It’s time to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Remember when I told you about using OpenTable for your restaurant reservations?

Friday night, my wife and I were able to get out and enjoy this incredible meal at Pittsburgh Blue, using $200 from the OpenTable points I earned in 2017.

This is something that we get to do about twice a year, last time being a nice Sunday dinner at McCormick & Schmidt.

The beauty here is that I made the reservation on OpenTable and made another 100 points for that.  We ordered the 32oz double porterhouse steak to share with brussel sprouts and their Blue Hashbrowns (onion, bacon, and bleu cheese crumbles).  With a nice bottle of wine to go with it.

And what’s a nice meal out if you don’t have dessert? We went with the strawberry/rhubarb crumble. (Cinnamon ice cream, please and thank you)

The check comes at the end of the meal.  It’s $243 and I’ve got the $200 OpenTable gift certificate. $43 for the feast we had? Not too shabby. I plop down my Hilton Aspire Amex (I’m still in the entry period trying to hit that sign up bonus), and my Parasole Dining Club card.  A few moments later, the server comes back and informs us that I have $20 on the Parasole card, and do I want to use that as well.  “Don’t mind if I do!” ($23 dinner)

I wind up double dipping on spending points, and earning points in the same meal!