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Cheap eats

Where do Rick Bayless and other top Chicago chefs go when they crave tasty, unpretentious grub? We follow seven of them to their favorite ethnic enclaves and get them to dish on the city's best, most authentic cheap eats.

	Pork patrol: Frontera Grill’s Rick Bayless gets spicy with snacks (and an unbeatable tres leches cake) in Pilsen.
	His kind of Chinatown: Chef Calvin Soh of Shanghai Terrace reveals how to shop and eat in the Asian haven without getting your duck cooked.
	Italian for beginners: A fine-dining Italian chef steps out of his glass castle to gather fuel on Harlem Avenue.
	Devon intervention: Two chefs—one Pakistani, the other from Bangladesh—devour Little India’s specialty groceries, sweets and handheld eats.
	Comfortably ’Nam: Argyle Street’s encased meats and fragrant herbs bring back sweet Saigon memories for Viet Bistro’s transplanted chef.
	Meet in the Middle... East: The gents from Alhambra Palace show us what to eat, where to shop and how to be treated like royalty on Kedzie Avenue.
	Cruising for kimchi: For the best fermented veggies, blood sausage and fried chicken, Le Lan’s chef insists a trek to Niles is worth your while.
Plus:
	Map It: Cick here for a Google map of all these spots
	Photo gallery: See more of our cheap eats finds in this collection of photos.
	Supersize me: Hey, cheapskates! Save some bread—get two meals for the price of one with these enormous eats.
	Singh out loud: The Check, Please host talks about the show and her fave cheap eats.