Before the Internet, restaurants had to rely on TV and newspaper ads and word of mouth (OMG, how totally prehistoric!) to pimp their daily specials. While these archaic delivery methods are still around, now diners can find daily food specials with the click of a mouse on sites like Facebook and Twitter -- that is, if they know which Valley restaurants/chefs/etc. are reliable Twits, er, Twitterers.
Here are five of our faves:
1. District American Kitchen and Wine Bar (http://twitter.com/DISTRICTKITCHEN)
District Tweets pretty much daily, making them a good bet to follow. And it's not just rotating menu items or weekly half-price wine nights, although you'll find a fair amount of those. District spices things up with "on the fly" drink offers that often revolve around the night's sporting event. Pay attention to the score and you could score a free or discounted drink.
Past examples:
- Get this message to the chef, "Phillies in six" he'll make u free sliders of ur choice!
- if the suns win tonight we will serve buy one get one drafts! [Editor's Note: The Suns won 120 to 112. Sweet.]
2. Sapna Cafe (http://twitter.com/SapnaCafe)
Sapna isn't exactly known for being chatty on Twitter. (Which can be a good thing. Really, do we need to know a chef's every move online?) Her posts are short, sweet and to the point; usually a list of daily specials, one for the vegetarian/vegan crowd and another for meat lovers. Oh, and desserts...how could you not start salivating over pumpkin magdelenas or tapioca-coconut milk pudding? Definitely a good Twitterer to follow if you're looking for vegan eats or seasonal dishes.
3. Switch Wine Bar (http://twitter.com/switchwinebar)
Switch's Twitter page has a good mix of daily food specials, events and random restaurant news, but we admit we check it daily for one reason: COCKTAILS! If you're looking to get your drink on, Switch Tweets some pretty sweet specials near-daily. The downside is that you usually have to click a link, as Switch tends to ignore the 140-character limit.
- Next Wine/food pairing is on Monday November 16 from 6:30-8:30! Book now! Limited to 24. only $24.95 each for 4... http://bit.ly/3OMa8h
- OOH LA LA! $1.99 Caipirinhas and $1.99 Half Hummus every Thursday. All part of Happy Days at Switch! PLUS our... http://bit.ly/rq2qB
See what we mean?
4. CenPho (http://twitter.com/cenpho)
CenPho is the Twitter outlet for community web gathering place CenPho.com. And yes, as you might've guessed, it's all about Central Phoenix. CenPho gurus Nina and Heather Tweet upcoming events, news and food specials for Phoenix almost hourly. You'll have to wade through all of the junk about art exhibits and shopping (oh, darn!) but it's worth it to get tons of daily specials retweeted in one place.
- RT @ticozrestobar: Our Monthly $5 Special is Shredded Chicken over salsa rice with cheddar and cilantro! http://bit.ly/iI7nk
- Hula's Modern Tiki adds lunch (11/10) & Happy Hour http://villageo.us/68
5. Michele Laudig (http://twitter.com/michelelaudig)
Yes, this is totally shameless self-promotion. But our own @MicheleLaudig is awesome at Tweeting the latest restaurant news, from new menus or departing chefs to well-chosen retweets of daily specials. Plus, she Tweets from anywhere -- if Michele's got the scoop, you'll read it in your Tweetfeed in minutes.
