My favorite eats are often cheap- partially because that often lead me to undiscovered little mom and pop jewels and cuisines that are not as widely known in this country and remind me of the cultural melting pot that is America.
Here are a couple of my favorites:
Pho Viet banh mis
Sapporo ramen- miso soup with corn and ramen goodness
What are your favorites? Any personal secrets?
Rincon Mexicano, East Somerville: carnitas plate, black beans, any of his marvelous soups, California burritos, chicken enchiladas with mole sauce
Taco Loco: taco [though it has been uneven lately]
Zoe’s Chinese Kitchen: lamb with cumin, hot/sour soup, Lion’s head meatballs, dry-fried chicken, spicy dry-fried green beans, Special Mushroom [or something like that]
Courthouse Seafood: Wednesday Big Fish aka Fish & Chips
Vinny’s at Night: Meatball sub without bread for lunch, pasta e fagioli soup
The Druid: hamburger, fish & chips
Pasha, Arlington: lentil soup, cold vegetarian meze platter
Greek Corner: calamari, Souvlaki sandwich [though sometimes the gyro is better], Lemon chicken soup
Tortas at Tenoch.
Hand-pulled noodles at MDM in Brighton or Gene’s downtown.
And they’re really not fancy, or even that good, but there’s something very satisfying about the $5.50 double cheeseburgers with fries at Charlie’s in Harvard Square.
Kimbap at the Korean place in the front part of the Allston Super 88 food court.
Pork and celery dumplings at Golden Gate.
Zee’s Special sandwich at Bedford House of Beef (even better with feta added).
Slice of Otto’s pizza in Harvard Square.
Slice of pizza at Stella’s Watertown.
Foul mudammes, potato salad, falafel pita at Boston Kabob Company in Allston. Either of the first two is a lot of food so sometimes one of those and a single falafel on the side.
Agree with smtucker’s Pasha nominations.
Smokey Spicy Turkey sandwich from Dave’s Fresh Pasta (Somerville)
Just about anything from Cha Yen Thai Cookery (Watertown)
Mary Chung’s Suan La Chow and Yu Hsing pork or eggplant (Cambridge)
Smoked salmon sandwich from Bagelsaurus (Cambridge)
Is that a cheap eat? I thought I had read that this sandwich runs around $12. I do buy their bagels when I am too lazy to make my own, split and freeze… they are a decent bagel to be sure.
[quote=“smtucker, post:6, topic:2201”]
$12.
[/quote]Yeah, I guess that’s borderline. It’s kind of a lot for a sandwich, but not a lot for a pile of smoked salmon. It also makes a full meal for me, so I guess if you look at it as $12 for a full restaurant meal, it’s not bad. All depends on your point of view, like so many things in life.
Their bagels are sort of the antithesis of cheap eats, though. I’ll give you that.
Another addition to my list is $7 Rhode Island style calamari from Red’s Best in the Public Market. Total bargain for that quantity and quality of seafood.
Here we agree. My problem is, I can only eat half at one sitting, and when wrapped to eat later, the bagel texture is highly compromised. Once, I tried to get them serve me the sandwich as components so I could make a half and then have the salmon, etc packed separately for leftovers. Let us say that this concept was not favorably received. Value is a tricky grey line isn’t it?
Anything at Galleria Umberto (you can get one of each of the 9 menu items for under $30.
Hand pulled Noodles at MDM in Brighton.
Roast Beef sandwich at Roast Beast
Pork Gyro sandwich at Esperia Grill, Brighton.
Greek Corner: roasted lamb sandwich
Deli-Icious, Davis Square: Any of the ‘melts’ are a huge great sandwich for about $8
Dave’s Fresh Pasta: pressed cubano
Painted Burro: Street-style hotdog. For $9 it’s enormous. Topped with chicharron.
Old School House, Hudson MA: Porto style sandwich. It’s $10, it’s two meals worth of food, it’s bonkers.
Little Q Hot Pot, Arlington: Ma La hotpot, cold spicy beef tongue, etc.
You speak of the Francesinha (“Porto-style sandwich”). It has artery-blocking, yet delicious properties, which is why B passed them up when we were actually in Porto, Portugal but maybe he could be convinced to try it state-side. I’ve looked at Old School House before and it’s tempted us but when we’ve found ourselves in Hudson, Rail Trail always derails us.
I had that sandwich on Friday, and what I got was far from a pile of salmon. The portion was noticeably smaller that my last visit. If they’re going to charge those prices, then they’ve got to give consistent quality. The sandwich is great and I love that hot smoked salmon, but I felt ripped off. I would have gone back if I wasn’t already on my way in the car when I discovered this. The pumpernickel bagel was a great base for the sandwich however.
Is there a torta at Tenoch that you like most?
Yeah! I really like the Torta Tenoch (carnitas and a ham slice) - I think the flavors are the most balanced, and you can really taste each part of the sandwich. All the ones I’ve tried (everything but the chicken and the roasted vegetables) have been really good, though, so I don’t think you can go wrong.
Unfortunately, I have a terrible news update. Boston Kebab Company is now closed. I walked by about a week ago and their windows were blacked out and there was already a new sign up. Some sort of Asian place, I believe. Hopefully I am wrong or perhaps they are reopening elsewhere, but alas, I never had time for a final falafel…
When, oh when, are they going to open in Davis? The cooler even is stocked with drinks, but no date that I’m aware of yet.
Is this the one in Allston? That would be a bummer.
I see that they’ve updated their website to say “opening in December!” but no word on specifics.
I’m a fan of the Torta Campechano…carnitas and chorizo.
Yes, Boston Kebab Company in Allston closed, not Boston Kebab House in the Financial District.
