King of Cheap Eats Rides the Rail to Find Lunch under $3
Monday, January 22, 2007 11:42 AM
Catch METRO’s Red Line at noon, and catch a bite to eat.
Gourmet chef and resident gastronome Bobby Moon doesn’t bother to bring his lunch to the office. Instead, Moon, METRO’s manager of audits, buys his lunch almost every day – and typically spends less than $16 a week. Moon’s five-day lunches are all reachable by METRO bus or rail – and there are no fast-food joints among his lunch spots.
I accompanied the King of Cheap Eats and some other colleagues recently for his $3-lunch special. Moon treated – and kept the tab for two at less than $6. We rode the Red Line from Downtown Transit station south to the next stop – McGowen. Then we crossed a vacant field, heading west toward Travis and walked into a dilapidated shopping market with broken tiles.
But once inside Bahn Mi Hoang restaurant, we found clean tables and a lunch crowd who knew where to find homemade goodies at a bargain. Four trays displayed sesame balls, egg rolls and fried bananas. I ate a toasted baguette layered with roast pork, carrots, cilantro and cucumber spears for $2. An order of two spring rolls cost $2. Moon’s ham sandwich was $1.50. Our beverage of iced tea was free.
For every five sandwiches you order, you get one free. Moon says he often orders 200 sandwiches from this restaurant for his church.
Moon, 63, has worked at METRO for 20 years, and during that time has managed to discover dining bargains in downtown and midtown Houston where he can get in and out in an hour on the bus or rail line. Cooking since he was 10 years old, Moon says he learned from chefs at his in-law’s restaurant and from television shows. These days, he teaches Chinese cooking with a Southern accent, demonstrating in home kitchens how to cook a five-course dinner from scratch in less than 90 minutes. For big events, he thinks nothing of cooking baked French chicken for 200.
So when Moon goes to lunch, he’s usually accompanied by other foodies who realize the auditor is an expert on both food and spending money (or not spending).
“I spend an average of about $3 to $4 per lunch. On occasions, I splurge and spend up to $5 for a lunch (including tip) at Lankford’s Café at 88 Dennis and Genesee for my favorite, old-fashioned hamburger ($3.75) or lunch at Droubi’s in the tunnel ($5.41, including tax) – but that’s about my limit,” says Moon, who wears a $15 London Fog trench coat he bought on e-Bay.
Another recent cheap lunch was at a Korean restaurant two stops south of Downtown Transit Center at the Ensemble/HCC stop. Walk north to Holman, then east to San Jacinto and you’ll find Boba Café at 1113 Holman. A brightly lit, airy café that caters to students, this Korean-run restaurant features chargrilled burgers and a fixings bar where you can pile on lettuce, tomatoes and other accoutrements.
The catfish burger was lightly fried in a Tempura-style batter as opposed to the typical Southern – and heavier – cornmeal batter. Mine tasted fresh and moist. Tony Hoang, an MBA finance guy at M.D. Anderson rated his fish burger a 7 out of 10. (They lost his order, and he had to wait).
”I always order stuff they know how to do,” advises Moon. “Don’t order anything odd.” His hamburger was $3.15, my fish burger, $3.59.
Only two entrees are Korean – the shrimp fried rice and egg rolls. There’s also an exotic assortment of “Slush” – slushie-type drinks with pearls of Tapioca pudding at the bottom of the glass. Flavors include honeydew, passion fruit, mango, green tea, watermelon, red bean and taro.
Moon’s typical lunchtime itinerary:
Monday: Boba Café, chargrilled hamburger, $3.14. Take METRORail to Ensemble/HCC station, and then walk to Holman and San Jacinto.
Tuesday: Treebeard’s for beans/rice/sausage links, $2.98. Go north on the Red Line to Preston Station, take the tunnel under 1100 Louisiana and Market Square.
Wednesday: Spec’s catfish sandwich, $3.24. Take Bus #35/Fairview to 2300 Smith.
Thursday: Vietnamese sandwich and spring roll, iced tea for $3. Take METRORail to McGowen Station, and then walk to 2800 Travis.
Friday: Brothers Taco House for two homemade flour tacos with meat filings, Mexican rice and queso, $3.24. Take Bus #30/Cullen to Leeland and Dowling.
Total: $15.87.
“Be sure Spec’s doesn’t overcharge for the $2.99 fish sandwich,” says Moon. “When I go to Lankford’s for the best old-fashioned hamburger in town, Pho Tau By for the pork chops (2) rice plate and Cali for chargrilled chicken plate, I usually tip a buck….a big spender, you know! Those three places blow the budget.”
Other ways to pinch pennies at lunch: “I never order a beverage or soft drink unless it’s included with the lunch. I’ll never order French fries, either,” says Moon, admitting, “I’ll eat them if someone else orders them sometimes.”
Andy Krozel, recently retired senior scheduler at METRO who’s been accompanying Moon on cheap lunches for the past five years, says it’s never boring dining with Moon.
“Lunch is an adventure with Bobby,” he says, as he chows down on his flame-grilled burger.