Totally Worth It

Somewhat miraculously, we at The Stranger still have jobs,
but we’re not what you would call rolling in it. These
restaurants—different cuisines, all around town, on the cheap
side, always worth it—are where we’re still choosing to spend our
somewhat-hard-earned dining-out money.

1919 S Jackson St, 322-3378

I love meat like I love my own family (I mean, not exactly—I
avoid eating humans, most particularly ones I love), but sometimes,
through a weird confluence of perfect spices and glutinous
magic, fake meat is better than actual meat. This is the
case with the Moonlight Cafe in the Central District. The
Vietnamese veggie (eggplant hot pot, $7.95), soy (sesame tofu, $7.95),
and fake-meat dishes (vermicelli with grilled pork, $6.75) are so good
there’s no reason to stray to their formerly sentient counterparts,
though a bona fide meat menu is offered. The vegetarian appetizer
platter ($12.95), a mountain of DIY salad rolls stuffed with the best
fake pork in town, is totally enough for two, and you get to roll it
all up in dripping, bursting bundles and shove it messily in
your face like the ravenous carnivorous beast that you are. Fuck yes.
LINDY WEST

Lindy’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Szechuan
Noodle Bowl (International District)
Musashi’s (Wallingford)
Canton Wonton (International District)
Coastal Kitchen (Capitol Hill)

6311 Roosevelt Way NE, 526-2935

Someday, I would like to wake from a fever dream to find myself
transformed into a gigantic sushi roll from Sushi Tokyo. It would be
the most delicious metamorphosis in the history of time. If I
had my druthers, I’d be one of Sushi Tokyo’s creamy and ever so
slightly sweet and spicy tuna rolls ($6.25), or a piece of their thick,
buttery salmon nigiri ($4.50 for two pieces). Then I’d eat
myself. That’s how good Sushi Tokyo’s sushi is. During these tough
economic times, sushi might seem like a bit of a luxury, but if
you’re able to scrounge up a little bit of cash—even if it means
you have to eat Top Ramen a few days a week—a trip to this
relatively cheap, off-the-radar spot in Roosevelt is totally worth it.
JONAH SPANGENTHAL-LEE

Jonah’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Tubs Gourmet
Subs (North Seattle)
Columbia City Alehouse (Columbia City)
Taco trucks!

5903 Rainier Ave S, 448-5183

A cheerful little restaurant on a dodgy block of Rainier Avenue
South in Hillman City, Afrikando Afrikando uses humble ingredients to
turn out some of the most exciting, memorable food in Seattle.
The debe ($14.95)—tiny grilled lamb chops topped with
fiery sauce, served alongside a tangy pile of
mustard-and-vinegar-sauced slow-cooked onions—is one of those
dishes you think about, longingly, for days. The accara ($4.95),
black-eyed-pea fritters smothered in a fiery red sauce, will have you
gulping down your glass of mango or guava nectar like it was the last
liquid on earth—then begging for more. And every serving
is huge, so you won’t even have to pay for lunch tomorrow. ERICA C.
BARNETT

Erica’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Jamjuree Thai (Capitol Hill)
Ali Baba  (Capitol Hill)
India Bistro (Ballard)
Seattle Deli (International District)
Tacos El Asadero (Columbia City)
Green Leaf (International District)
Hidmo (Central District)
King Creole (Central District)

1240 S Jackson St, 568-0882

Lesser pho emporiums suck up to customers with cut-rate prices and
complimentary cream puffs. But the International District’s Pho Viet
earned my eternal allegiance the old-fashioned way: via roasted
garlic. In Pho Viet’s pho (large, $7), the noodles, broth, veggies, and
meat (I’m told) are all fresh and good. But the genius
ingredient is the garlic, roasted to near liquidity then squeezed
over each bowl as a final garnish, quietly revolutionizing an old
standard and triggering your pho-craving centers in a fierce new way.

