Cheap Eats according to City Search http://dallas.citysearch.com/bestof/...005/cheap_eats

1. Angry Dog
2726 Commerce St, Dallas, TX
Bar and grill in Deep Ellum famous for its namesake hot dog, good burgers and spicy chicken wings.

2. Vietnam Restaurant
4302 Bryan St, Dallas, TX
This Vietnamese restaurant personifies cheap, authentic, fantastic food in a low-key setting.

3. Sammy's Barbeque
2126 Leonard St, Dallas, TX
White-collar lunch crowd lines up for brisket and killer sides at this cheerful Uptown joint.

4. Veracruz Cafe
408 N Bishop Ste 107, Dallas, TX
Sample authentic dishes from coastal Mexico's Veracruz in the Bishop Arts District.

5. Royal Thai
5500 Greenville Ave Ste 802, Dallas, TX
Attentive service, peaceful surroundings and beautiful food make each dining experience worthy of superlatives

Agree with the Angry Dog at #1. We eat there a lot before going to see bands in Deep Ellum.

Haven't been to Sammy's (have never worked downtown) but friends seem to like it.

Have never heard of #2 or 4.

#5 (Royal Thai) was a favorite hangout when I was in the Jaycees. I never liked the place - I've gotten sick after eating there more than once. I was actually turned off Thai food for a while because of that place.

Hi, sorry if I've missed a link for this, but I wanted to let you road warriors know that this is KRLD Restaurant Week in Dallas. Some really great restaurants in town are offering 3 course meals for $30. Many of the restaurants are continuing the specials on into the next two weeks. You can get a list of participating restaurants at:

http://www.krld.com/show.cfm?content...ekparticipants

Worth a shot if you're on an expense account!

Yup... this is the steal of the year! We are heading to Iris tonight...

Our favorite restaurant in Dallas is Cafe Pacific. It is located in Highland Park Village, corner of Preston Road and Mockingbird. About half-way between downtown and Galleria area.

Great fresh seafood and very reasonable wine list. Clubby atmosphere with many Highland Park (very affluent) regulars, but not snobby.

I would add a couple

Green Papaya - Vietnamese

Excellent food at a great price, would reccomemd the Bo Luc Lac

For mexican, we go to Matt's Rancho Martinez, Lakewood , the Bob Armstrong dip is great with the chips!

Ranchman's Cafe
For those of you with a car, and who are there at weekends, I think its Texas ' oldest steak restaurant. There is not much in Ponder BUT this place, pretty cool, basic, but fun!

Northern burbs have a lot of relatively new Malayasian, and Indonesian, and non-standard Thai, indian and panasian restaurants. Most are listed in the fri or sat dallas newspaper(forgot which).

Almost every one is better than any one in the Wash DC area, particularly for low-mid priced dining.

I will be staying at the Fairmont and am looking for some cheap Tex-mex and BBQ, without having to go very far. Any suggestions?

Great stuff so far on this thread!

In the "definitely under $50 pp", I would strongly recommend Mercado Juarez. The 1901 West Northwest Hwy location is not too far from DFW/Grapevine.

Granted its not the best sushi (probably average), but I love stuffing my face at the 2 all you can eat japanese restaurants. There are a couple...tokyo one in addisson and Osaka in Plano. Lunch is around $15, with dinner around $25. Dinner they have everything at lunch + sashimi + shabu shabu.

I havent been to Toyko one recently, but I love Osaka and eat there everytime I am home. I've never left them unsatisfied!

A couple other restaurants I really like are Houstons (amazing spinach/artichoke dip and ribs) and melting pot (fondue, also a chain..but still very good)

SERIOUSLY??!! Sorry for the shock... I really think that place would have gone out of business years ago were it not for the cheap prepay "express lunch" that caters to Las Colinas office workers who have set lunches. Save for good chips, I have never found a redeeming quality about either that location or the gigantic one in Fort Worth.

If you guys are in Grapevine, you are already next to one of the best Tex-Mex spots around - Esparzas (right off Main Street in an old house). We also have lots of good suggestions on the other thread (referenced above).

A great Thai spot also loved by FTers is Thai Chili. They have two locations - one in Las Colinas (great for business lunches) and one in Southlake Town Square. Both are equal distance from where you'll be - the one in Southlake is a bit more upscale and larger - and you can cool your palate with ice cream from Milwaukee Joes... possibly one of the best ice cream parlours around!

(BTW... near Grapevine and DFW are practically the same thing. You are talking about a drive time difference of anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes depending on which side of DFW you are staying on. Didn't know if you knew that or not --- they look like different areas but it really isn't worth moving properties unless you need the stay credits. )

Our Company is paying for the stay at Gaylords and the friend I'm traveling with is on a limited budget which resulted in booking the Hyatt through Priceline. She'd rather save her travel budget for food and entertainment.

We'll definately try the Thai place and Esparzas.........having Pad Thai for dinner tonight but here on the northern tundra it's challenging to find really great places in the suburbs of MN.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll keep checking back for more. Happy to find out about the art festival in Fort Worth.

If you will around the weekend of the Art Festival, definitely come join the FT group on Friday night. We have our own private party space (VERY hard to come by for that weekend) in a hot spot... and it will be a great crowd.

Definitely check out guidelive.com as well for their Top 100 lists and some other "best of" lists in various genres.

I highly recommend the soups at Thai Chili - they are among the best I've had outside of Thailand.

If you are a sushi fan, another great place within about a ten minute drive of the Gaylord is Blue Ocean - its a neighborhood joint in Coppell - just head due east on 121 and its on the corner of MacArthur/121 (in a 7-11 shopping strip). Don't let the strip mall part scare you - once you step inside, you forget where you are - the sushi is excellent (and I'm a sushi snob) and the owners (Kim & Peter) are there working their arses off every night to keep the restaurant in tip top shape so service is always good despite the crowds they draw.

Try Houstons on Preston

Del Frisco's Double-Eagle Steakhouse, and a place that was introduced to me by FT, Abacus.

M8