4/7     Where can you get good food for $10? I went to an Italian restaurant
        last night. Pizza/pasta was only $13 or so, but with an appetizer and
        dessert the meal was over $50 (no drinks, 17% tip). And it was ok food,
        with homemade gnocchi but didn't taste like anything that you couldn't
        make at home with a little effort. No comparison to actual good Italian
        restaurants (e.g. Bar Bambino, Delfina, SPQR) that are in the $30-50/pp
        range... I'd rather have gone to Fuzio or Pasta Pomodoro and get
        something quick. But I find it really hard to eat (except for Mexican
        or Asian) for <$20. Even a decent pizza with a side salad runs around
        $20 these days (e.g. Zachary's, Pizzaiolo, Pauline's, Little Star)...
        \_ Good Fricken Chicken. Does Middle Eastern food count?
        \_ Most Mexican places will cost less than that. Cuban, too. In
           fact, I think you should look to ethnic cuisine of all types in
           that price range. You will not do well to find European food in
           that price range.
           \_ What part of except Mexican wasn't clear?
           \_ Even then dinner < 10 bucks a person is going to be hard.
              After tax and tip that's about 7 dollars each.  Even a
              burrito and a drink is over that and let's face it, burritos
              are good but if that's all you are eating out then you need
              to expand your palate a bit.
              \_ My girlfriend and I usually split something like an
                 enchilada or burrito plate and an appetizer and it comes
                 to less than $20 if you don't have any margaritas. We
                 are not big eaters and sometimes it's too much food even
                 when we split it. In college, we used to split the
                 burritos at La Fiesta and the hoagies at IB's. You can
                 get a pizza (easily) for less than $20, too.
                 \_ Dude, it's also not quality food by any streach of
                    the imagination.
                    \_ I didn't see the word 'quality' in the original RFP
                       but it's certainly 'good'.
        \_ How much is the "spicy chicken over rice" at TC Garden these days?
           Is that place still around? It used to be $3.25... or about $4
           with tax and a 15% tip.
           \_ TC Garden is one of the worst chinese restaurants I know of.
              They use some sort of special sauce that's like nothing I've
              ever had, and not in a good way. I say this as an asian who's
              eaten in tons of different chinese restaurants growing up.
        \_ I just got "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles", will report later
        \_ Old Spaghetti Factory has a 40% off special on Tuesdays through
           May. Which makes it about $6 before tax/tip for a complete meal.
           There are various other chains with recession specials, probably
           some at the $9.99 mark. I don't think you'll get any decent
           non-chain Western food for <$10 unless it's a burger or something.
        \_ Read Cheap Eats in the Bay Guardian.
        \- to eat under $10 you need to do the following: 1. avoid paying
           for service 2. you need to do time and/or space averaging. time
           averaging = eat a can of soup or 99cent burgers, slice of pizza
           etc for one meal and that will increase your budget for other meals.
           space averaging means split with somebody else ... ideal for cheap
           chinese to go food: since you can get 2 entrees and a soup or fried
           rice/chow mein for a littl emore than $20. next you have to figure
           out what are the best local options in a couple of categories:
           prepared food bars, sanwiches, burritos, quesillas, tacos [if you
           can find them for $1.50 or less], cheap hamburgers [nations, if you
           like mayo, as an alternative to fast food. you can go up to
           barney's level, but you cant do cafe rouge/900 grayson ... the
           right thing depends on where you live but there will be some place
           with a decent $5 burger], shawerma, indian/pakistani dives for
           kebabs and chicken dishes + cheap rice = lots of calories. you also
           can eat stuff like good bread and good buter/oil for very cheap in
           berkeley. you can buy decent cheej, decent salted meats ...
           obviously not roquefort and proscuitto [+$25/lb], but domestic
           goat or blue or cheaper hard cheeses and say coppa, salami
           [>$15/lbs]. oh and you have to avoid paying retain for alcohol.
           \_ I think the op was saying $10/meal, not $10/day.
              \- and ... ??