Whether you see it on TV, read it in the newspaper or hear it from your neighbor, seems like everyone’s talking about rising food prices these days. But that doesn’t mean you have to settle for a can of beanie-weenies in front of the TV. There are affordable, high-quality restaurants in town, and we set out to prove it — taking one for the team by weeding out some not-so-stellar restaurants and ultimately finding more than 30 places where you can eat well on a budget — how about a 1/2-pound burger for $3.29 or a $6.99 Caribbean buffet? Just don’t forget to leave some of your saved dough for your server’s tip. Plus, you’ll find happy hour specials that go above and beyond pretzels and cheap beer.

Breakfast/Brunch

Becky’s
100 E. Cary St., 643-9736
One salty bite of the creamed chipped beef on toast with hash browns ($4.85 or $6.10 with two eggs) and we were transported to Grandma’s, forgetting that it was a rainy Monday morning. The low price already included coffee or tea, so we added on a side of fried apples for just $1.75. No time to dine in? Ask about Becky’s free delivery.

Café Rustica
414 E. Main St., 225-8811
Eating breakfast out during the week feels luxurious and oh so grown up — especially with NPR’s Morning Edition playing in the background — but Café Rustica’s prices are doable even if you aren’t a suit in the Financial District. The omelet “avocat de pays” with fresh spinach, a slice of crispy prosciutto and fontina ($8), and the Poached Eggs Mediterranean (poached eggs served over shrimp, scallop and crab cakes with hollandaise for $10), both of which are served with roasted red potatoes and homemade white bread with sunflower seeds, are divine.

Cold Harbor Restaurant
8153 Mechanicsville Turnpike, 746-4333
Like your coffee black, strong and piping hot, served in a mug emblazoned with ads for cemeteries, bail bondsmen and backhoe services? Mechanicsville’s Cold Harbor Restaurant might be your kind of joint. It boasts a menu that respects a customer’s wallet as much as his or her need for eggs over easy. Try the country-fried steak, a heaping mass of breaded protein topped with white country gravy and served with two homemade biscuits, breakfast potatoes, and eggs your way for less than $7. Saturdays and Sundays, you can load up buffet-style for $9.99.

Curbside Café
2525 Hanover Ave., 355-7008
This neighborhood joint serves Fan brunch grub with a twist, such as the innovative Tidewater omelet — three eggs blended with crabmeat, Smithfield ham and cheddar cheese and served with home fries, toast and fresh fruit for $8.95. Then there’s the Redneck Heart Attack (also $8.95) for the brunch-goer who isn’t counting calories: a stack of scrambled eggs topped with cheddar cheese and accompanied by sausage, ham and bacon. You also can get staples such as eggs, French toast and even burgers.

Northside Grille
1217 Bellevue Ave., 266-4403
Northside Grille arguably has the best corned-beef hash in town. The corned beef served during brunch is ground on site, mixed with peppers, spices and onions, and grilled until it’s crisp on the outside yet moist inside. The $8 dish is served with two eggs, potatoes and toast. Another nap-inducing Sunday must is the hefty portion of Savory Sausage Gravy, also $8. Texas toast is smothered with spicy sausage and gravy and served with eggs and potatoes. Don’t forget a $3 mimosa or Bloody Mary.

The Black Sheep
901 W. Marshall St., 648-1300
Fresh-cut flowers, high ceilings and colorful pictures all make The Black Sheep feel welcoming. The breakfast menu, available all day, features down-home favorites (we loved the sausage and biscuits, which had the perfect amount of spice, for just $4 — add two eggs for $1.50), as well as delectable creations like The Black Sheep French Toast ($6). Two hunks of French toast filled with chocolate hazelnut spread and topped with orange syrup is a satisfying way to kick off the weekend; order it a la mode for a dollar more.

