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Food

Fast food & snack set isolated on white background: burger, dessert, pizza, coffee, chicken, wok, beef etc. Hand drawn sketch style, chalkboard drawing.

Cheap Fast Eats

We know. While we love living in SoCal, it can take quite a toll out of your pocket book, time and energy. That’s why we created Cheap Fast Eats — to give you a friend-in-the-know shortcut to finding tasty food you can grab quickly for $10-$15.We’ve been scouting out places for a couple of years now, and have gone as far afield as Santa Ana and the Valley, from Culver City to Pico Union. So check out our new fall edition — a curated list of places we think you’ll like for cool temps.

Cheap Fast Eats: 5 new meals to try for around $10 that are worth the trip

A Honduran baleada on a white plate, filled with mashed beans, sprinkled cheese, and topped with bright pickled red onions, all wrapped in a warm flour tortilla.

Cheap Fast Eats heads to North Hollywood for tasty food around $10

A toasted Guatemalan torta sandwich filled with shredded meat, lettuce, tomatoes, and guacamole, served on parchment paper with a side garnish of parsley and tomato. A small toothpick flag with “Muchá! Comida Chapina” is placed beside it.

Inventive, affordable bites in OC: Cheap Fast Eats visits Santa Ana

Smashburger meal served on a tray lined with classic black-and-white checkered paper, paired with a tall serving of golden fries in a playful Chinese takeout-style box

Cheap Fast Eats visits Pico-Union for globetrotting bites around $10

A plate with roasted chicken, potatoes, a salad, pita bread, and three different sauce containers against a pale blue tiled surface.

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Food Friday

Food

Actor Issa Rae opens new restaurant in South LA

Located along the Slauson Corridor, Somerville is designed to be “a tribute to South Central L.A.’s Golden Age.”
Food

When it comes to bagels, LA is eating New York’s breakfast

“We make the food grandma would make with a full sleeve of tats and septum piercing," says the owner of Belle’s Bagels.
Food

It’s soup season in LA. Here's a guide to our warm, comforting favorites

Flavorful, vibrant soups from Burma, Thailand, Mexico and Vietnam to help you get through the cold, right here in SoCal.

More Stories

LA's best pozoles come in red, green, and white. And sometimes with shrimp, ‘shrooms, and jackfruit, too

Each pozole on this list has its own distinct identity. All will warm your body and soul.
My 12 most memorable LA bites in 2024

LAist food editor Gab Chabran recalls some memorable bites he had throughout SoCal this past year.
Malaysian cuisine is ready for its close-up with Rasarumah in Historic Filipinotown

Chef Johnny Lee, formerly of the much-loved Pearl River Deli, has partnered with the group behind Barra Santos, Found Oyster, and opened a restaurant focused on Malaysian and Southeast Asian flavors.
Four specialty LA cheese stores help you elevate your New Year's spread

Why not make 2025 a cheesy delight?
The smell of guavas is in Southern California kitchens. Here’s why lots of people hate it

Guavas are the main ingredient in the Mexican holiday drink ponche. The warmer weather is lengthening the season of the backyard crop.
The FDA restricts a psychoactive mushroom used in some edibles

The Food and Drug Administration has told food manufacturers the psychoactive mushroom Amanita muscaria isn't authorized for food, including edibles, because it doesn't meet safety standards.

Listen 3:34
We talked to 5 legendary LA delis to help you perfect your matzo ball soup

Sinkers or swimmers? We've gathered matzo ball tips and tactics to help you master the craft.
A tamalada tradition keeps my fourth-gen Mexican American family connected to our roots

A cultural staple, the tamal helps bring members of the Curiel family together.
These unique SoCal desserts will make you the holiday party MVP

Treats you might not have tried but will have everyone talking.
It's eggnog season! We tried some of the best in LA

We dive headfirst into a vat of the creamy good stuff.