DAVID SCHMADER

David’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Mirch Masala (Capitol Hill)

2323 Second Ave, 838-8008

It’s easy to miss: unbusy part of Belltown, narrow storefront, basic
sign. Inside, the room is deeper and happier and more crowded than you expect. Wait for a table? No. Sit at the bar, possibly the
most underappreciated in the city: yellow lights like fat fireflies
suspended at different heights, high windows looking into leaves and
streetlamps, a wall of mismatched mirrors. The lighting is warm and
low. You feel like you’re in Europe without the hassle of having to go
to Europe. And the food is fucking amazing. The grilled-octopus salad
($14)—white beans, chilies, lemon—is cold, sprightly, and
shareable. You’ll want to keep eating it forever. Gnocchi with pork
cheek ($16), covered in a snowdrift of salty cheese, will disappear
within seconds. Who to take? Someone you want to have sex with. Have I
mentioned the lighting? CHRISTOPHER FRIZZELLE

Christopher’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Le Pichet (Downtown)
Sitka & Spruce (Eastlake)
El Camino (Fremont)
Smith (Capitol Hill)
Pagliacci (everywhere)

420 Eighth Ave S, 623-4198

In times like these, the best food is not only cheap but also
psychically reassuring. The chicken noodle soup (or, if you
must, its vegetarian variant) at Szechuan Noodle Bowl in the ID is the
very ideal of the clichéd comfort food that launched a thousand
self-help books. It’s totally filling at around $6, its handmade
noodles and familiar clear broth both consoling and toothsome.
Combine it with the essential green-onion pancake ($3), a perfect disk
of crispy-fried, still-chewy dough and onion, or some of the
restaurant’s handmade dumplings or wontons ($4–$5.95), and you’ll
have leftovers. If your power’s been shut off, no worries; the
noodles are still excellent cold. Cash only—look under the couch
cushions. ERIC GRANDY

Eric’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Hana (Capitol Hill)
Tacos Gringos (Capitol Hill)

2325 NW Market St, 784-0699

Ocho in Ballard feels like a tapas bar should: a crowded, informal
neighborhood place, stuffed onto a street corner and easy to miss. The
Ocho outing is for tasting things you probably aren’t making at home:
garlicky gambas ($6), warm plates of octopus with white beans
and chorizo ($7), salted chocolate and truffle oil on little bits of
toast ($3). The bar’s specialty is a $10 añejo margarita, but decent tumblersful of wine may be had starting at $5 (or
$18 a bottle). A tip for filling up: Order the patatas bravas ($4) and gambas (or anything else with sauce for dipping). Then ask for
more bread. BRENDAN KILEY

Brendan’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Tacos
Guaymas (White Center, Capitol Hill, others)
Café Presse (Capitol Hill)
Le Pichet (Downtown)
Liberty (Capitol Hill)
Samurai
Noodle (International District)
Szechuan Noodle Bowl (International District)
Pagliacci Pizza (University District, others)
Hot Mama’s Pizza (Capitol Hill)

1117 12th Ave, 709-7674

Cafe Presse on Capitol Hill is goodness incarnate: pretty but not
fancy, possessed of a full bar, and serving simple, perfect French
food from the crack of dawn (7:00 a.m.) until two in the morning
(in Seattle, a miracle). Among the (many) faultlessly great menu items:
the epitome of an omelet ($5), the world’s best green salad ($4), a
grilled sardine sandwich ($5), a cheesy-hammy-creamy croque monsieur ($6), a giant slab of chicken-liver
terrine ($6), a half-dozen local oysters on the half shell ($10), steak
frites ($16), a daily fish special ($16), and so forth. Are you
seeing these prices? Wine’s so cheap, they’re practically paying
you to drink it. With it comes the city’s best baguette and
butter, all you can eat. (It’s embarrassing, but this bread has made me
into the kind of person who wraps the leftovers in a napkin and puts
them in my pocket.) The day I’m too poor to eat at Cafe Presse with
some regularity, I’m jumping out a window. BETHANY JEAN CLEMENT

Bethany’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Thai Tom (University District)
Café Besalu (Ballard)
Ristorante Machiavelli (Capitol Hill)
Jade Garden (International District)
Joule (Wallingford)
Monsoon (Capitol Hill)
Tavolata (Belltown)
Maneki Restaurant (International District)

