A free cookie—and on a Friday, no less—sounds more like your kids’ after-school treat than a pause-worthy restaurant deal. But that cookie at the new Santa Monica lunch spot, Bite Bar and Bakery, from caterer-turned-restaurateur Elizabeth Goel, is more of a generous slice-and-share affair. Like all of the cookies, her coconut-macadamia nut-dried mango version is baked in individual tart pan,s so it’s more of a tartlette than a true cookie. Add any of the sandwiches, like the enormous crab sandwich (essentially a pressed panini grilled cheese, only with crab and a remoulade-style dressing as the filling), and you’ve got a meal that’s big enough for two to share.

Share is the key word here, as ordering lunch is a requirement to get that free cookie, as is mentioning that you saw it on Facebook. But no guilt—you shared—so you can go home with some of those beautiful fruit tarts, lemon bars (excellent here) or salted caramel espresso bars. Santa Monica has plenty of great bakeries and cafés, but none that offers so much quality for the price.

Bite Bar and Bakery, 3221 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, 424.744.8658, bitebar.com