Daniel’s Note: Blaine started his $40 date out in Plano, then moved down to the hip “Uptown” part of Dallas.

Last Friday, my friend Jess and I started our $40 Adventure with a trip to Geisha Sushi & Steak at the corner of Coit and President George Bush Turnpike. It was a logical dinner spot, as we both work up north. As we sat down, we ordered a large house hot sake ($7), which came out super-hot. We had a plan to start with edamame, but instead ordered the Sushi Nachos (3.95), which were pretty much just shredded crabmeat with a slice of avocado, all topping a bowl-style tortilla chip – pretty simple, but a nice, light start to the meal. Next up was the Geisha Blossom (7.50), a fresh jalapeno stuffed with cream cheese and crabmeat, then deep fried. The Blossom definitely ramped up the flavor with a bold, spicy balance between the pepper and crab.

Our two sushi rolls came out shortly after, one Ahi Tower and one White Dragon (12.95 each). The Tower was the traditional mix of spicy tuna, crab, spicy mayo and masago, all drizzled with a sweet eel sauce. The White Dragon is a combination of tuna, salmon, white fish and avacado, rolled in a seaweed wrapper and flash fried before reaching its final destination on top of a pool of three sweet and spicy sauces. Before leaving, we topped off the meal with a small house hot sake ($4). In a pleasant surprise, we also found live music at Geisha. This guy had a sweet setup of an electronic keyboard, some stunted looking guitar and a laptop to drop the funky Japanese beats. It really set the mood, and he was all about having his picture taken.

Anyway, back to the story… if you’re keeping a running tally, you may have noticed that we seemingly ALREADY went over budget. But don’t fret, loyal readers, as I unveil my secret weapon… Restaurant.com usually offers gift certificates of $25 for discounted rates… normally, that means you can get a $25 certificate for $10. HOWEVER, they regularly run sales of up to 80%!! So I managed to get a $25 gift certifiate for the low price of $2. Apply that to our ticket and we got out of Geisha for a super-modest $25.35 (including the $2 for the certificate).

Next up on this awesome date was a visit to the Barley House on SMU Blvd. This place has regular live bands and some pretty cool bartenders, and on this night it was no different as Parachute Addams, a bluesy/classic rock band took the stage. We also ordered a couple draft beers for $3.50 a pop. Since the Barley House rarely charges cover, that meant we still had room for 4 of these guys. However, since I was driving, I cut myself off at one while Jess took down two, bringing our bar tab to an incredibly satisfying $10.50.

Total bill for the evening: $33.85. BOOM!

Be sure to read all of the DFW $40 Date Night Challenges before voting, so check out the rest!

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  3. Mayra and John’s Dallas $40 Date Night
  4. Matt and Emily’s Dallas $40 Date Night