Deal of the day

Even among summer deals, this is exceptional: Harper's at both SouthPark and Carolina Place offers a three-course dinner for two for $29 total through July 19. The menu includes choice of soup or salad; prime rib, chicken breast or salmon with side; and deep-dish apple pie or brownie. SouthPark: 704-366-6688; Carolina Place: 704-541-5255.

Don't blow the tip

Amid the summer restaurant deals and promotions, a reminder: Tip on what your meal would have cost, particularly if you get great service. These are tough times for servers, too, and tipping appropriately is a help.

And while we're on the subject: You tip on the pre-tax total, including alcohol, and (unless you're Johnny Depp) 15 to 20 percent is appropriate. (Depp reportedly left a $4,000 tip at Chicago steakhouse Gibsons, and the waiter characterized him to Radar online as "a really cool dude.")

New ... and healthy

blynk organic has a new summer menu with organic flatbread sandwiches, a gluten-free light rice paper wrap and new breakfast items, such as the quiche Parisienne (quiche made with turkey bacon, caramelized onions, ricotta and provolone), French toast with apples and bananas, and a flatbread with scrambled eggs, spinach, mushrooms and provolone. 200 S. Tryon St.; 704-522-3750.

Coming up

• Zebra hosts July 10 a “One HOPE” wine tasting. HOPE, a company that produces wines, pairs each with a charitable cause, and donates half its profits on each wine to its paired cause, including Cabernet Sauvignon and autism, and Chardonnay and breast cancer. $10 for four tastings and hors d’oeuvres, 5:30-7:30 p.m. 4521 Sharon Road; 704-442-9525. Also on tap: July 16, the restaurant brings in winemaker Ryan Bee for a Falcor wine dinner. Among the courses are oak-grilled wild Alaskan salmon with Gaffney peach and apricot compote and 2005 Durell Vineyard Chardonnay, Sonoma Valley; and classic Tournedoes Rossini with 2002 Le Bijou, Napa Valley. $75.

• Mimosa Grill holds its next Artist Series wine dinner July 25 with the work of Holt McClean, who is also a server at the restaurant. Her work will be available to buy. Among the courses are Cape Fear flounder stuffed with lobster and prime rib of Colorado lamb. $50; 327 S. Tryon St., 704-343-0700.

• Chef Tim Groody, who recently left the Sonoma Restaurant Group, plans to do a series of farm dinners with Sammy Koenigsberg at his New Town Farms in Waxhaw.

Deals on now

• You’re remembering Charlotte Restaurant Week is going on, right? Three courses for $30 at dozens of restaurants: Check out www.charlotterestaurantweek.com.

• Global has a three-for-$30 deal July 10-19 (3520 Toringdon Way; 704-248-0866), while Providence Café offers three courses for $28 throughout July (110 Perrin Place; 704-376-2008) and the South Boulevard Villa Antonio will offer three-for-$30 throughout July. Zebra will have the three-for-$30 through July 17, except for Thursday, when it closes for a wine dinner. 4521 Sharon Road; 704-442-9525.

• New at Terra is a three-course tasting menu offered for $50 per couple Tuesday-Thursday through August. Also new: a patio menu of small plates for $8 each, including tartine of leek and mushroom with Taleggio, and frog leg lollipops. 545 Providence Road; 704-332-1886.

• Angry Ale’s will offer a $6.99 all-you-can-eat wing buffet with three flavors of Buffalo wings through the rest of 2009, says owner Andy Henson. It’s offered 11 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays, dine-in only. 1518 Montford Drive. 704-525-3663.

Closings, big and small

Closings at both ends of the dining spectrum:

The Oceanaire Seafood Room, a SouthPark-area fine dining destination, and the three-decade-plus diner landmark San Remo's on Central Avenue, have closed.

So have the Sonny's on Monroe Road, which had operated in that spot for 31 years, and Sugar Magnolia, a nearly-3-year-old Lowcountry venture in south Charlotte's Blakeney.

Five other Sonny's continue to operate barbecue restaurants in the Charlotte area; Sonny's declined to renew the license agreement at the Monroe Road location, perhaps because of volume, according to a spokesperson for the local franchisee.

Oceanaire is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, confirmed a spokesperson, and is closing three other locations: Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Seattle.

Why Russians really love Michelle Obama...

... and other Internet opinions on politics and food

• Could food put Michelle first in the hearts of Russians? Check out the admirably single-minded Obama Foodorama, which focuses on the Obamas' food -- personal and policy-wise -- here.
  

• Supreme Court candidate Sonia Sotomayor's reputation as a foodie matters -- at least to some folks. More here.
  

• "Food is a conduit, a venue, (through which) we can sort of permeate each others' thoughts," says star chef Lidia Bistianich at Salon.com here.