Where to eat the cheapest meals in LA, under $25 a day
Is it possible to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner in LA for under $25?
Updated Food Team’s guide to 50 LA restaurants where a meal costs $50 or less, including tax and tip, we tried to cut the savings even further and find three square meals for under $25, including tax and tip.
For this challenge, we’re looking for casual, takeout-friendly restaurants, a Cantonese noodle house in San Gabriel Valley, an Argentinian bistro in Exposition Park, and more.
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the breakfast

Sugar Mama Bagel Half and Half from Bagels by Kneady, a new pop-up of the day at Rock & Reilly’s in USC Village.
(Daniel Dorsey/Los Angeles Times)
Bagels by Kneady
Sugar Mama Half Bagel, plus tax and tip: $6.49
USC Village continues to attract attention from non-USC-attending Angelenos with the addition of several exciting new food and beverage tenants. Earlier this summer, popular smorgasbord purveyor Softies opened its first brick-and-mortar in a complex adjacent to the university, and now you’ll find Bakels by Kennedy, a daytime bagel pop-up at Rock O’Reilly’s on the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Hoover Street.
Bagels by Kneady comes from Chef Michael Beckert, Director of Operations and Head Culinary for Rock & Reilly USC. He first began experimenting with bagels to supplement the menu at Erota Nature, a coffee concept that operates out of the pub during the day, but the rings became so popular that Bickert decided to launch a separate bagel brand.
Date rolls are hand-tossed, baked and baked fresh daily, paired with creative flavors like a seven-spice or turbinado caramelized bagel and equally experimental toppings, like hand-shredded pastrami with pastrami mami, mustard, cole slaw, pickles and pimento cheese.
Eruta Nature offers beautiful coffee and matcha drinks to rival the menu at Starbucks just a few doors down. The spacious dining room, which has enough seating for diners, is busy in the morning as students come in for their daily caffeine and bagel fix, but slows down once classes begin.
To make the most of my $25 budget, I opted for the cheapest item on the menu, a Sugar Mama bagel half ($5), dusted with flakes of raw sugar and topped with maple cream cheese and berry jam. The jam is dark and the maple cream cheese gives a slight caramel flavor. It’s not too sweet and not too filling, just enough to power me through the rest of the morning.
Even if you’re looking for a heartier option, the rest of the bagels by Kennedy’s menu are close in price. The priciest bagels top out at $12 and are topped with scrambled eggs and candied bacon bits, or luxe and all the fixings. — Daniel Dorsey
Historic South Central: 3201 S. Hoover Ave., Los Angeles, instagram.com/bagelsbykneady/

Pork rice noodle roll with hot tea at Tam Noodle House in San Gabriel.
(Stephanie Brijo/Los Angeles Times)
Tom’s Noodle House
Barbecued Pork Rice Noodle Roll with Hot Tea, plus tax and tip: $9.29
When it comes to perfect Hong Kong-style noodles and snacks, few do better than Tam Noodle House. Chef-owner Alex Tam runs two locations, one in San Gabriel and the other in Roland Heights, where locals share huge bowls of congee, hearty stir-fries, milk tea and more in homey dining rooms. Cantonese food is comforting and cheap for the night, but breakfast reigns supreme: hearty concoctions of congee, rice noodle rolls, eggs, and more can be found from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., tea or coffee included for $12.99. (Note: The team’s other restaurant, nearby HK Macau Bistro in San Gabriel, also offers a $12.99 breakfast special.)
One of these breakfast combos can fill you up well into the night, but for a three-square meal under $25 I opted for an a la carte order of one of Tam’s signatures: steamed rice paper rolls that range from $4.50 to $6.50. With barbecued pork they are only $5.50, and they are generous in size and quality for the price. Freshly made, chewy and sticky, these glutenous rolls are stuffed with meat, scallion and cilantro, then dipped in a sweet and savory sauce. I added a bottomless cup of hot tea for $1.50 and felt more than ready to take on the day.
Both Tam’s locations sell frozen bags of homemade noodles, dumplings and wontons — for as little as $20 per bag of 50 wontons — making it an affordable stop for restaurant-quality meals at home, too. – Stephanie Brijo
San Gabriel Valley:120 N. San Gabriel Blvd. #J, San Gabriel, (626) 782-7666; 19035 Colima Rdoad, Rowland Heights, (626) 820-9977, tamsnoodlehouse.wixsite.com/home
lunch

