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2015 Cheap Eats Guide to 165 Portland Eateries
Healthy Bread Store
At Dave's Killer Bread's nondescript little shop in a Milwaukie industrial park (5209 SE International Way, Milwaukie, 335-8077, daveskillerbread.com) you'll find day-old, frozen and imperfect loaves of Dave's Killer Bread that usually retail between $5.50 and $6 at prices hovering between and $2.65 and $3. Even less if you buy a dozen or more. Throw the bounty in the freezer as soon as you get home and take loaves out as needed; you'll find they stay fresh just as long as the ones you pay full price for. KAT MERCK.
Grocery Outlet
Sure, it's a chain (albeit with individually owned franchises), but where else in the city can you buy a decent bottle of wine and a wheel of brand-name brie for under $5, total? "Gross-out," as it's affectionately called by its legion of devotees, is a budget-shopping institution with three city locations and an ever-expanding stock of organic and specialty items (think coconut oil, chia seeds and gluten-free flours) for a quarter of what you'd pay at Whole Foods. Just make sure to stock up when you find something you like—the inventory changes constantly. Portland-area locations include-: Hollywood, 4420 NE Hancock St., 282-5248; St. Johns, 7741 N Lombard St., 688-5565; Brentwood-Darlington, 7120 SE Flavel St., 445-0425. groceryoutlet.com. KAT MERCK.
Large cheese pie from Rovente's
3240 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 234-7777, roventepizzeria.com.
In an age of $5 Hot-N-Ready combos and $12 Cowboys from Papa Murphy's, it's tough for any local pizzeria to compete with budget offerings from national chains. And yet, somehow, Rovente's does it. The deal is very specific: an extra-large 18-inch cheese pizza for $12.99. Carry-out only, and if you want pepperoni, the pie jumps to $20. But that cheese pizza is a huge New York-style pie with dough so taut and thin you can see shadows through it. It's very tasty, and your best bet for getting a local pizza that can serve three for under $13. MARTIN CIZMAR.
Steak at Blush
5145 SE McLoughlin Blvd., 236-8559, blushgentlemensclub.com.
While a gauntlet of entertainers that often outnumbers patrons 2-to-1 does the night work on stage, the bartender is pulling triple duty by intermittently dancing numbers onstage, pouring Budweisers and tending to 16-ounce hunks of wildly underpriced sirloins ($6.95 with fries) on the broiler in back. Though Blush is often passed over in favor of nearby Acropolis, the economics of this neon-pink nook of naughtiness—there's never a cover and the cut of steak is about twice the size—makes it the clear-cut winner of McLoughlin Boulevard's battle for strip-steak supremacy. PETE COTTELL.
A bucket of doughnuts
Donuts are a luxury food, but you should never pay more than you need to. For a mere sawbuck ($10), you can pull a solid two-gallon bucket of day-old doughnuts- at Voodoo—provided the shop hasn't reserved them for a school or charity. But otherwise? Something like five to 10 pounds of pure doughnut, with the necessary caveat that 90 percent of them are stuck together in a weird clump and all of them are a little stale. Just show up at the Sandy Boulevard Voodoo Doughnut (1501 NE Davis St., 235-2666, voodoodoughnut.com) to claim your day-old prize. But there are no guarantees. Sometimes there are no buckets. Insider sources say the best times to try are 6 am, 2 pm and 9 pm. Try your luck. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
Food Liquidators
Yes, you know that furniture has liquidators, but food does, too. If it doesn't creep you out, Everyday Deals (17310 SE Division St., 762-4970) serves up the food that Safeway won't. Dented cans? No problem. Past date but still up to health department codes? Entirely within the business model. Bread a little hard? Organic cauliflower off-white? Hurry up and eat it. This is where you get your $2 packs of bacon, your 75 percent-off cans of beans, your $2 per pound pork loin. It's like gleaning the fields in the Middle Ages, but with fluorescent lights. MATTHEW KORFHAGE.
Cheap Beer | Cheap Foodstuffs | Breakfasts Under $4 | Cheap Gas, Laundry, etc.
Cheap Massages, Acupuncture and Haircuts | Cheap Gyms and Yoga
Cheap Fun and Games | Cheap Movies | Free Pool Tables
2015 Cheap Eats Guide to 165 Portland Eateries
WWeek 2015