Chicago's Best Cheap Eats

Dining on a budget in Chicago is still easy, but "cheap" means something different than it did when this list first went up in 2010. Back then a Billy Goat cheeseburger cost under three bucks and a plate of Smoque's pulled pork topped out at ten. Those days are gone. A classic Italian beef at Al's is now $11.25, according to Time Out Chicago's cheap eats list. What hasn't changed is that the best cheap food in the city is out in the neighborhoods, on the L lines, and a long way from Michigan Avenue prices.

Several places from the original list are gone. Hot Doug's, the "encased meat emporium" in Avondale, closed on October 3, 2014, and people still bring it up. Lito's Empanadas, Frontera Fresco in Macy's, Rique's and Pizza Rustica have closed too. Here's what's still worth the trip. Prices marked as Time Out's come from its October 2025 list, so expect them to have crept up a bit.

Counter service and grab-and-go

Don't expect much service or decor at these. You order at a counter, you eat fast, and you spend very little.

Billy Goat Tavern
The original Billy Goat is under Michigan Avenue, on the lower level at 430 N. Michigan Ave., and it's been a Chicago institution since Billy "Goat" Sianis opened his tavern in 1934. It's the place behind the old Saturday Night Live "Cheezborger, cheezborger" sketch, and it's also where the Cubs curse started. Order a double, which the Billy Goat itself says is the best thing on the menu. There are now eight locations, including Navy Pier and both airports, but the one under Michigan Avenue is the one to visit.

The Wieners Circle
The Wieners Circle (2622 N. Clark St., Lincoln Park) has been grilling char dogs since 1983. During the day it's an ordinary hot dog stand with cheese fries and picnic tables. Late at night, when the bars on Clark and Halsted let out, the staff and customers trade insults at full volume, and that's the show. It isn't a place for kids after dark. Read up on how to order a proper Chicago-style hot dog first. No ketchup.

Wow Bao
Most of Wow Bao's business is now delivery and grocery-store freezers, but two Chicago counters are still open. The first one, which opened in Water Tower Place on the Magnificent Mile in 2003, is at the mall's first-floor entrance, and the other is at State and Lake in the Loop. Both serve steamed bao, potstickers, soup dumplings and rice bowls, and they're a quick fix between shopping and a show.

Crisp
Jae Lee's Crisp is still frying Korean chicken at 2940 N. Broadway in Lakeview. Get wings or a whole bird in one of the Korean sauces, or a Buddha Bowl. It's open Tuesday to Sunday, 11:30am to 9pm, and closed Mondays.

Smoque BBQ
Smoque (3800 N. Pulaski Rd., Irving Park) is still the barbecue place Chicagoans send visitors to. Daniel Vaughan, the BBQ editor at Texas Monthly, is quoted on its home page saying the brisket changed his mind about brisket outside Texas. Go for the brisket and the ribs. It's closed Mondays, and it's a drive or a long bus ride from downtown, so make it a planned stop.

XOCO
Rick and Deann Bayless's Mexican street food café, XOCO, is at 67 W. Illinois St. in River North. The menu is tortas, caldos, tacos, big Oaxacan tlayudas, and churros with Mexican hot chocolate. It's the cheapest way to eat Bayless's cooking without a reservation, but it isn't as cheap as the taquerias in Pilsen. It's open Tuesday to Saturday and closed Sundays and Mondays.

Urbanbelly
Bill Kim's Urbanbelly left its original Avondale storefront and is now at 954 W. Fulton St. in the West Loop, with a second counter inside Time Out Market (916 W. Fulton Market). It still does dumplings, noodles and rice bowls, and the menu now mixes in his wife Yvonne's Puerto Rican side of the family.

Italian beef, Maxwell Street Polish and a pork chop sandwich
The Chicago sandwich trio is mostly on the Near West Side. Al's #1 Italian Beef has a stand at 1079 W. Taylor St. in Little Italy, and a short walk south, Jim's Original (1250 S. Union Ave.) is the stand usually credited with inventing the Maxwell Street Polish, and its pork chop sandwich was $8.30 on Time Out's list. In River North, Mr. Beef (666 N. Orleans St.) has been selling beef since 1979, and it's the stand people think of when they watch The Bear, the TV show about a Chicago Italian beef shop. Order it dipped, with hot giardiniera.

