Eat well in Baltimore for under €15 a plate: the locals'-budget edition.
Eat well in Baltimore for under €15 a plate: the places locals on a budget actually use.
Tortilleria Sinaloa in Upper Fells Point presses its own corn tortillas and fills cheap, excellent tacos, a counter half a block east of Broadway.
Try: Tacos on house tortillas
Tip: The tortillas are pressed in-house; a few tacos and an agua fresca run well under $15.
Attman's on Corned Beef Row piles a hand-cut corned beef sandwich high for not much, a cash-friendly lunch counter that has fed downtown since 1915.
Try: Corned beef sandwich
Tip: A sandwich and a knish make a filling, cheap lunch; eat it in the Kibbitz Room out back.
Chaps Pit Beef on Pulaski Highway delivers a hefty, cheap pit beef sandwich, charcoal-grilled rare top round on a kaiser with tiger sauce and onion.
Try: Pit beef sandwich
Tip: A pit beef sandwich is a meal on its own; order it rare with tiger sauce.
Ekiben in Fells Point feeds a citywide following on cheap, generous steamed bao like the Neighborhood Bird, a counter that grew from a food cart.
Try: Steamed bao bun
Tip: Two buns make a filling, cheap lunch; the Neighborhood Bird is the one to get.
Connie's stall in Lexington Market fries hand-breaded chicken to order, with the half-and-half chicken box a cheap, classic Baltimore corner-store meal.
Try: Chicken box
Tip: The chicken box with western fries is the budget order; it is a Lexington Market institution.
Lexington Market gathers cheap counters under one roof, from Faidley's crab cake to lake trout and chicken boxes, the city's oldest market and its best value.
Try: Crab cake, lake trout, market stalls
Tip: Graze the stalls for lake trout, a chicken box or a crab cake; cash speeds the older counters.
Matthew's Pizza in Highlandtown shares a cheap, filling thick-crust pie that has fed the East side since 1943, with a famous crab pie for a splurge.
Try: Thick-crust pizza
Tip: A plain thick-crust pie feeds a group cheaply; the crab pie is the worthwhile upgrade.
The Helmand in Mount Vernon keeps its vegetarian Afghan plates and the kaddo borawni pumpkin gentle on the wallet, a cheap way into a celebrated kitchen.
Try: Vegetarian Afghan plates
Tip: The vegetarian dishes and the kaddo borawni are the value plays at this Mount Vernon room.