3. The pasta course: At the Waverly, DeLucie does pasta, but when he adds lobster and white truffles, it ain’t cheap. Since a pound of pasta costs less than $2, it’s naturally a budget item. DeLucie’s personal favorite, carbonara, can be made with eggs, a few pieces of bacon, milk and Parmesan.
Pasta carbonara for 6: $6

4. Classic casseroles. The Waverly Inn’s truffled mac and cheese is well-publicized, but in truth, the chef was simply returning to his roots (at around $55 a dish). “Growing up, we had a lot of varieties of mac and cheese. Ricotta, mozzarella, pecorino…anything and everything went into mac and cheese.”

DeLucie’s grandmother improvised new casseroles, starting with her leftovers. “She took the leftover pasta with tomato sauce, spread it in a pan, put it under the broiler and made "toasted spaghetti." DeLucie remembers, “The edges would be crunchy and the center still soft.” His grandmother would serve it with a side salad and call it a meal. Repurpose your leftover pasta and tell your friends it’s an old family secret from the chef at The Waverly Inn. 
Leftover spaghetti casserole: Free!

5. Princely proteins with a pauper’s purse: A quick skim of DeLucie’s menu shows some lower-cost main dishes snuggled next to the prime New York strip and the Dover sole. Items like octopus ($3 per pound), brook trout ($5 each), and quinoa ($3 per pound) are all budget purchases at the grocery store.
Grilled octopus over quinoa for 6: About $10

6. “Dessert? We didn’t have dessert.” The home cooks in DeLucie’s family didn’t fuss with pies and cakes. They enjoyed fresh fruit at the end of their meal. And although seasonal produce is always going to be your least expensive option, it doesn’t have to be dull. DeLucie says, “Take apples, for example. You can do them baked, in a pie, eat them raw, roast them.”
Roasted apples with cinnamon for 6: $2

Invite your friends over for an Oscar feast this weekend, and dine like glitterati for less than the price of a movie ticket.