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On The Cheap

Valentine's Day for the Frugal and Savvy Diner

Avoiding the V-Day fine-dining shit-show
On the Cheap thinks you should take your honey out to a fabulous dinner in February. But fine dining on Valentine's Day, with its overpriced prix fixes, cheap Champagne, and harried servers is a rookie choice, like clubbing on New Year's Eve.

By: MC SLIM JB | February 08, 2012

On the Cheap: Render Coffee

Coffee-nerd nirvana
Don't-give-a-shit hipster baristas, move aside — Render Coffee is raising the bar on specialty coffee shops in Boston.

By: ALI CARTER | February 01, 2012

Skip the dining hall

No need to suffer another meal of anemic salad bars or gray lunch meats — these 6 campus-convenient cheap-eats spots will treat you right
Already sick of the sloppy joes and cardboard pizza in your school's cafeteria? Try these budget-friendly, near-campus restaurants for something a little more exciting.

By: MILES WEAVER | January 30, 2012

On the Cheap: Grillo's Pickles

Brining it all back home
The only thing more fun than saying "pop-up pickle shop" is opening various pickle jars from said pickle shop on your desk and subsequently coating your hands in a pungent wash of spicy vinegar while you dig in. The keyboard, too.

By: CASSANDRA LANDRY | January 25, 2012

On the Cheap: Lizzy's

Comfort grub in a landmark East Cambridge Watering Hole
After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, an Italian barber walked into an East Cambridge shoe building and turned it into a bar: Pugliese's.

By: ARIEL SHEARER | January 18, 2012

On the Cheap: Ecco Pizzeria

A much-needed break from the everyday slice
I'm not sure when Allston woke up and decided it needed a new pizza joint on every other block, but I'm not complaining, and neither is my fridge.

By: CASSANDRA LANDRY | January 12, 2012

On the Cheap: Emilio's Homemade Italian Subs and Dinners

Portable, palatable pleasure in Watertown
A few weeks ago, my father surveyed our dinner table and mused, "I'm glad we have an Italian Christmas."

By: LINDSAY CRUDELE | January 04, 2012

9 hotly anticipated budget-dining openings for 2012

Tacos, midnight ramen, and chicken n' waffles make up Boston's forthcoming new options for noshing on the cheap
The new year promises a wealth of inexpensive and moderate new restaurants in Greater Boston. Here are a few that have us on tenterhooks.

By: MC SLIM JB | December 30, 2011

2011: The year in cheap eats

Twelve months of terrific budget-priced dining
We uncovered amazing value-priced restaurants in every corner of Greater Boston this year.

By: MC SLIM JB | December 21, 2011

On the Cheap: Zinneken's

A new café-bakery with the warm, welcoming air of a Belgian kitchen
Tucked away on the corner of Mass Ave and Arrow Street in Harvard Square is the new Belgian-waffle bakery and café, Zinneken's.

By: ALI CARTER | December 14, 2011

On the Cheap: Stone Hearth Pizza

Classic pizza with a healthy — and delicious — twist
There is no shortage of pizza joints in the greater Boston area, that's for damn sure. But Stone Hearth Pizza —with locations in Cambridge, Needham, Belmont, and, as of a few weeks ago, Lower Allston — is the front-runner for guilt-free, locally sourced pizza pies.

By: CASSANDRA LANDRY | December 07, 2011

On the Cheap: East Ocean City

A Hong Kong–style hotspot worth ducking bricks for
This has been an unusually trying time for East Ocean City.

By: WEI-HUAN CHEN | December 02, 2011

On the Cheap: Stoddard's Cutlery

Kitchen knives getting dull? Sharpen up at this blade emporium
After all the chopping, carving, and mincing of Turkey Day, it's no surprise that your knives are going to need a facelift. Owner David Marks is about to be your saving grace.

By: CASSANDRA LANDRY | November 22, 2011

Budget-friendly Thanksgiving options for the kitchen-averse

Out for the holidays
There are many good reasons to outsource your Thanksgiving meal to a professional.

By: MC SLIM JB | November 16, 2011

On the Cheap: Veggie Galaxy

A down-home diner serving vegetarian food for the masses
In Harvard Square, sub-Passim, reside the health-nut pizzacrats at Veggie Planet. But take a kick down Mass Ave into Central and you'll find a chromed throwback joint sporting a similar moniker: Veggie Galaxy.

By: STEVE MILLER | November 09, 2011

Review: Strip T's

A perfect family restaurant with a playful menu
Under any other circumstances, I would actually not speak this restaurant's cheeky name out loud.

By: LINDSAY CRUDELE | November 07, 2011

Review: Taza Chocolate

Spooky craft chocolate for the big kids
If lately you've been hit with the trick-or-treat nostalgia blues, longing for simpler times when the best costumes still came in our sizes, do not resort to reproduction.

By: ARIEL SHEARER | October 31, 2011

Review: Refuge Café

Allston gets its favorite hangout back — with good food and beer
When the 26-year-old Herrell's-turned-Allston Café closed its doors this past fall due to an unexpected rent hike, the neighborhood lost a favorite hotspot for meeting friends, passing out show flyers, and eating hangover brunch.

By: LIZ PELLY | October 19, 2011