When I started searching for restaurants where we tightwads could get a good $5 lunch, I thought that I was going to have to bump the price up to $6 in order to make my column work.
I think everybody knows that you can eat for $5 at fast-food places on the $1 menus and with deals such as the $5 footlong at Subway, but what I was looking for was a real meal for that price.
My persistence paid off, and I'm happy to report that my money-hungry readers told me about a bunch of places where we can lunch for a lowly fiver.
>> Perhaps the very best bet is the Thursday business lunch at First Baptist Church, 108 Seventh Ave. S. (at Seventh and Broadway), which was suggested by cheap lunch aficionado Brooks Harper.
The deal, which has been offered for more than 20 years (the lunch used to be $3, and then $4 and just recently went up to $5) is almost too good to believe — a meat, baked potato (with butter and sour cream), an eight-item salad bar, bread, assorted desserts and a choice of fruit tea or regular iced tea all for $5 flat.
"It's a steal,'' said Bill Colvin, a regular Thursday lunch-goer who was enjoying a nice piece of fried chicken the day I visited.
"I don't know of any other place where you can get this complete a lunch for $5,'' said Freddie Bell, who works with Colvin in the nearby federal building and has been enjoying the church's Thursday food offering almost every week since 2002.
The lunch on the lower level of the church facility starts at 11:30 a.m. each Thursday, and the two serving lines push more than 200 people through each week, with the food first, then some music, a joke and then a short message usually delivered by the very engaging senior pastor, Frank Lewis.
"It's a lunch, a joke, a song and a message, all for $5,'' said Shayne Gilpin, who regularly walks to the lunch from his Lifeway offices a few blocks up on Broadway.
It really is a nice break in the middle of the day, and everybody with a $5 bill (the overwhelming majority of eaters are not church members) is welcome. There is limited free parking in a lot behind the church, and if you're on foot, enter on the Seventh Avenue side and follow the good-smelling food aroma down the steps.
To see the weekly menu (it's rotisserie chicken today), see www.firstbaptistnashville.org/ministries/fellowship-meals or call the lunch hot line at 664-6087.
>> Lots of folks suggested Demos' restaurants, which offer a filling $4.25 lunch special between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. on weekdays. All of Demos' sit-down locations in Murfreesboro, Lebanon, Nashville and Hendersonville have the weekday $4.25 choices, which change from week to week (it's kielbasa with red beans and rice this week and chili spaghetti next week).
All of the specials include salad or soup, plus bread, so it's quite a deal. Demos' also has changing $5.95 daily weekday specials such as blackened chicken pasta today and the popular grilled tilapia that also rotates through the menu. Susan Maddux, who was one of the readers who recommended Demos', said she gets a weekly e-mail from Demos' with their lunch specials. "Yum. Yum. The price, food and service can't be beat,'' she says. www.demosrestaurants.
com
>> Osborne's Bi-Rite, the grocery at 3116 Belmont Blvd., across from Christ the King school, was kind of a wild card since it is not really a "restaurant.'' But the counter at the back of the store has a wonderfully affordable daily plate lunch between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. The most popular is the Friday catfish — with hush puppies, tartar sauce and one side, which is $4.50. Believe me, it's a lot of food. You can add another side for a dollar, meaning you get a meat and two sides for $5.50. A good thing to know is that a homemade dessert (cobbler or pie) can count as a side if you just ask for it that way. There are picnic tables in front of the grocery, but there is nowhere to sit inside the restaurant — meaning that the meals are pretty much all to go. Other days of the week you can get entrées such as meatloaf, fried chicken (Tuesday) or pork chops, for the same prices and all include bread. Lots of the patrons call their orders in for quick pickup. Call 292-0253.
>> The $4.49 Monday Burger Day at Calhoun's is a popular lunchtime draw — with half-pound fresh-ground hamburgers and fries (or a side substitute) for $4.49 all day on Mondays. They have recently added a Wednesday pork sandwich special for $4.99, but Monday Burger Day is still way ahead on the customer popularity list. There are two Calhoun's locations, one on Gallatin Road across from RiverGate Mall and one at 96 White Bridge Road. Call 356-0855. Go early because you may have to wait on Burger Mondays.
