Kind of thing · 5 ideas
Food
Eating out is a plan when the place is the destination: a food hall you walk end to end before choosing, a diner counter at 9 am, a taco truck at midnight, a long lunch with tablecloths at half the dinner price.
- Typical price
- Food truck $8–12. Diner breakfast $12–18. Food hall $12–20. A proper lunch $20–35.
- How long
- Thirty minutes to two hours.
How to do it cheaper
- Lunch menus at good restaurants are often 30–40% cheaper than dinner for the same kitchen.
- Food halls let a group eat from five kitchens and split one table.
- Counter seats at diners and bars rarely need a reservation and never feel awkward alone.
- Food trucks are cheapest at the end of the night when they're clearing stock.
- Weekday brunch beats weekend brunch on price, wait time and noise.
Works for
The ideas
$12–20
1–1.5 h
Food
Walk the whole food hall before choosing
Ten kitchens under one roof, a lap to look at all of them, then the one you kept thinking about.
- Best when
- Weekday lunch or early evening, before the line
- Cheaper
- Share two plates across three stalls instead of one entrée each.
- Skip it if
- You're indecisive. The lap makes it worse.
- Bring
- An open mind about eating at a counter next to strangers.
$8–12
45 min
Food
The taco truck run
Three tacos, a plastic chair, a parking lot at 11 pm. The best meal of the week, and it was $9.
- Best when
- Late, after the bars or instead of them
- Cheaper
- It's the cheap option. Trucks are cheapest again near closing.
- Skip it if
- You need a chair with a back.
- Bring
- Cash and napkins. Trucks give you two.
$12–18
45 min
Food
Breakfast at a diner counter
Eggs, coffee that gets refilled without asking, a newspaper somebody left. Nobody is judging the hour you got up.
- Best when
- Any morning before 10 am; weekdays are quieter
- Cheaper
- The counter rarely has a wait, and the two-egg special is always the cheapest plate.
- Skip it if
- You want avocado toast. This is hash browns.
- Bring
- Sunglasses, if it's that kind of morning.
$20–35
2 h
Food
A long lunch at a dinner place
The restaurant you'd never afford at 8 pm, at 1 pm, for forty percent less, with the same kitchen.
- Cost
- $20–35 per person
- Best when
- Weekday lunch, 12:30–2:30
- Cheaper
- Prix-fixe lunch menus are the deal. Skip wine at lunch and it's half the dinner bill.
- Skip it if
- You have to go back to a desk after. Take the afternoon.
- Bring
- A reservation. The good lunch places fill.
$18–28
1.5 h
Food
Weekday brunch with the group
The weekend brunch, moved to a Tuesday: no wait, no noise, half the price, and a table for six.
- Cost
- $18–28 per person
- Best when
- Any weekday morning you can all get off
- Cheaper
- Weekday brunch menus skip the weekend surcharge and the bottomless upsell.
- Skip it if
- Nobody can get a weekday morning. Then it's Sunday at 9 am sharp.
- Bring
- Everyone's actual arrival time.