Seattle Kitchen’s best cheap eats

Guanaco’s Pupusas are some of the best in town – and some of the cheapest. You can choose from locations on Capitol Hill or in the University District. (Mynorthwest.com/File)

Every food show worth its salt has a cheap eats edition, and the Seattle Kitchen is no different.

This week Kathryn Robinson, of Seattle Metropolitan Magazine, joins co-hosts Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau to talk about the best cheap food Seattle has to offer.

“You can kinda put your ear to the ground in Seattle and know which of the really high end restaurants are the best because the buzz is pretty much on top of it,” says Kathryn, “With cheap eats restaurants you have to rely on someone you trust because there are so many of them in Seattle and the buzz goes every which way.”

Kathryn’s research paid off with Tacos Chukis in an alley off Broadway.

“A lot of people, their distinction is that if it’s in a trailer or a bus it must be good, and that’s just not the case,” says Tom.

Kathryn’s favorite dish is the adobada pork, which servers carve off of a rotisserie.

“They’ve got carmelized pineapple on the top that’s all yummy and juicy and sending its juices down. And the marination is just fabulous. This is a $7 place, if that,” says Kathryn.

For the article, Kathryn researched her selections methodically and catalogued 130 restaurants. She caps her prices for “cheap eats” at $15 per person for an entire meal, but there are many places that offer food for much cheaper, around $5 for a sizeable portion.

The list is organized like a restaurant directory, with cheap eats from A to Z. However, Kathryn said her team also took a few common foods from across global cuisines and catalogued the best dishes in the area.

“We took four different kinds of food: sandwiches, noodles, fried chicken, and stuffed pastry and we did global permutations of all of those things and where you find them,” says Kathryn.

Stuffed pastries ranked high on the list in the form of El Salvadorian pupusas, Indian samosas, Asian dumplings, or Russian pierogis.

Kathryn recommended the pupusas at Guanaco’s Tacos Pupuseria in the University District or on Capitol Hill. She also loves the samosas at Travler’s Thali house restaurant on Beacon Hill for some of the city’s best home style Indian food.

Tom’s favorite cheap dish is Korean bibimbap. He recommends Old Village on Aurora Avenue.

“You get the cold cucumbers, the cold spinach, the cold mushrooms, the hot meat, the hot sauce. I love the temperature differences in bibimbap. How they do that plate of food for $5 or $6 is beyond me,” says Tom.

Kathryn, on the other hand, loves Oma Bap on Bellevue Way.

For cheap burgers, Katie O goes to Loretta’s Northwesterner in South Park for their $3 tavern burger. Loretta’s also boasts great chili cheese fries.

The Five Point Cafe downtown is popular for its extensive happy hour menu, which includes deep fried macaroni and cheese wedges and a wide selection of local beers.

As for beer, The Seattle Kitchen Show staff, as well as Kathryn, all agreed that Hilliard’s Saison is the best brew in town to pair with cheap eats.