When money’s tight, you stop dining out, right?
Actually, you can do a lot of eating for relatively few dollars in Chicago, if you know where to look.
Our intrepid team of food writers searched for worthwhile eats for $5 or less (disregarding tax and tip), and here are some of the bargains they found.
Granola bowl: Milk & Honey Cafe
1920 W. Division St.; 773-395-9434
As if chef Carol Watson’s successful honey-glazed nuggets of dried cherry, almonds and wild oats needed more press — seems every breakfast joint in the city is selling a Ziploc of housemade granola these days, but only the mercilessly addictive M & H granola gets stocked at Whole Foods. With good reason: Its crunch and munch is so popular it’s spawned its own Chicago production facility (and is expected to be spun into three more flavors). For best results, however: Eat there. For less than a bag (around $6), you get a buttery mountain in a bowl ($4.95), perched on a lake of (low-fat) vanilla yogurt, studded with apple slices and strawberries (and blueberries come spring). The oats hold together like caramel candy clusters and the yogurt drops a bracing, refreshing splash of cold.
— Christopher Borrelli
Burger: Mystic Celt
3443 N. Southport Ave.; 773-529-8550
Hearty eaters should head over to Mystic Celt, an oversize Irish pub in Wrigleyville, on Tuesdays. There, they can dig into the restaurant’s Celt Burger, 10 ounces of gut-expanding goodness that normally sells for $7.95. On Tuesday it’s $4 and includes a choice of patty (Angus beef, turkey or veggie), side (fries, mashed potatoes or onion rings) and bun (classic or pretzel). Add cheese for 75 cents, or forget the cheese and add a topping (mushrooms, onions, bacon, avocado, giardiniera) for $1. You’ll have a hard time deciding with all those choices; after eating that sandwich, you may have a harder time fastening your pants.
— Glenn Jeffers
Fish tacos: Adobo Grill
356 Yorktown Center, Lombard; 630-627-9990
This offer is available only in the bar, and only at the Lombard location of this local Mexican chain. But between 3 and 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, Adobo’s tasty, addictive fish tacos and yummy pork tacos (bathed in a pineapple and chile de arbol salsa) are just $1. For $5, you can eat yourself comatose. Fair warning: If you can resist Adobo’s first-rate margaritas, you have more willpower than us.
— Phil Vettel
Pork belly sandwich: Nhu Lan Bakery & Sandwiches
2612 W. Lawrence Ave.; 773-878-9898
Everybody — even fancy chefs — seems to have a thing for pork belly these days. And, of course, we couldn’t be happier about it. Still, one of the best pork belly delivery systems we know is the el cheapo $2.95 pork belly sandwich from this little Vietnamese bakery and deli. On the crusty French roll you’ll find jalapeno slices, cucumber, shredded daikon, cilantro, mayonnaise, pate, pork roll and luscious fatty belly. They could charge twice the price and it would still be a bargain.
— Monica Eng
Cubano sandwich: La Unica Food Mart
1515 W. Devon Ave.; 773-274-7788
You’ve heard of the Phil Spector “Wall of Sound,” so intricately layered no single brick stands out, creating a dense wall of harmony. That’s the best way to explain this particular Cuban sandwich ($3.95) from this nearly 40-year-old Edgewater cornerstone: a slice of pork and slice of ham smashed against a pickle and a slice of Swiss cheese, with just the slightest smear of mustard and a dab of mayonnaise. No one ingredient overwhelms any other, with just the right snap and lushness. Bonus points go to the setting: To find the lunch counter here you need to wind your way through the aisles of plantains, past the frozen food section.
— Christopher Borrelli
Duck and pork plate: Sun Wah Bar-B-Q
1134 W. Argyle St.; 773-769-1254
It’s a mound of white rice topped with gorgeously golden crispy-skinned roasted duck, slices of tangy, juicy barbecued pork a portion of steamed baby bok choy and half a salted egg. How the duck and barbecue pork rice plate can cost only $4.50, we don’t ask. But that’s usually because we are too busy enjoying it.
— Monica Eng
Bar menu: McCormick & Schmick’s
1 E. Wacker Drive; 312-923-7226
It’s worth it to leave work around quittin’ time — or earlier if you can swing it — to check out the bar menu at this nationwide seafood franchise. All menu items are under $5, though there is a two-drink minimum (non-alcoholic drinks qualify). There are more than a dozen items, including a meaty bowl of seafood cioppino, filling fish tacos, maybe the best under-$2 half-pound cheeseburger in town and barbecue shrimp wrapped in strips of chewy bacon (cue Homer Simpson drooling). The menu is available 3:30-6:30 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and 9:30-11 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays at all five Chicago-area locations, and all day Sunday only at the three locations within Chicago (this sentence as published has been corrected in this text).
— Glenn Jeffers
Bar menu: A Mano
335 N. Dearborn St.; 312-629-3500
The bar in this casual-Italian adjunct to Bin 36 (A Mano sits directly below it) offers an all-night, every-night (from 5 p.m.-close) menu that’s close to irresistible. Molten-hot polenta fries with tangy sun-dried tomato aioli, bruschetta trio with various toppings, a bowl of olives brightened with fennel and orange peel — all delicious, and all $5. And for a limited time (but through April at least), from 5 to 7 p.m. that same five clams will get you one of four wood-oven pizzas.
— Phil Vettel
Swedish meatballs: Ikea
1800 E. McConnor Pkwy., Schaumburg; 847-969-9700
There’s more to this house of Nordic bargains than housewares and furniture. At the restaurant, the comforting Swedish meatballs, bathed in a rich gravy and served with potatoes and tangy lingonberry relish, are just $4.99 for the medium-size portion (about 15 meatballs). Or get the kid’s portion for a mere $1.99. If you’re splurging, add a side of mac and cheese for just 50 cents more. Also at Ikea’s Bolingbrook location (750 E. Boughton Rd., Bolingbrook; 630-972-7900).
— Monica Eng
Burger: Viand
155 E. Ontario St.; 312-255-8505
Viand has a lot of price-friendly promotions, such as half-price wine bottles every Wednesday and a $21, three-course menu every Thursday. But chef Steven Chiappetti has a special place in his heart for burgers. So every Tuesday at lunch, there’s a $5 burger menu, offering such offbeat choices as a fondue burger (topped with Swiss gruyere and apple slices, absolutely delicious), bruschetta burger and other treats. But that’s not all; from 4 to 6 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, Chiappetti’s half-pound burgers, topped with your choice of nine cheeses (all artisan products from Wisconsin farmers), are a mere $2. You’re welcome.
— Phil Vettel
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atplay@tribune.com
See also “$10 of FUN!, “At Play section, Page 1 and “Pro-budget boredom blasters,” At Play section, Page 4A
