Bargain Bites 2010


Bay Area's best bets for cheap eating

It's once again time for The Chronicle's annual Bargain Bites issue, a Bay Area guide to cheap eats.

<<< Check out the full list of restaurants here. >>>

<<< What's missing from this year's list? >>>

Since last year the dining scene has gone through some interesting changes. Food carts and trucks, lunch counters run by big-name chefs and pop-up restaurants have cropped up everywhere - mostly in an effort to survive dismal economic times.

That all means that diners, now more than ever, have extraordinary eating options for value prices. Take Daniel Patterson's Il Cane Rosso, a sandwich shop and rotisserie that opened last year in San Francisco's Ferry Building, where patrons have a chance to sample the food of this four-star chef for a fraction of what it would cost to eat at his higher-end restaurant, Coi.

There are also many new niche restaurants joining the bargain-fare lineup, such as Berkeley's Saturn Cafe, which caters to vegetarians and vegans. Burger and pizza places have multiplied as fast as the Octomom's offspring. And small ethnic places, like San Francisco's Vietnamese restaurant Tin, are finding homes in unexpected storefronts.

We've included a little bit of everything, organizing restaurants into food categories. To qualify, places can't top $12 in the entree department and for the most part should serve lunch and dinner. Breakfast is a bonus. However, perennial favorites like Oakland's Bakesale Betty made the cut despite its early closing time.

There are a lot of new additions to the roundup - at least 47 - and a number of old favorites. Some places from years past, although still good, have raised their prices too high to constitute a bargain. Others, while still relatively cheap, have gone downhill.

We know that we're not the final word, so for this issue the Food & Wine staff asked the readers to tell us their favorites, which we've also included. And just for the heck of it, we asked a number of Bay Area celebrities and movers and shakers to give us their lists.

So enjoy, and eat cheap.

Contributors: Michael Bauer, Lynne Char Bennett, Britt Billmaier, Jon Bonne, Sophie Brickman, Mandy Erickson, Stacy Finz, Sarah Fritsche, Amanda Gold, Janny Hu, Natalie Knight, Doug Levy, Paolo Lucchesi, Allen Matthews, Miriam Morgan, Carey Sweet and Erick Wong.