The fish tacos at Gusados ​​feature cabbage and pico de gallo on grilled fish, black beans and freshly made corn tortillas.
(Stephanie Brijo/Los Angeles Times)
Guisados
Fish Taco, plus tax and tip: $6.42
There are many days I crave guasados: an almost remarkable feat given how many unusual taquerias can be found in LA. Maybe it’s the De La Torre family’s recipes for the long-simmered namesake guasados ​​— or stews — that call to me, or maybe it’s their freshly made corn tortillas. However, I often think of the family-run local chain, which started in Boyle Heights in 2010 and now maintains nearly a dozen locations from the East Side to the South Bay.
Often I think of this fish taco, a compact, compact thing of balance and beauty. At $4.95 it’s a bargain, considering it’s so filling that it practically spills out of its fresh, warm tortilla and into its tinfoil wrapper. There’s plenty of protein thanks to the hearty flavor of black beans beneath the white fish meat, and both are topped with cabbage, chile d’arbol, pico de gallo, and avocado crema. It’s hot and cold and it always takes place. Of course Guisados ​​offers a range of tacos on a high-quality budget: most tacos top out at $4.25, including the breakfast variety, and if you can’t decide, the sampler plate offers six small tacos for $11.75. If you’re visiting the Echo Park location, get your tacos, head north at sunset and eat them with a view of Echo Park Lake (free). – SB
different places, guisados.la

A beef empanada from Fogos LA, an Argentinian wine bistro in Exposition Park.
(Daniel Dorsey/Los Angeles Times)
Fuegos LA
Empanada, plus tax and tip: $6.49
This Argentinian wine bar from Fede Librero and Max Pizzi is a cozy place to be for lunch, with its old mismatched furniture and a rusty pickup truck permanently parked outside, complete with a grill on a bed for cooking short ribs, pork belly and blood sausage.
Along with grilled meats, milansa napolitana and sandwiches, freshly baked empanadas ($5 each) are the main attraction of this place. Flaky pockets stuffed with hand-cut sirloin marinated in Malbec wine with red peppers and onions; Spinach, mushroom and vegan cheese; smoked ham and mozzarella; and other ingredients, most of which are sourced directly from Argentina.
An empanada may sound like a light meal, but the pastries are much more filling than they are. If you’re interested in sampling different flavors, you can buy a dozen for $60. Or, if you go to the bistro in the morning you can try the breakfast empanada with eggs, bacon, cheese and chives; Leonas of Medea; Pain and chocolate sprinkles with dulce de leche; And yerba mate tea. — D.D
Exhibition Park: 3957 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, (323) 403-2133, fuegosla.com
bread

A Single Meat Burger at Vin Dow in Silver Lake.
(Stephanie Brijo/Los Angeles Times)
Win-Dow
Single cheeseburger, add smashed avocado, and tax and tip: $7.72
Win-Dow doesn’t just serve up some of LA’s best Smashburgers — it’s also home to some of the cheapest. The walk-up window’s $4.50 cheeseburgers and other budget-minded fare is a sister concept to Vince and Beverly Grove Steakhouse’s American aesthetic, and it was through those steaks and cuts that the owners thought to expand their operation with a burger stand.
Their more casual business—which now spans five Win-Dows in LA—offers a single Smash Burger for $4.50, a double for $7.75, a vegetarian version for $8.50, and a chicken sandwich for $7.50, as well as shakes, salads and sides of rice. To stay under budget I opted for a single smash burger, then added smashed avocado for $1 more. It’s a budget burger that doesn’t eat like one: it’s sizable, even for one patty, and comes topped with melted American cheese, pickles, a tang of onions and a creamy house sauce on top of it all. My total for the day came to $23.43, and I didn’t feel unhappy once. – SB
different places, thewin-dow.la

Three for $3 at La Pupusa Urban Eatery offers pastelitos, empanadas and pupusas for $3 at dinner weekdays from 3 p.m. to close.
(Daniel Dorsey/Los Angeles Times)
La Poposa Urban Food
Pupusa, pastelito and empanada, plus tax and tip: $11.86
Pico Union Restaurant from Stephanie Figueroa and Juan Saravia combines traditional Salvadoran cuisine with LA flair, featuring pupusas that come with classic fillings like lorocco and Salvadoran chorizo, as well as specialty options like pupusa a la Mexicana served with your choice of picoda or picoda. Gelato, guacamole, sour cream and cottage cheese. Tamales, pastelitos, empanadas and large plates including mojara fritta and yuca con chicharrones round out the menu with breakfast specialties.
On weekdays from 3pm until closing, the restaurant offers a deal where three pastelitos, empanadas and popos can be combined for $3 each. I sampled one of each, opting for the classic pupusa revelata with chicharrones, beans and cheese. The pastelito was a savory pastry shaped like a half moon and filled with vegetables and pork, while the empanada – a long caramelized pastry filled with custard and sprinkled with sugar – added a sweet bite to the dessert.
If you’re worried that there aren’t enough veggies in the $9 deal, I’d direct your attention to the ziploc bulging with curtido, a tangy Salvadoran slaw that should be scooped up in every bite of your pupusa and pastelito. This brought my total for the day to $24.84, and I even had some leftover empanadas to enjoy the next morning. — DD
1051 W. Washington Blvd. G, Los Angeles, (213) 749-4573, lapupusaurbana.com
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