Skooby's > Reviews > Los Angeles Times: Food

Wow, What a Deal!
Los Angeles Times, September 13, 2006

Whether it's saving $200 on the price of an airline ticket to the Mayan Riviera or snagging a pair of Christian Louboutin sandals priced to move on the last day of the Barneys Warehouse sale, there's something about finding a great deal that's supremely gratifying. And if it's three-star dim sum for the price of a paperback or a cold, frothy chocolate egg cream that's just 50 cents (in Beverly Hills, no less) — it's just that much more delicious.

So what tasty bargains await hungry Angelenos? The best fish taco in town, filled with crisply fried halibut, crunchy cabbage, salsa and crema for 99 cents. Two cocktails for the price of one in a swanky setting from a top mixologist. A steak dinner at the beach for less than $20. A three-course chef's tasting menu that might include impeccable yellowtail sashimi with bacon and preserved lemon, suckling pig confit with fresh garbanzo beans and blackberry gastrique, and coconut panna cotta with pistachio-cumin brittle — for only 30 bucks.

These are just a few of the 25 tasty bargains that Food section writers discovered after pounding the pavement, from Santa Monica to the Sunset Strip, from North Hollywood to Westminster, from Koreatown to Little Tokyo. Sometimes the delicious deal depends on knowing when to get what where — so step lively if you want that free bottle of wine or a blow-your-mind-but-not-bust-your-budget bento box lunch. Others, like a superior Vietnamese sandwich for $1.75 or a perfectly spiced samosa for 59 cents, are perennial steals. Here are our favorites.

9. Big Box of Fries at Skooby's Hot Dogs, $3.70.
Skooby's may be a hot dog joint, but it's the fries that are killer. A mix of thick strips and thin chips, twice-fried in peanut oil, sprinkled with Skooby's special spice mix, they're worth crossing town for. A Skooby's Skoop of Fries costs $2.31 but a Big Box provides double the fun. And nothing could be better than people-watching from a red-cushioned stool on a Hollywood Boulevard corner while dipping a crispy-brown Skooby's fry in house-made aioli.

Skooby's Hot Dogs
6654 Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood, CA 90028
(323) HOT-DOGS

502 Pacific Coast Highway
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
(310) 376-1292

www.skoobys.com

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