If in recent months you’ve become a penny-pinching gourmand, your dining calendar is probably peppered with lunch dates. A midday salad and entree cost a fraction of a dinnertime meal, and if you eat big at noon, you can often forgo dinner altogether.

This is especially true if you stop by Marco’s Coal-Fired Pizza on weekdays between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., when owner Mark Dym dishes up his $9 lunch special. For just a few bucks more than your morning latte, you can enjoy a fresh salad tossed with grape tomatoes and diced cubes of mozzarella, your own 10-inch margherita pizza, and a bottomless soda, iced tea, or lemonade.

The pizza alone is worth the trip. With the lunch deal, Marco’s version of the fresh mozzarella, tomato, and basil pie is $2 less than it is on the regular menu, and at 10-inches in diameter (rather than 12 inches when ordered a la carte), you can easily argue your way out of sharing.

This is definitely one lunch that will keep you from investing in a big dinner.

2129 Larimer St., 303-296-7000