Cheap eats around the bay

Welcome to The Chronicle's annual Bargain Bites issue, where we bring together our favorite dining deals from around the Bay Area.

<<< Check out the full list of restaurants here. >>>

A lot has changed in the local dining scene since last year's edition. Last September, the true depth of the recession was just becoming clear. Since then, countless local restaurants have closed, including several that were regulars in this issue.

The survivors have responded to the recession in many ways. Some old favorites, such as Alaturca, a Turkish place in the Tenderloin, have hunkered down and barely seem to have raised prices, perhaps hoping to retain their customer base through the hard times. At others, like the ever-popular Burma Superstar in the Richmond District, prices have gone beyond our Bargain Bites cutoff.

To qualify, the majority of a restaurant's entrees have to be $12 or less, but most of the food found in the pages that follow costs a lot less than that.

One positive side, the recession seems to have inspired a jolt of creativity among cooks and restaurateurs. Many are taking their passion for food to the street by selling their wares from carts or catering trucks or even by opening a window on an alley, such as Little Skillet, a takeout Southern food spot in SoMa.

While a number of street vendors are unlicensed and keep irregular hours, there are plenty of new ones opening legit businesses, such as Liba, a new falafel and salad truck in San Francisco. You can find more examples in our Street Food entry.

This has been the year of high-end chefs branching out with lower-priced offerings. A few have opened sandwich shops, while others are offering prix-fixe menus at their restaurants for about $30 or less. We've included a selection in this issue.

Ethnic restaurants are definitely still the best deal around, and we offer a few bonuses this year: a list of our favorite inexpensive dim sum restaurants and a tour of great Korean finds in Sunnyvale.

We'd love to hear your feedback; please send comments and suggestions to food@sfchronicle.com with the subject line: Bargain Bites.

In some ways, bargain dining is better than ever. If only we all had a little more cash to take advantage of it.

—By Tara Duggan

Contributors: Rose Amoroso, Michael Bauer, Lynne Char Bennett, Nicholas Boer, Jon Bonné, Rachael Daylong, Mandy Erickson, Stacy Finz, Amanda Gold, Carolyn Jung, Cindy Lee, Miriam Morgan, Mathew Ramsey, Karola Saekel, Carey Sweet, Maryann Smitt, Erick Wong.