Chaps Pit Beef is a barbecue budget eat in Greektown, Baltimore.
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.
Tip: A pit beef sandwich is a meal on its own; order it rare with tiger sauce.
Address: 720 Mapleton Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21205
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.
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.
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.
