Anyone schmuck can buy a lunch for ten bucks, it’s your five dollar lunch options that are quickly disappearing, and finding a cheap great-tasting lunch is becoming almost impossible. Recently Red Dragon House, a long-time purveyor of cheap tasty lunch caved in to the inflationary pressures and raised their combo prices by 50 cents. Still a great value, fast, tasty and not cooked up by a fake-Chinese chain, Red Dragon continues to be high on the lunch choices list. Below are “before” (now collectible) and “after” versions of the menu. If you are looking for lunch downtown - stop by the Red Dragon. It’s not Bo Lings but it won’t set you back twenty dollars either.

As I was thinking about writing this post this morning, KC Star was reporting another robbery:

Kansas City restaurant robbed

A man armed with a knife and a gun robbed Ortega’s Restaurant this morning.Police said the man went into the restaurant at 2646 Belleview St. about 7:30 a.m. and demanded money. He took undisclosed items and then fled in a silver Chevrolet Malibu.

Ortega’s Mexican Foods is another delicious and not-so-well-known small restaurant in the Southwest Boulevard area that serves cheap, tasty and authentic Mexican food. I am not trying to compete with RDM and Midtown Miscreant who often reflect on the crime in this city. All I am saying is that only an asshole would rob a poor tiny Mexican restaurant where a family is trying to make living without ripping their customers off. Everyday during the lunch hour many trucks are parked around this place - phone people, construction, lawn workers, etc. I won’t be surprised if Ortega’s will be raising their prices soon if they haven’t done it already. I hope some Mexican vigilantes are on the lookout for a silver Malibu.

As a public service I am posting Ortega’s menu below.

I appreciate and patronize the restaurants who are not trying to rip me off. Anyone can buy a brisket for $1/lb, smoke it and resell it for $12.95, but an owner who prices his food reasonably deserves all the respect. So may I suggest for your next lunch Harold’s Drive-In, Habashi House, Vinh Hoa, Tarantino’s, Las Tortugas and many others. These may not be the prettiest most fashionable dining establishments, but you’ll get an honest lunch, what else can you ask for for your hard-earned five bucks.

If you have any places you’d like to suggest please comment. I may even buy you a lunch there, you never know.

Related posts:

Quest For Cheap and Tasty Lunch Continues

Inflation-Schminflation

Jimmy Carter-ing at Lunch