Lunch

Akida
814 N. Robinson St., 359-8036; 9039 W. Broad St., 762-8878
The fresh weekday lunch specials at this local Japanese chain are sure to please your palate. Take a break from the office to enjoy an entrée (the salmon teriyaki is $8.95) that comes with salad, miso soup served nice and hot, a California roll and rice. The lunch special was enough to fill us up, but, feeling adventurous, we tried an octopus sushi roll ($2) too.

Bistro R
10190 W. Broad St., 747-9484
We can totally handle the price of lunch at Bistro R. The Chicken Crepes Florentine ($8.50) is decadent with chicken, spinach and a not-so-light cream sauce, and was served with a small mixed-greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette. Other tempting options include the Salmon Salad Nicoise ($9) and the Pork Cubana ($8.50); the latter is served with two sides. Ordering the coffee-flavored cheesecake off an unposted dessert menu took us about a dollar over our budget and wishing we’d ordered a cup of the soup du jour (tomato basil) for $3 instead.

Café 1602
1602 Rolling Hills Drive, 282-2838
You can drive through the Forest Office Park without seeing any sign of Café 1602, but plenty of customers know how to find this lunch oasis. Owner Yossi Goel says 70 percent order the daily specials. We opted for the No. 3: Zesty Chicken Wrap, a side of potato salad and a drink for $6.48, then added a slice of Key lime pie ($1.95). The wrap of grilled chicken breast, ham, bacon, banana peppers, Swiss and ranch dressing was served fast and perfectly warm.

Caribbean Chef
901 Hull St., 421-9538
Clifford Waterman and his wife own the Caribbean Chef, a Jamaican jerk place that’s a shoe’s toss from Plant Zero, but despite Manchester’s rebirth, Clifford’s still bemoaning the moves of Philip Morris and the local police precinct, two key bullet points in his original business plan. To compensate, the Watermans have limited the menu to their core competencies: jerk and curry chicken, oxtail and goat, and Jamaican specialties like saltfish and callaloo, a spinach and okra stew sometimes eaten for good luck. The jerk chicken, served with rice and beans, plus a side of cabbage ($7.95), was fantastic, and sweet, thin sliced fried plantains were the perfect complement to the jerk spice. We left toasting Clifford — with a tall guava drink ($2.95) — and hoped the callaloo was working its magic.

Chicken Fiesta
7748 Midlothian Turnpike, 320-1112
What is there to do on eastern Midlothian Turnpike? Now that Chicken Fiesta is out this way, it’s reason enough to make the trip. At this Mexican-themed rotisserie grill, the food is spectacular — lots of cheap grilled meat and flavorful Tex-Mex spicing that makes us wish the good ethnic stuff weren’t all in these oddball pockets of town. Tempted as we were to spring for a whole roasted chicken ($13), we went instead for the soft tacos — two chicken and a steak—which arrived with rice and beans ($6.95), and a side of delicious tamal de elote, or sweet corn cake ($2.25), that had us inventing reasons to be in the neighborhood again.

D’Amore’s Food Market
4814 Broad Street, Hadensville, 457-4941
Granted, Goochland County’s Hadensville is a far piece from Richmond, but if you find yourself heading west down I-64, this humble gas station/convenience store at exit 152 is where you should get your burger. Head to the back grill and order yourself a cheeseburger (a 1/4 pounder is $2.29; the 1/2-pound is $3.29) with sharp cheddar. Talk about a juicy burger! The store also has a full cabinet of homemade breads and desserts, including four chocolate-chip cookies for $1.

Fantasy Island Café
9047 W. Broad St., 270-4500
You may feel like you’ve taken off on “Da plane! Da plane!” (apologies to Hervé Villechaize) when you enter Fantasy Island, a new Caribbean-themed restaurant with a tiki-bar feel. The $6 lunch menu of tropical sandwiches and salads is another draw. The mahi mahi taco (topped with mango salsa and accompanied by black beans and rice) was light and fresh with a strong grilled flavor, and the jerk chicken also sounds promising. You just might forget you’re in a West End shopping center.

