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Two-buck Chow

Last updated: 02/25/10 9:20am

Don’t think of this as a food review. I’m not a connoisseur of fine dining. I don’t have a sophisticated palate. I don’t need raspberry sorbet between courses, and you probably don’t either. Like you, I’m almost always hungry and I’m broke.

So your humble servants at the Daily Lobo took a scale and sampled 10 local University-area restaurants. We were curious about the quantity — not quality — of food the cash-strapped student might be able to get for two dollars.

“I’m really hungry and I’ve only got two dollars — what’s the most food I can get?” I asked waiters and waitresses at the local eateries.

And then we just dropped hash browns, orange chicken, chocolate chip cookies or any other edible matter on a scale and found out how much food per dollar, regardless of taste, each restaurant could dish up.

Whenever we couldn’t eat all the food we got, we offered it to people on the street who asked for it. Nothing went to waste.

Here’s what we found:

*Frontier Restaurant
Dollars: $1.80
Weight: 5 oz.
Dish: Sweet roll
Affordability rating: 4/5 stars

Winning Coffee Co.
$2.08
6 oz.
Pumpkin spice bread
AR: 2/5 stars

Saggio’s
$2.11
4 oz.
Two chocolate chip cookies
AR: 1/5

Hoho’s
$2.13
1 lb., 2 oz.
Orange Chicken
AR: 5/5

Olympia Cafe
$2.08
8 oz.
Hot dog/w fries
AR: 1/5

Sahara Middle Eastern Eatery
$1.56
2 oz.
Baklava
AR: 1/5

Perico’s Acapulco Chilly’s
$1.87
4 oz.
Taco
AR: 3/5

20 Carrots Cafe
$1.34
8 oz.
Hash browns
AR: 2/5

Light and Healthy Mirai Express
$1.86
8 oz.
Vegetable fried rice
AR: 2/5

Kai’s Chinese Restaurant
$2.08
2 oz.
Egg rolls
AR: 1/5

*Affordability Rating: relates to the number of items on a menu costing fewer than two dollars.

Published February 25, 2010 in Culture

4 comments



mateo

February 25, 2010 at 8:28 AM
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Thanks for taking the time to survey the local area and let us know what’s out there for our money. This is the kind of real journalism that we need more of. I’m all for the LOBO giving Pat a regular space, say once a week on Thursdays to continue. How about for $5? how about taking out a date with two people for $10? What’s to be found for your $5 along the Central corridor bus routes? damn I’m getting hungry, time to head over to the Olympia for one of those hot dog and fries plates……


hoitytoity

February 25, 2010 at 8:56 AM
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Hard to know what the numbers mean for ‘affordability rating’ when a sweet roll is given 4/5 ($1.86) and veggie fried rice money to spare gets 2/5 ($1.86)


Liz

February 25, 2010 at 10:51 AM
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They mean how affordable the restaurant is overall


YUM

February 26, 2010 at 11:17 AM
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Yes! Please do more stories like this. Since UNM is a commuter school we need more centeralization when it comes to topics like this. There’s no guidebook for new students so more articles like this would be great!

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