Nosh Pit

Chow for Cheap: Best Bites Under $10

You can’t go wrong with these delicious, easy-on-the-wallet noshes.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jun 29, 2010 at 11:46AM 0 Comments

Photo: Nick Feldman

The tonkotsu, a pork broth with mushrooms, green onions, and al dente ramen noodles, at I.D. favorite Samurai Noodle. Here, most items on the menu range from $6.75 to $8.

View Slideshow » Photo: Nick Feldman

The tonkotsu, a pork broth with mushrooms, green onions, and al dente ramen noodles, at I.D. favorite Samurai Noodle. Here, most items on the menu range from $6.75 to $8.

View Slideshow » Photo: Nick Feldman

Cod fish and chips paired with a house made tartar sauce. The crispy staple of Cap Hill late-night noshing costs $8 at Pike Street Fish Fry.

View Slideshow » Photo: Nick Feldman

A bowl of red lentil soup, which costs $3.50 at Pike Place Market gem the Crumpet Shop. The wee spongy cakes (pictured here is one topped with tomato, English cheese, and pesto) are $1.55 to $4.75.

View Slideshow » Photo: Nick Feldman

At Thai Tom , try the swimming rama: spinach and bean sprouts covered in chicken and what could be called the city’s best Thai peanut sauce. The cost: $7.45.

View Slideshow » Photo: Nick Feldman

At Citizen in Queen Anne, crepes come either savory (like apple-smoked bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, and basil drizzled in maple syrup) or sweet (strawberries, ricotta cheese, and honey sprinkled with sugar), and cost $7.25 to $7.95.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Roti (or ro tee, as it’s spelled at the new I.D. joint Thai Curry Simple ) is the Asian equivalent of a crepe—thin, floppy, flatbready. Thai Curry Simple’s milk-sugar variety costs $2. Other kinds from which to choose: cheese ($2.50), chocolate (ditto), chocolate and banana ($3), scrambled egg ($3.50)—all drizzled with copious amounts of condensed milk.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

New banh mi stand Baguette doesn’t offer much in the way of atmosphere, but that’s okay, you’re here for the sandwiches, like the ginger-sauteed chicken. It’s stuffed with pickled daikon and carrots, jalapenos, a garlic pepper and soy sauces, cucumber, and cilantro and costs $4.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Mitt-sized tortillas made with corn or rice flour, pupusas maintain both the floppiness of a pancake and the tough chew of pita bread. They are perfectly round, and at Guanaco’s Tacos Pupuseria come stuffed with a pasty chicharrón (pork) or chicken and a variety of veggies: spinach, ayote (zucchini), jalapenos, refried beans. Here the pupusas cost $2.35 each and arrive with a side of sweet slaw.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

Chungee’s Drink and Eat ‘s wonton soup sets you back $6.95. Pair it with General Tso’s chicken ($9.95) and a Chungee pancake ($4.95), and you’ve got a meal for two with leftovers likely.

View Slideshow » Illustration:

During lunch at Kaname beef sukiyaki costs $8.95 (a vegetarian version is a dollar less).

Cheap eats are hardly a rarity in this city (hello happy hours), which is why happening upon truly great grub for just a couple bucks is like scoring shiny Cole Haans at Nordy’s Rack. You can’t help but feel tingly plucking those gems from the piles of wonky-soled Reeboks and Diesels.

The point being: Bargain bites abound, but that doesn’t mean you should be eating all of them. Discrimination is needed when determining which deserves your dollar. To help you decide, let’s look at our favorite eats that won’t set you back more than $10. Deets are in the slideshow to the left.

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Tags: Bargain Bites, Cheap Eats

Baguette Box Lowers Prices

Now all sandwiches cost less than $8.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Jun 14, 2010 at 02:12PM 0 Comments

Now cheaper.

I’ve really been hoping that when the time came to report on Baguette Box again, it would be to announce another outpost for the sandwich shop.