>> Reader David Ward told me to try August Moon, 4004 Hillsboro Road in Green Hills, for a great economical lunch. "Their lunch special is phenomenal. I always get the sweet and sour chicken, over fried rice, with an egg roll and hot and sour soup. So much food that I don't need dinner, and all for $5.25. I economize and have water to drink. The food is great, highly filling. The service
is wonderful. All are super friendly.'' Call 298-9999.
10 more great deals
>> Nancy Locke of Madison suggested The China Cottage, 1795 Gallatin Road in McHenry Center in Madison, near Rivergate, where she can get soup and a couple of egg rolls for less than $5. "The lunch menu is great and some of the lunches are as little as $5.95, and they include entrée, rice and egg roll or soup. It is a nice restaurant, not a buffet (I have sworn off buffets!), with white cloths on the tables and a live rose or carnation in a vase. We've been going there for a long time and we love it — not just because it's cheap — it's just a lovely little place." Call 865-
6854.
>> Broadway Brew House and Mojo Grill, at 317 Broadway. A reader left me a message suggesting this restaurant and said to order red beans and rice or black beans and rice (you get a pint for $2.99.) "It will fill you up unless you are a construction worker. The food is good." Call 271-2838.
>> At Whitt's Barbecue locations on Wednesdays, you can get a yummy pork sandwich for $1.85 instead of the usual $2.85. They also have a Wednesday family pack for $8.99 for a pound of barbecue, buns and two sides on Wednesdays.
>> "For a really cheap lunch you can't beat the price or the food at Larriviere's on the Square, 102 S. Water St. in Gallatin,'' wrote Roxann Maddox. "Larriviere's serves the best chicken salad in Tennessee. For $4.08 you get a side order of chicken salad with two fabulous garlic butter rolls and a glass of all-you- can drink tea, fruit tea or Coke. And get this, you don't leave a tip, it's on the menu not to leave one. The food is served with a smile, and you feel at home.'' I called to check on all of this and found that owner Rene Larriviere also has a $5 lunch special every day — a rotating menu of good offerings. Call 451-2772.
>> Another reader wrote in to say, "We always go to Logan's and order sweet potatoes with a glass of lemon water ($2.83 including tax). They are delicious. We also eat peanuts while we are waiting. The waitress knows us well, and we don't even have to order. She just smiles and says "the same?" She did tell us about a very good soup they have on Tuesdays and Thursdays, chicken and sausage (it is a gumbo and the price is $4.36 per bowl including tax). Excellent. The tab is under $10, and my mom and I take turns when we pay. Oh, when we are really feeling hollow we order the sweet rolls.''
>> Check lunch items at Kalamata's, 3764 Hillsboro Pike, where you can get a gyro sandwich or falafel pocket or one of the soups for about $5. Call 383-8700.
>> James and Adraine Mealor said their favorite low-cost lunch is at Sicily Pizza, 3610 Anderson Road, Nashville, 365-0009, in the Priest Lake area. "This is a family-owned and operated business with homemade sauces and breads. They have a $5 lunch special from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. that includes a choice of five subs, three calzones, two salads, spaghetti with tomato sauce and a personal-size pizza with three toppings. This special also includes your choice of soda.''
>> Marsha Martin of Rutherford County has found that one of the best deals around is Cracker Barrel. Cracker Barrel offers a lunch menu for "kids of all ages.'' Each selection includes drink, corn bread and biscuits. A couple of the items you can get are two vegetables, drink, corn bread or biscuits for under $3.50. Another one of my favorites is shrimp or chicken and a side, drink and bread for under $4.50 (chicken can be grilled or fried). Hamburgers, grilled cheese and dumplings are also offered on this menu.''
>> CRAVE, a Christian bookstore and cafe at 95 Signature Place off West Main in Lebanon, has what they call a "half & half," which is half a sandwich (homemade chicken salad, tuna salad and pimento cheese as well as deli sandwiches) and a cup of soup and a small side for $5.59. The soups are homemade fresh every day and there are usually two to choose from. If you can get by on soup only, you can get it by the cup for $2.99 or a bowl for $4.49, which includes a homemade yeast roll or corn bread muffin! Call 466-5005.
>> Naomi Faust suggested Las Palmas Mexican Restaurant at 8167 Highway 100, Nashville, 37221. "For $4.90 I had the taco salad that I thought was the best I had ever had. Not too large and a nice flaky taco, more than just lettuce.''
Stay cheap!
Reach Ms. Cheap at 259-8282 or mscheap@tennessean.com
