Nicholas’s on Grand is my very favorite inexpensive place.

Also, I went to East Burn (on Burnside, obv.) a while ago and the food was great. Not cheap but not too expensive.

Bob’s Red Mill is fantastic for breakfast. I love their scratch biscuits. Also, there is always a coupon in the mail at some point.

Try FORKFLY http://www.forkfly.com/newsite2/users.php for some deals – my best friend just told me about this. It works with your phone, but you can also search it online through the website for coupons. I am going to try the Country Cat (which I’ve heard is AMAZING but a bit spendy) in one week and will use this coupon:

“Receive one entree for half-price with the purchase of a full-price entree of equal or greater value**Limit one coupon per table”

I’ll also second Springwater Grill in Sellwood as a great place to go.

Also, Campbell’s BBQ, which is right in SE.

Is there a Pizzicato near you?

And now I am planning my meals for next week’s trip to Pdx. : )

My wife makes up a menu for us each week and she utilizes my culinary skills to their fullest sometimes. So this means I’m putting together $20-$30 plates for $7 or less a lot of times. I think you’re right about saving if you do eat out – avoid the extras and find local deals you both love.

And thanks for reminding me we have a gift card to DQ we need to use up.

- Hoda (Middle Eastern, Belmont/34th)
- Jam (Esp breakfast, Hawthorne/20th-ish)
- Portabello (vegan Italian, SE 11th and Harrison. It shares a storefront with Cellar Door Coffee Roasters, which is also amazing. Get a reservation!)
- Los Gorditos (the cart is at SE 50th/division, and they just opened a restaurant on 12th/Division!)
- Genie’s (Breakfast/lunch, 12th/Division)
- Monsoon Thai (Way out of your area but my favorite – Thai food in PDX – N. Skidmore/Mississippi)

Also, I would suggest getting a Chinook Book!

for Lebanese, I really recommend Habibi’s downtown around morrison and 10th.
Henry’s Tavern on 12th has fantastic happy hour food deals M-Thurs.
Pad Thai Kitchen around Belmont and 23rd is the hands-down best Thai food in Portland.
The Berlin Inn near Powell and Milwaukie is reasonable and delicious, especially if you split the fondue.
Sheridan’s grocery store near MLK and Stark has a fantastic deli that changes daily, they put a menu up online every day.
Casa de Tamales (Asparagus Farm) in downtown Milwaukie can be delicious and relatively inexpensive.
Other places in SE Portland that I love for relatively cheap: Daily Cafe, The Side Door, Kyoko Teriaki.

I highly recommend checking tripadvisor for your local city to find the hole-in-the-wall but good places! Price ranges are posted on tripadvisor too.

Mezza Middle Eastern Cuisine (Woodstock and 55th)
Dingo’s (Hawthorne and 46th)
Blue Pig (Division and 50th)
La Calaca Comelona (Belmont and 23rd)

You might also try Hawthorne Fish House (Hawthorne and 43rd) as they have fantastic lunch specials. And for those indulgent nights, fried cheese curds!

There are lots more on restaurant.com if you are willing to drive a bit. We just went to Lorenzo’s in Mississippi and had a fantastic meal for $38 (including tip, drinks and the coupon!).

Best of luck J.D.!

Otherwise, are you opposed to going to bars occasionally? Try getting there for happy hour. Usually there are some good eats at decent prices (plus people -theoretically – aren’t all wasted and annoying yet)…check out FARM (now has HH wine/food specials), Maiden in the Mist, Night Light, C-Bar, Gladstone Pub, Bar of the Gods, Tennesse Reds even has BBQ HH food…etc. The only thing is that sometimes they make you buy a drink to get the cheap eats.

More on the cheap…
• Por Que No
• Cha cha cha
• Ole Ole
• East Side Deli (DEELISH and HUGE sammies towards 50th/Hawthorne, by Angelos)
• Justa Pasta (best pasta in all of portland, nice atmosphere, worth the drive to NW Overton & 19th, and CHEAP!)

There are more, but most of SE stuff is covered above!

Woot! PDX REPRESENT!!!

Apparently you live in my neighborhood.