Unfortunately, nothing to report on that front, but I do offer other good news. The already-cheap banh mi counter recently softened its prices. The price drops are nothing dramatic—70 cents here, 40 cents there—but it does put all of the sandwiches at less than $8, and most of them under $7. Especially of note here is the braised berkshire pork belly. It used to ring up at $8.20; now, it’s $6.90.

Wonder if this has anything to do with Homegrown moving in around the corner?

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Tags: Bargain Bites, Cheap Eats, Lunch, Sandwiches

Get Yer Hot Dogs

Customer Appreciation Day at Po Dog = $5 menu.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Apr 28, 2010 at 09:13AM 0 Comments

Photo: Nick Feldman

The Capitol Hill Po Dog.

So Tuesday is Teacher Appreciation Day and to say thanks, teachers, Chipotle is offering a pretty decent deal. If, however, your day-to-day does not involve shaping the minds of America’s youth, that’s not to say nobody appreciates you.

In fact, come 11am it’s Customer Appreciation Day at Po Dog. The recently expanded wiener joint is selling all dogs for $5.

On the menu are over 10 specialty concoctions, all of them cradled in a pleasantly sweet brioche bun. Considering some of the more elaborate ones run upwards of $7, the $5 deal makes for a nice humpday treat.

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Tags: Bargain Bites

Teachers, No Need to Brown-Bag It Next Tuesday

You can eat for cheap at area Chipotles.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Apr 27, 2010 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

Free lunch always brings a smile.

Summer months off and free burritos?

In commemoration of Teacher Appreciation Day on May 4, Seattle-area Chipotles are offering a buy one, get one free deal for school staffers.

The special runs 3pm-8pm and is good for basically any menu item (burritos, burrito bowls, salad, tacos). All teachers need to do is bring an ID to get in on the goods.

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Tags: Bargain Bites, Free Food

Pupusas at Guanaco’s Tacos Pupuseria

The newest addition to Broadway’s ethnic eats scene stands out thanks to these $2.35 tortillas.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Apr 15, 2010 at 12:49PM 0 Comments

219 Broadway (aka “The Alley”) is becoming somewhat of an ethnic eats temple. It houses Hana. There’s Kimchi Bistro. And now comes Guanaco’s Tacos Pupuseria, which opened Monday.

This is the second branch for the Salvadoran restaurant whose first location at 4106 Brooklyn Ave NE in the U District debuted years ago. On the menu are plenty of cheap goodies to discover—fried yucca, stuffed poblano peppers, sweet plantain pockets—but what brings the buzz are the pupusas.

Mitt-sized tortillas made with corn or rice flour, pupusas maintain both the floppiness of a pancake and the tough chew of pita bread. They are perfectly round, and at Guanaco’s come stuffed with a pasty chicharrón (pork) or chicken and a variety of veggies: spinach, ayote (zucchini), jalapenos, refried beans. Mix and match ingredients, have them all, sample just one—it’s your choice—just be sure to order yours with cheese and loroco, a tropical herb.

Here the pupusas cost $2.35 each and arrive with a side of sweet slaw, and you can dress them up with a red or green salsa (go for the red, it has more kick). Two will satisfy a determined nosher, order three and you’re asking for food coma—these guys are heavy.

For your edification:

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Tags: Bargain Bites, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Food Finds

Cheap Date: Kaname Izakaya

Order the sukiyaki at this authentic I.D. joint.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Apr 13, 2010 at 12:00PM 0 Comments

You know those foods you don’t dare touch because, while traveling somewhere in the wider world, you came across a version that was just perfect? So much so it’s practically fact you’ll never again find a more satisfying incarnation? To spoil that memory with some debased, lackluster imitation would be a downright shame.

For me, that food is sukiyaki. I grew fond of the Japanese stew while trekking throughout Asia. Until last week, I had never eaten it stateside; three years passed since my last delicious encounter. Often during those years friends and coworkers would pass along recommendations. I would nod politely but remained weary; ultimately, I’d chicken out, instead nursing my fond recollections.

