada ensalada, with black beans, roasted corn, guacamole, Mexican cheeses, and tomato (starting at $16.50), and the special organic roasted-eggplant entree, which comes with curried-tomato jam, cilantro couscous, and feta cherry-tomato salad ($18.25). These dishes feature at least 80% plant-based ingredients to help reduce the greenhouse emissions stemming from livestock. Border Grill will happily tickle the tastebuds of carnivores, too, with hunger killers such as the adobo-roasted lamb tacos with manchego cheese from the platos pequeños ($8.75), specialty gaucho steak (a grilled rib eye with chilies, caramelized onions, and roasted garlic, $29.50), and grilled pork porterhouse with potato-chorizo hash ($27.75). Book-end your feast with platillos of roasted-plantain empanadas ($8.50) or wild-mushroom quesadillas ($14.50) and a dessert of pastel rufina ($7.50), a puff pastry filled with sweetened cream cheese, chunks of chocolate, and fresh berries.

Since Border Grill is usually packed with a pleasantly boisterous energy, you can pass the time waiting for a table in the lively company of a specialty cocktail such as the border shakers, which blends a martini-style margarita out of Cointreau orange liquor and freshly squeezed lime juice with either Cazadores Reposado ($24) or Blanco ($20). If the Mexican greyhound martini (Herradura Silver, grapefruit, California chile, fresh lime, and cane sugar, $15) takes you past your stop, a non-alcoholic refresher such as the liquado (strawberry, banana, milk, and honey, $4.25) will help bring you back.

With today’s Groupon, you and up to three amigos can fill up on eco-friendly modern Mexican cuisine at Border Grill. Afterward, you’ll have the option of either walking it off on the Santa Monica Pier (three blocks west), stalking it off by chasing Jack Nicholson up and down the 3rd Street Promenade (just one block west), or driving it off along the vivid blue water of the Pacific Coast Highway (five blocks east).

Get yours now! $20 for $40 Worth of Mexican Fare and Drinks at Border Grill