Restaurants for cheap eats

If you’re the type who holds your wallet and winces every time you browse through a compilation like the 11 best steakhouses in the country, today’s list has been put together with you in mind. These 12 restaurants offer affordability without sacrificing quality, proving once and for all you don’t need to hit up a major fast-food chain to walk away with a meal for under $10.

Broward-Palm Beach

Morton’s Power Hour

Five dollars. When was the last time you saw that price on a menu for anything other than a Happy Meal? Just please, wash your face and put on a clean pair of trousers before you head over to Morton’s bar for their “power hour” — we don’t want them catching on that the hoi polloi is…More >>

Dallas

Fuel City

Not that this truck stop needs any more love. Texas Monthly already called their tacos the Best in Texas, and we once wrote a cover story about the truck stop itself, calling it the best truck stop in the world or something like that. It is a delightfully weird place with a swimming pool, a…More >>

Denver

Las Tortas

Las Tortas sells tortas and nothing but tortas — about two dozen varieties, from the simplest steak-and-chicken Jalisco to the most bizarrely overpowering La Macha, with steak Milanesa, chorizo, chile, a fried egg and a hot dog crammed together on a roll. There’s a counter on one side…More >>

Rosie’s Diner

There are plenty of spots around town where a man of little means can get himself a hot breakfast. But there’s no better spot for the archetypal cheap American breakfast than Rosie’s. This custom-built ’50s-style diner full of gleaming chrome and sock-hop decor seemingly stalled its pricing…More >>

Ba Le Sandwich

Ba Le is a hole-in-the-wall in a neighborhood full of a million other holes in a million other walls. But Ba Le is also a real hole in one: a spot frequented not just by members of Denver’s Vietnamese community, but by hordes of Denver diners on the lookout for something new, something delicious…More >>

Brooklyn MC’s

In both atmosphere and attitude, Brooklyn MC’s establishes itself as one of those straight-outta-the-boroughs New York pizza joints the minute you walk through the door. And then a pizza comes out of one of the big deck ovens, thin as a dream, looped with swirls of red sauce and splotches of…More >>

“Any way you slice it, Brooklyn M.C.’s Pizzeria is the taste of home.”

Taquería Patzcuaro

Nothing on Taquería Patzcuaro’s menu costs more than eleven bucks, and almost everything is worth twice what you’ll pay for it. Carnitas Michoacán or carne adovada for nine bucks? Four tacos albañil for $7.50? Those are bargain prices, particularly since these are some of…More >>

Kansas City

Cancun Fiesta Fresh

The versatility of the taco is a splendid thing. At any time in Kansas City, one can find tacos in KCK with cabeza (head) or lengua (tongue) inside, puffy tacos in the River Market, Choco Tacos on an ice-cream truck in Merriam, or pan-seared tuna tacos with jicama slaw and a pomegranate…More >>

Miami

Matahari Cafe and Thai Churros

Miami’s downtown dining environment has leaped forward in just the past few years — during the daytime, that is. And while it isn’t difficult to find a fine lunch for less than a ten-spot, it would be quite a challenge to cop better plates of food for that sum than the ones encountered at…More >>

Minneapolis

Jasmine Deli

It’s hard to find a restaurant that serves filling food that actually tastes good for under $5. And no, the McDonald’s dollar menu does not count. Jasmine Deli, a tiny Vietnamese restaurant with some of the best Asian food in town, easily fits the bill. The spring rolls come with mock duck,…More >>

New York

Café Rakka

No better cheap lunch in the East Village than the mujadara at Café Rakka, a fluffy salad of cracked wheat and green lentils, dressed with flavorful olive oil. More >>

Orange County

Lizarran Tapas

We’re afraid that if we told you Lizarran Tapas marks down the pintxos to a dollar each on Tuesdays from 4 to 7 p.m., you’d take up all the seats, crowd the counter space and grab the tastiest morsels all for yourselves. You see, we’re cheapskates, too, and we know a good deal when…More >>