But enough eventually becomes enough, and at the insistence of a trustworthy colleague I ordered the beef sukiyaki at Kaname Izakaya, an authentic, family-run joint in the I.D. I’m glad I took the plunge—my memories of sukiyaki were shrouded in such nostalgia, the many details that make this meal so enjoyable had become buried: the calming warmth of the broth, the fun of having tofu and beef and vegetables all in one bite, the sweet tang of the meat, the seemingly bottomless pot.

At Kaname that pot is heavy—and, careful, hot—and brims with three or four cubes of tofu, a considerable helping of shaved beef, glassy noodles, and, my favorite touch, a little-cute mushroom atop a bed of vegetables. The broth teems with complexity and is reminiscent of a sugary soy sauce—perfect for soaking up the heaping bowl of rice. It all makes for an authentic, if not transporting, and filling experience.

The spread is sizable and takes up half of a two-top table—sharing is encouraged, and one order will satisfy two light eaters. At lunch the beef sukiyaki costs $8.95 (a vegetarian version is a dollar less), and at dinner the price jumps to $13.50 or $11.50, veggie-style.

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Tags: Bargain Bites, Food Finds, Cheap Date

Don’t Feel Like Chicken Tonight?

How about crab.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Apr 12, 2010 at 11:35AM 0 Comments

The scenario: It’s a Monday evening. You’re already burnt on the work week. Cooking is not an appealing prospect.

You want: Dungeness crab. Lots of it—enough to sate you and your dining mate.

You don’t want: To spend more than $30.

You go to: Monsoon or Monsoon East.

Because: Over the weekend the Capitol Hill stalwart and its newer Eastside sibiling began offering a mighty attractive Sunday-and-Monday-night deal: Two can feast on a two-pound crab and mango-papaya salad for $28. And take 30 percent off any bottle of wine.

We won’t crab about that bill (har har).

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Tags: Bargain Bites, Special Dinners

Some Food Freebies

From tacos to brownies to fries.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Apr 09, 2010 at 11:31AM 0 Comments

Free today!

In the coming week there is free food to be had, people. But first, more heartening news of a local biz expanding: Today Essential Baking Company opens a new cafe in Georgetown at 5601 First Avenue. This marks the third storefront for Essential, the other two being in Madison Valley and Wallingford.

To celebrate, the cafe today is giving away complimentary fudge brownies until 2:15pm. Next Friday the artisanal bakery will serve free 8 oz. coffee all day.

On Thursday (that’s Tax Day, to you procrastinators) Tango Restaurant and Lounge’s much-loved Diablo Dessert is again gratis.

Also on Thursday: If you agree with Taco Del Mar’s claim “Taxes $uck! Tacos Don’t!”, then register on their website to receive a taco on the house.

And, finally, at the risk of beating a dead horse, free fries for all at Pike Street Fish Fry next Friday, the 16th.

Happy free feastin’.

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Tags: Bargain Bites

New Obsession: Roti at Thai Curry Simple

The execution is spot on, even if the spelling is off.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Apr 07, 2010 at 03:10PM 0 Comments

Of the many wonderful things that came with living in Thailand post-college, the food was right at the top. Especially the roti.

Roti (or ro tee, as it’s spelled at the new I.D. joint Thai Curry Simple )is the Asian equivalent of a crepe—thin, floppy, flatbready. Shaped like a Fruit Roll-Up, a roti’s center teems with any number of toppings and spreads, both savory and sweet.

In Thailand roti is commonly served as a breakfast nosh, though I always found my personal favorite, ones awash with condensed milk and sugar, made for more of a dessert, for obvious reasons. But hey, hand me one of these at sunrise and I’m not gonna complain.

