Thursday Night Whole-Lobster Special at Petite Abeille

One of the best red-crustacean deals in town is found Thursday evenings at Petite Abeille, where $25 gets you a whole lobster of an estimated pound-and-a-half with a bowl of fries and a Stella. Oh, and there's a little salad, too, soaking up the lobster juices.

I went last week with a friend to the branch in the West Village, which is smaller and more intimate than the others -- though the outdoor seating, which constitutes half, is useless now due to the weather.

The lobster was as fresh as one hopes for, and large enough to fill the plate, with plenty of meat in body and claw. I ignored the dipping sauce, but ate the salad and fries with pleasure. And the Stella seemed like the thing to drink with this semi-budget meal. (For higher rollers, all bottles of wine are half-price.

Petite Abeille is a Belgian restaurant chain with a Tintin-comic theme that started out on the Ladies Mile along Sixth Avenue in Chelsea. At first it specialized in sandwiches, but as other branches opened up downtown, Low Country commonplaces like stoempf and moules frites in several configurations were added to the menu. There are now four branches, including a rather large one just north of Stuyvesant Town. The Voice has often praised their burger, which comes with a piece of pancetta on top.

Addresses of the four branches (West Village, Stuytown, Flatiron, Tribeca) can be found here.