Superdawg
Superdawg is a 1948 drive-in with carhop service, at the corner of Milwaukee, Devon and Nagle Avenues in Norwood Park, on the Far Northwest Side. Maurie and Flaurie, the two giant hot dogs on the roof, have been up there since the start and are named for the couple who opened it. The family still runs it. It's a good stop on the way to or from O'Hare if you have a car.

Neighborhood food, for next to nothing

This is where the real deals are. Take the L, and plan to eat standing up or at a small table.

Pilsen. Carnitas Uruapan (1725 W. 18th St.) sells pork by the pound and carnitas tacos, which Time Out priced at $4.50 each. It's a short walk from the 18th Street Pink Line stop, and you'll pass the murals on the way. Farther southwest in Little Village, La Chaparrita (2500 S. Whipple St.) is the taqueria to know, with a lengua taco Time Out priced at $3.75.

Chinatown. Take the Red Line to Cermak-Chinatown and walk down Wentworth to Chiu Quon Bakery (2253 S. Wentworth Ave.), where a BBQ pork bun cost $1.85 when Time Out checked. Two or three of those make a fine lunch. The water taxi from Michigan Avenue to Chinatown doubles as a cheap river tour. Our transportation page has the details.

Uptown. Sun Wah BBQ (5039 N. Broadway, a short walk from the Argyle Red Line stop) won a James Beard America's Classics award in 2018. Its Beijing Duck Dinner isn't on the printed menu. You ask for it, and a whole roasted duck is carved at your table, then served with steamed bao, followed by duck fried rice (or duck noodles, if you ask when you order) and a soup made from the bones. It's dine-in only, and it's the best-value group dinner in the city. Sun Wah is closed Thursdays. Around the corner, Birrieria Zaragoza sells birria by the pound at 4800 N. Broadway. Its original Archer Heights shop is temporarily closed after a fire. For a bánh mì, Nhu Lan Bakery is at 4810 N. Sheridan Rd.

Devon Avenue. Ghareeb Nawaz (2032 W. Devon Ave.) is the cheap Pakistani and Indian counter Time Out recommends, and the chicken biryani is the order. Devon is a long way north, so combine it with a walk past the sari shops and sweet shops.

Ukrainian Village. Kasama (1001 N. Winchester Ave.) holds two Michelin stars for a Filipino tasting menu that costs $325 at night. By day it's a counter-service bakery and café, Wednesday to Sunday from 9am, and Time Out priced its hashbrown, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich at $10. That's as cheap as a Michelin kitchen gets. Go early, since the kitchen stops taking orders at 2pm, or sooner if it's full.

Sit-down dinners that won't break the bank

Chicago's BYOB restaurants are still the best trick for a cheap night out, because the wine costs what the corner store charges. Check the policy before you go, since places change it.

Toro Sushi
Toro Sushi is still at 2546 N. Clark St. in Lincoln Park, near Deming Place. It's a small room, and the special rolls have names like "Oh My God" and "Pig in the Sea." It's open for dinner Tuesday to Sunday, with lunch on Saturdays, and closed Mondays. It was one of the few BYOB sushi bars in town when we first wrote about it, so call (773) 348-7255 to check the current policy before you bring a bottle. We wrote up Mitch's special rolls years ago.

Tac Quick
Tac Quick has left its spot under the Sheridan Red Line tracks, but it didn't go far. It's now at 1011 W. Irving Park Rd., a short walk from the same station. It still cooks Thai classics like pad Thai and pad see ew. It now serves beer and wine, with $2 off during weekday happy hour (4 to 7pm), so you don't need to bring a bottle.

Pequod's
If you want deep dish without a big bill, Pequod's (2207 N. Clybourn Ave., Lincoln Park) sells a personal seven-inch pan pizza with its caramelized cheese crust as a weekday lunch special, $8.95 on Time Out's list.

For more ideas, see dining on a budget, Chicago's best burgers and our food and drink guide. If you're trying to stretch the whole trip, free and cheap things to do and how to budget for a trip to Chicago will help.

Photos by dumin, monsieur paradis