(from chicagoist.com)

Doing math on every single Restaurant Week menu to figure out which are good deals, which are bad deals, and which are somewhere in between. But not everyone wants to do a ton of math or look at spreadsheets. Plus, you couldn’t put everything you’d learned in that sheet, or it would be even longer than it already is. However, after looking at that many menus (and knowing a little bit about how restaurants work), A got a good sense of how to spot a good value was achieved. AND what to avoid. This is especially important if you’re dining at one of those “red” highlighted restaurants where it’s possible to actually lose money if you do Restaurant Week wrong. (MORE HERE) 

AVOID STARCHES AND BREAD!! That’s what my friend Jimmy used to tell me when trying to get the best value out of a buffet. I apply his logic to lots of things.