Thai Curry Simple’s milk-sugar variety costs $2. There are four other kinds from which to choose: cheese ($2.50), chocolate (ditto), chocolate and banana ($3), and scrambled egg ($3.50). All are drizzled with copious amounts of condensed milk (oh, how sweet it is!), so be sure to reserve the last few bites for dipping—you won’t want to waste that puddle gathered in your paper wrap.

The panfried roll-ups at Thai Curry Simple simply are the best I’ve ever tasted. It would crush him to hear it, but they’re even better than the ones my go-to roti man whipped up on that dusty, deserted drag in the Thai town of Bankhwao.

For those with more of a lunch bent, Simple serves curry and other Thai specialties for $5 weekdays 11am-3pm. The place fills up fast and it’s small, so plan accordingly.

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Tags: New Seattle Restaurants, Bargain Bites, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Food Finds

Cheap Date: Baguette

Seats or no seats, the new banh mi stand is worth a visit.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Mar 31, 2010 at 02:10PM 8 Comments

The chicken is sautéed in ginger.

Baguette doesn’t offer much in the way of atmosphere. Nestled under the sign of C.C. Attle’s, the just-opened banh mi bar operates behind rolled-up doors in the former BTG Coffee space. Cars whiz perilously close to the Madison Street sidewalk on which you’re waiting. There isn’t a place to sit.

That’s okay, you’re here for the sandwiches.

Slightly warmed, chewy baguettes like the In House Favorite bulge with three types of Vietnamese ham, barbecue pork, and spiced pork pate; or for the veggie crowd, vegetarian ham and chicken and mushroom pate. Let’s not forget the dressings: pickled daikon and carrots, jalapenos, a garlic pepper and soy sauces, cucumber, and cilantro.

All sandwiches—there are six on the menu—cost $4. Each one is made according to this bold claim: “Our BIG sandwiches have 2x the filling than most Vietnamese sandwiches—2 of theres [sic] or one of ours.” Those at Baguette Box, the Hill’s other noted banh spot, actually are a tad plumper, but points do go to Baguette for length, which rival that of a foot-long sub.

Right now Baguette is only open Mon-Fri 11am-2pm (or until supplies run out), but the owner is hoping to soon expand hours. There is also talk of serving lunch box sets.

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Tags: Bargain Bites, Seattle Restaurant Openings, Capitol Hill, Cheap Eats, Cheap Date

Wow, Yet Another Tuesday Food Deal

This time, at Ivar’s.

Posted by: Christopher Werner on Mar 23, 2010 at 09:30AM 1 Comments

Yours for $1.05.

If only we could survive off of a couple bucks a day every day.

In celebration of Ivar Haglund ‘s 105th birthday, Ivars restaurants are getting in on the Tuesday-food-deals action. (For those who don’t know, today you can score free ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s between noon and 8pm and free pastries at Starbucks until 10:30am.)

Buy one entrée, get the second one for $1.05. The secret password: “Happy Birthday, Ivar.” The deal is valid at Ivar’s Acres of Clams, Ivar’s Salmon House, Ivar’s Mukilteo Landing, and all Ivar’s Seafood bars.

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Tags: Bargain Bites

Tuesday is Also Free Cone Day at Ben and Jerry’s!

Visit your nearest “scoop shop,” eat ice cream for free.

Posted by: Jessica Voelker on Mar 22, 2010 at 01:47PM 0 Comments

Free!

In the Vermont town where I went to college, Ben and Jerry’s free cone day—when the company offers up single-scoop ice cream cones all day long—is a serious rite of spring, as important an annual event as the Festival on the Green or 4/20.

Students would line up for hours to get a free hit of the sweet stuff, sometimes queuing up again before they’d even start to lick their first cone: One of the great beauties of Free Cone Day is you can have as many free cones as you like provided you wait your turn.

It’s maybe not such a big deal here—we have a lot of ice cream in Seattle—but it’s still a nice way to mark the transition to the warmer months. Stop by your local B and J’s tomorrow, March 23, between 12 and 8pm to claim your frozen prize.

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Tags: Bargain Bites, Desserts