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The LAist guide to eating on a budget (without sacrificing taste) in SoCal
Tacos filled with cabeza and beef cheek at Sonoratown.
(
Brian Feinzimer
/
For LAist
)
You're looking for something good to eat that won't break the bank. Where do you go? Yes, there are chains. But there are also small, unassuming eateries, often tucked away in strip malls, which offer great value — and great taste.
Our ongoing series Cheap Fast Eats is carefully researched by LAist food and culture writer Gab Chabrán, who treks all over L.A. and its environs to personally try out local spots that check all the boxes: delicious, casual and affordable. Among them, you'll be sure to find your new favorite dish.
- Cheap Fast Eats: Pasadena
- Cheap Fast Eats: Long Beach
- Cheap Fast Eats: Glendale
- Cheap Fast Eats: Downtown LA
- Cheap Fast Eats: Culver City
- Cheap Fast Eats: Koreatown
- Cheap Fast Eats: Silver Lake
- Cheap Fast Eats: Inglewood
- Cheap Fast Eats: Chinatown
- Cheap Fast Eats: Gardena
- Cheap Fast Eats: Mid-City
- Cheap Fast Eats: Boyle Heights
- Cheap Fast Eats: Canoga Park
- Cheap Fast Eats: Fountain Valley
- Cheap Fast Eats: West Hollywood
- Cheap Fast Eats: Pico Union
- Cheap Fast Eats: West Valley
- Cheap Fast Eats: North Hollywood
- Cheap Fast Eats: Alhambra
- Cheap Fast Eats: Santa Ana
- Cheap Fast Eats: Vegan
- Cheap Fast Eats: Missed Connections
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
