5/16/05 | Coffee Odyssey and Eatery
[ Currently Eating: Coffee ]
Picked up this news item the usual way, through Google News with a search term of “Cheap Eats”. I’ve been experimenting with finding articles on cheap food lately in different cities and it seems to be pretty on target for a number of stories. I’ve got to start reviewing some local hidey-holes of my own, but this definitely helps to review restaurants in places other than California.
This review of a place called Coffee Odyssey and Eatery was from Carrie Seidman from The Albuquerque Tribune. Now, as I’ve said before, I’ve got a soft spot for coffee shops and coffee related places even though buying coffee instead of making it is definitely not on the Cheap Eats philosophy checklist. But I especially like these small tiny places and prices can often be cheaper than the larger diners. I don’t usually go for the coffee drinks anyhow. It’s the food I’m after.
From the article:
The menu isn’t what you’d call innovative. Carne adovada breakfast burritos and something called “Lisa’s tortilla sandwich” are big sellers when the doors open at 7:30 a.m., and there’s a run on tacos, burgers and sandwiches before closing time at 1:30 p.m.
But everything save a steak sandwich is less than $5 and made with plain but fresh and unadulterated ingredients…
Innovative can be thrown out the door as far as I’m concerned with places like these. Simple food and cheap prices are the reason I head for places like these. It’s interesting that she says that the eatery is in the midst of an office park… I’ve also found that if you can locate them (and if they can stay in business), small eateries like this are hidden Cheap Eats gems.
Carrie says that she got a chicken salad sandwich with chips and pickle for $3.95 with tax which is not bad for a sit down sandwich.
When I was working for a certain big unnamed electronics company, I used to eat at a tiny place 8 table luncheonette tucked between a two parking lots. I used to wonder how they hell it was that they stayed in business because the building was not visible from ANY street. The only way you could find it was to accidently stumble upon it. It had amazingly been in business for over 30 years. They serve delicious pseudo American Japanese brunch diner food. I guess good customer loyalty and patronage is enough to keep some of these smaller places open.
Cheap Eats Score: 5/10
I could have seen this one coming a mile off. McDonald’s took first place in the Fast Food Poll I had on the site for last month, though not with some serious competition from Burger King. I’m actually quite surprised that Burger King made such a strong showing. It must be all their new “silent scary king mask” commercials that they’ve been pushing lately. Or perhaps it was their 
Has Eric Schlosser’s book Fast Food Nation really gotten to everybody and convinced them to avoid fast food restaurants? I haven’t read the book yet, so I can’t really comment. But I’ve heard from many friends who have read it that it’s been at least partially responsible for a 180 degree turn in the way they eat. 
I have a lot of fond memories of eating at Arby’s when I was a kid. But at the time I didn’t make a huge distinction between eating a Arby’s vs. eating at McDonald’s because I ate in fast food restaurants a lot less back then. So perhaps I didn’t appreciate the size of the roast beef sandwiches back then. Because they have certainly shrunk. 
That’s a great idea… I’ve been thinking about doing something like that for awhile, a Rachel Ray’s $40 a Day theme but with less money. But I’d probably try to attempt something impossible like $6.75 a DAY…
The Detroit Free Press has a popular column by Matt Helms about Cheap Eats. This article he wrote was on a place in Detroit called “House Of Reuben”. I looked everywhere for a picture of the House of Reuben but couldn’t find one so you’ll have to be content with a borrowed pic of a Reuben Sandwich. Anyhow, I have a soft spot for diners and while sit-down restaurants are always more expensive (because of tip, drinks not coming with meals, etc.) I’m often willing to sacrifice just a teeny bit of dough if it’s a good enough diner setting with good enough food. This one sounds pretty good, though it’s all the way in Michigan. They feature Reuben Sandwiches, as the name implies.
I must get Pizza Hut Coupons in the mail nearly every single day. In college, I used to think what a great service this was, bringing me deals on pizza right to my door. If you wanted to order pizza for takeout, you just checked your mail. 
