Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Good Eats for Cheap

I love a good meal. And I love a good meal that doesn't cost me a fortune. I'm happy to report that living in Austin means there are delicious and inexpensive meals to be had all over the city. Here is a listing of some of my favorites.
  1. Thai Passion. The $5.50 lunch express lets you choose between the curry of the day, a huge bowl of Thai Passion Noodles and more.
  2. Frank & Angie's has a lunch special that's easy on the pocketbook, too. You can get a large salad and a slice for $5.95. The slice is a quarter of a 10" pie and comes with two toppings. I recommend sausage & garlic. You know my officemates love me after a F&A's lunch! If you don't feel like eating your green things, you can get a 10" pie for only a dollar more.
  3. Threadgill's Five Veggie Plate is only $7.75 and you can choose from about 25 different vegetable offerings, including vegetarian selections. And if you want seconds, just ask. Their San Antonio Squash is fabulous, by the way.
  4. Juan in a Million. Not the first mention about JIAM in this blog and probably not the last. The Don Juan breakfast taco (on flour or corn tortillas) is monstrously huge and absolutely scrumptious. All you need is one, but ask for a second tortilla. The coffee is good, too. The DJ is a whopping $2.75 and the bottomless coffee cup is a buck and a quarter.
  5. Shady Grove. While not all items on the menu are super cheap, I am loving their Bad Chili Dog. It's a foot long, thick 100% beef hot dog smothered in meaty chili, queso and onions (if ya want 'em). Let me say it takes up the entire plate and I couldn't finish it. It was too much food for under $6, how great is that?

Okay, so this list could go on and on. I'll stop at five. What are some of your favorite good eats for cheap in Austin?

**Correction! My favorite lunch partner has called it to my attention in the comments for this post that I have not been true-to-live in my description of a slice of pizza from Frank & Angie's. The slice is not a quarter of a 10" pie. It is much larger than that and pretty much covers the entire plate. If I had to guess better, I'd estimate about 9 1/2" long and around 7" at the widest part. In other words, an enormous slice.**

4 comments:

(F)redddy said...

I want to clarify one thing. The lunch slice is NOT a QUARTER of a "10 inch Pie"...it's a quarter of an "24 inch pie"! The option is a quarter slice OR a whole 10" pie! Not that I go there all the time and have their menu memorized. Nor can I just ask for the "usual". Nor do I have a plaque with my name on it for eating there 307 times in 2003. I'm just saying if you're going to turn people on to a place, you should maybe have your research assistant do a better job with the measurements!

Kay said...

I stand corrected by my Eating Assistant. The slice at lunch is honking big and larger than the what I was representing. I'll post a correction on the blog itself just so I don't mislead anyone.

Hey, next time we go we need to make sure it's on a day Daniel is working. That way we don't have to say anything but "I'll have the usual". :-)

Anonymous said...

Okay, it's obviously time for a food expedition to Austin! I've never eaten at any of the places you mentioned so I'm overdue.

As for other cheap eats in Austin, I have fond memories of breakfast tacos for dirt cheap prices from Taco Shack. Bowling for Soup said it best: "The Mexican food sucks north of here anyway." You CAN NOT get good breakfast tacos in the Greater St. Louis Metro Area. Unless you spend the night with me and I'm in the mood to cook.

Kay said...

Freddy wants to know if your comments mean you'll be visiting soon, Kim.

I want to add my list. I completely forgot about Sandy's Frozen Custard. On Thursdays & Saturdays you can get a 1/4lb hamburger, fries and a medium drink for $2.99. Yumscrum!