Thanks, Pat. We've Got Our Own List
By Chuck Sudo in Food on May 16, 2008 7:27PM
The Sun-Times, probably regretting that they're still on the hook for Conrad Black's attorney fees and Jay Mariotti's salary during a recession, has been on a frugal kick this week. Every day they've run a story on families saving money on groceries, usually involving shopping at Aldi's, cutting coupons, or selling the extra car and biking.
Today in the Weekend Plus section, food critic Pat Bruno takes time off from visiting every Italian restaurant in the city to get some of the "cheap eats" action. His selection of twelve places to get a good meal for $10 or less has some good options (Ina's, Lao Shanghai, and Smoque) interspersed with some genuine head-scratchers (Wishbone and Take Five, we're looking at you). Pat gets some propers for mentioning Dixie Kitchen & Bait Shop, although he chose the wrong po'boy.
However, this just includes a single entree. It doesn't include a drink, or a cup of soup, or possibly a dessert. So I decided to go back through the "One Great Sandwich" and "South Side Cheap Eats" archives and try to top Bruno with a baker's dozen, listing prices for a full meal (i.e. soup and drink) where possible.
1. Top Notch Beefburger: Half-pound deluxe beefburger and a strawberry shake. Total Cost: $9.95.
2. Tank Restaurant's Bánh Mì: $2.95 to $3.95. Plenty of change left over for chips and a drink.
3. Scott's Hamburger Heaven: $4.95, at last count.
4. Golden Heart Snack Shop: Mexican Skillet + bowl of chili + coffee = $8.84
5. Hopleaf's CB&J: You can go over here because you're gonna pair it with a great beer.
6. Costello's Turkey Foccacia: Even though we've placed a moratorium on Costello's selections for "OGS" selections, we can't make this list and not include Chicagoist Prime's favorite selection.
7. Borinquen's Jibarito: It's like having your chips and sandwich at the same time, for seven bucks or less.
8. El Cubanito's Cuban Sandwich: Mike Nagrant of Hungry Mag and I debated El Cubanito versus Marianao at length when this was selected to kick off the "OGS" series. Gotta say, though, Marianao's media noche can't be touched.
9. Ramova Grill: Here's what you get for under ten bucks. Coffee, a bowl of chili with beans (Ramova has the best chili in the city, and this is not open to debate) and a grilled chicken sandwich for a short hair under $9.
10. The Maxwell Street Market: You'll spend more on a stolen set of hubcaps than on food.
11. Bongo Room's Smoked Chicken and Apple Club: This sammich is actually pretty tasty.
12. Skylark: If you can't pair the tater tots with a beer for under ten dollars, you aren't trying.
13. Miceli's: Stick with the chicken foccacia, remove the soup, add the chips, keep the change.