Fast Eddie’s Jukebox Café
12859 W. Broad St., 784-4466
The décor at Fast Eddie’s Jukebox Café is chrome, red and white, with I Love Lucy and other 1950s TV shows playing on a plasma screen. Classic menu items include cooked-to-order burgers and fries, chili, soups, salads and sandwiches, most priced under $9. And where else can you find a Sloppy Joe as a regular menu item? The café also features some nifty soda fountain items such as root beer floats, milkshakes and even New York egg creams (chocolate syrup, seltzer and milk). After 4:30 p.m. Eddie’s most expensive homey favorite is the chopped steak at $10.99.

Fat Larry’s
1201 W. Main St., 340-1818
Sure, you can get a hoagie anywhere without dishing out a lot of dough, but it’s the quality ingredients that makes Fat Larry’s sandwich a good deal. Take the $7 Old School Italian, for example — 9 inches of hot capicola, Di Lusso Genoa salami, salty prosciutto and provolone cheese (plus the standard condiments). Order the combo meal and get half of an Italian hoagie, fries and a drink for $5.99. Or, opt for a 99-cent burger and spring for the Mexican fries — spuds loaded with cheddar cheese, sour cream, salsa and jalapeños for $4.49.

J & D’s Café
2232 Hungary Road, 266-2331
With its watering-hole feel, you aren’t paying for a lot of fancy frills at J & D’s Café. But if you want a cold beer or a coin-op game of Tetris with your sub or hot plate, you’re in luck. Daily specials such as corned beef, fried trout and hamburger steak — all less than $7 — will tempt you, but a special reward awaits those who hold out for Wednesday’s fried chicken with mashed potatoes and a warm dinner roll. If it’s an egg salad or sailor sandwich you prefer, they can help you with that too.

Nick’s International Foods
400 W. Broad St., 644-0683
Once you find a place to park, you could easily get in and out of Nick’s in less than five minutes — as long as you don’t linger too long over the exotic grocery items. The spinach pie is a meal unto itself for only $2.99, but your wallet can easily accommodate hummus (we’re talking a full-size tub) and pita for $3.99, plus a piece or two of baklava ($1.25 each). And if you’re a Hermitage High grad, be sure to say hello to Coach Mourtzakis, whose family owns Nick’s.

Papa Ningo Dominican Latino Bistro
1703 E. Franklin St., 344-9886
For a couple of years now — from within its colorful, diminutive confines just around the corner from the 17th Street Farmers’ Market — Papa Ningo has been quietly dishing up lunch and dinner with both Caribbean pizzazz and good value aplenty. Offerings range from pork, beef, chicken and seafood to less-expected sub sandwiches, with most items falling between $5 and $12. The mofongo’s combo of mashed plantain, pungent garlic and selected meat or seafood hits the tropical-comfort-food spot and alone is worth a visit. Weekday lunch provides a super-cheap $6.99 buffet sporting multiple rustic dishes.     

Sea Farm
3061 Hull St., 230-9100
Sea Farm looks like a regular fish market from the outside — and it is — but the inside reveals a long menu of fresh seafood lunch options. The prices are nothing short of astonishing: A succulent fried-oyster sandwich is $3.98, and a crab cake is less than $3. A lake trout lunch — two pieces of fried fish, spicy coleslaw, two slices of white bread and crinkle-cut French fries — and a soda comes to $5.74 with tax, a deal that cannot be beat.

The Welcome Table Northside
100 E. Brookland Park Blvd., 228-1050
OK, so there’s no actual table at the Welcome Table. In fact, the chair situation is a little sparse, too, given that this is essentially a takeout joint. But when you taste the three pork chops smothered with peppers, onion and brown gravy, and served with two sides and a drink for only $7.95, it won’t matter. Or, try a huge slice of Chef Gordon “Chet” Russell’s “manly” quiche for $5.95, which also includes two sides and a drink.