5517 Roosevelt Way NE, 528-1575

Flavors this amped-up usually come accompanied by an afterpool of
slimy butteriness. But at Taste of India in the U-District—by far
the best Indian restaurant in the city—the food is bright
and fresh without tasting remotely virtuous or health-like. A vast
array of dishes are rich and ample (every $9.95 order of paneer
shahi is actually two $4.95 meals of paneer shahi), so that while
eating them, no thought of destitution can enter the brain. JEN
GRAVES

Jen’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Tacos
Guaymas (White Center, Capitol Hill, others)
Café Presse (Capitol Hill)
Tavolata (Belltown)
Hi-Spot
Café (Madrona)

501 23rd Ave, 324-4141

When you’re poor, dining out is reserved for food you can’t make at
home. And face it, honky, you don’t know the first thing about frying
chicken. Since 1984, Ezell’s has been serving warm morsels from the
poultry gods, cradled in cracklin’ breading (spicy on request). The
Central District location, across from Garfield High School, is the
original; now there’s also South Seattle, Renton, Woodinville, and
Lynnwood, all family owned. Eight bucks gets you a three-piece pack
of ambrosia with two side dishes and bread rolls like honey
pillows. Oprah Has It FedExed Directly to Her Mouth™, and
connoisseurs chase it with a peach Faygo. DOMINIC HOLDEN

Dominic’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Mae Phim (Downtown)
Best of Bento (University District)
Jewel of India (University District)
Olympia Pizza (Capitol Hill)
Hana (Capitol Hill)

2320 NW Market St, 789-0516

If you only have $20 in your pocket to last you a week, buy a dozen
packs of ramen and then take your ass to La Isla. The pastelon,
a Puerto Rican–style lasagna, is one of the best dishes
served in all of Ballard, if not the world! Bubbling marinara sauce
(tofu, $13.99; beef, $14.99; or pork, $15.99) and gooey mozzarella
cheese are layered with sweet strips of plantains. The price tag may
not seem like a bargain, but it comes with a couple sides—smashed
plantain chips, rice and beans, avocado slices—and is big enough
to split. Especially if you kick off the meal with a couple crispy,
fat empanadas for $3.99 apiece. MEGAN SELING

Megan’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Pho Than
Brothers (Ballard)
Verite
Coffee (Ballard)

1509 Pike Place #3, 682-2654

Fresh fish, grilled to order and served right into your hungry
hands, is not an easy thing to find for cheap downtown. And why should
it be, when tourists are more than happy to pay huge markups for the
“Seattle experience” of dining on Northwest seafood? Market
Grill, tucked between fish-on-ice stands and produce-in-piles peddlers
in one of the more hectic stretches of Pike Place Market, offers a
wonderful exception. To be clear, it’s not dirt cheap: On a recent day,
offerings ranged from a halibut sandwich at $11.95 to a cod sandwich at
$9.95. But these spare fish sandwiches—generous portions of
grilled market fish, crusted with spices if you like and set on fresh
lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and baguette—are a nice bit of
affordable decadence. My trick: Go with a friend, split a salmon
sandwich, share a medium clam chowder, and walk away paying less than
$10 each (and feeling way smarter than the tourists). ELI SANDERS

Eli’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Volunteer Park Cafe (Capitol Hill)
Green
Leaf (International District)
Stellar’s
Pizza (Georgetown)

719 E Pike St, 323-6636

I’m a regular at the Rosebud for three good reasons. One, the
establishment plays traditional jazz (from 1940s to 1969—a little
late-swing and certainly no funky chicken jazz-fusion). Two, Robert the
bartender: He is an excellent example of NYC humanism. Third, these
three dishes, which are worth the price: the exquisite duck confit
salad ($8), the elegant calamari with spinach in a lemon-basil
sauce ($9), and the royal lamb shank, which comes with tomatoes and
Yukon gold potatoes ($20). A perfect night for an exhausted Marxist is
catching a forgotten Thelonious Monk tune, like “Crepuscule with
Nellie,” a quick conversation with Robert about Manhattan, and one of
the three mentioned dishes. CHARLES MUDEDE

Charles’s other spend-last-dime restaurants:

Machiavelli (Capitol Hill)
Flowers (U District)
Monsoon (Capitol Hill)