We haven’t tried Frog Thai, but have talked about doing so. Nor have we tried Elk Rock.

We do go to Hale’s from time-to-time, but mostly for dinner. Prices are reasonable. Our favorite breakfast (and lunch) place is Sully’s in downtown Milwaukie, across from the lumber yard. The food is awesome, if unassuming. (I love the tuna melt.)

And I agree that Flying Pie is great. I actually eat lunch there once a week (out of my cash allowance). Much of my book was written in Flying Pie. I’m also quite fond of Imperial Garden, in front of Ace Hardware.

Since you know the area, I’ll point out that Gino’s in Sellwood is the source of much of our restaurant spending. I’d eat there every night if my belly and budget would let me.

In our area, have you tried Frog Thai? It’s near the Value Village on McLoughlin. It’s quiet and good for a date.

Also we love Elk Rock – everything there is homemade. It’s a bar experience not a dining experience, but the food is great and reasonably priced. It doesn’t look like much from outside, but we are glad we stopped in and it’s become one of our regular breakfast places along with Hale’s & Bob’s Red Mill.

Old Wives Tales on Burnside is delicious. Last time we went I ordered appetizer, espresso, dinner, & dessert so we spent $40 including tip, which is a lot for us.

Flying Pie on McLoughlin is great too. I have been told by several people that Hot Rod has great pizza, but I am gluten intolerant so I can’t testify to that.

We love the local businesses!

We were so disappointed when Cabaret II went in, naively hoping it would be a new restaurant.

“Groupon” is another suggestion in addition to the entertainment book and restaurant.com. I got a half off deal for El Palenque which is on 17th.

Finally, having people over for dinner doesn’t always save us money over going out, because we want to serve fancier food to guests – it depends if we are planning to drink or not. Drinks really add up when you go out. But a rotating potluck is fun and frugal – one of the local food bloggers has monthly themed potlucks where they choose a foreign cuisine and everyone gets to try to find a dish to bring.

Local weekly The Portland Mercury has a new thing they do call Merc Perks where they have weekly specials with various local restaurants where you get gift certificates for half price.
http://post.portlandmercury.com/portland/Shop

http://wafflewindow.com/

Great place for a late breakfast on a Saturday.

Sounds like we should focus on scaling back a bit I think in 2010.

Also:

Woodstock area, Pizza Roma – a big slice, salad and drink will set you back less than $8 a person and it’s such good pizza.

Papaya Thai near Bybee, on 17th. A light supper of spring rolls (theirs are fabulous) and spicy soup won’t set you back much at all.

Another well kept secret in da hood – go to the mexican pastry shop on the corner of Johnson Creek Blvd & 32nd ave (Tacoma up to Johnson Creek to the blinking red light – it’s there next to the convenience store). It’s nothing special to look at, but their food is moi bueno. They have expanded their mexican bakery, which btw is fantastic, to other foods including take out tamales and flans, etc. This place is packed with hispanic customers (imo, the best barometer for a mexican taqueria or bakery), and we have been die hard customers for years.

Ever slipped into Kay’s place for a chicken fried steak? Pretty killer! (just have your defibrillator handy later).

I wonder if you avail yourselves of all the discounts restuarants are offering these days. They’ve been so hard hit by the slowed economy that almost all of them are discounting now

Sometimes I take a modest “eating-out” amount of money and go to Fu Bonn, the giant Asian supermarket, to spend it on frozen steamed buns, dumplings, and other convenience foods. That way with my ten or twenty dollars I’ve bought a stash of pick-me-up snacks and small meals, usually a mix of favorites and foods I’ve never tried. It stretches out the fun for a few weeks. I often use something from Fu Bonn as a “give me the energy to cook dinner” snack. Then I can face cooking beans or veggies or whatever, and get the benefits of staying home.

I spent an average of $124/mo in ’08, and an average of $175/mo last year. My goal is to get down between the two this year. But as much as I love to cook it’s so boring for one, so I’m working on eating heathlier/organic food as much as possible, that I cook myself.

Instead of being a ‘wanter’ I’m the opposite, I have trouble spending. Both positives and negitives to that though. Good luck to everyone this year!

We’ll see how it goes.