Eat'n Cheap

Tostado’s Grill
3500 Eastern Ave.
871-0212

EV has been highlighting many of the best places on the Eastside to get a great deal on lunch (without breaking down and settling for a Mc something or another). We’ve seen some good grub at great prices but this trip takes the cake.
Tostado’s in East End has a lunch deal you have to see to believe. Monday thru Friday Tostado’s offers a special priced ($6.95) lunch menu that features seven selections. You can choose from a chimichanga (pictured top right) a Reuben sandwich (pictured bottom left) a chicken sandwich, a fish sandwich, chef or taco salads and a burrito. Sandwiches come with fries or chips, soup or salad and a drink. Talk about a combo meal!
My companion thought a Reuben would be a change of pace and ordered it with the homemade chips instead of fries (as per the owners recommendation). He was right, the chips were fresh cut flash fried potato slices and they went great with the spicy mayo we asked to try. The Reuben came complete on grilled rye bread with tender corned beef, sauerkraut and thousand lsland dressing. I also really dug the homemade chicken noodle soup it came with. We gave the Reuben a big thumbs up for the quality as well as the price.
A full menu featuring Mexican, Italian and German is available.
Maybe I’m a sucker for chimi’s and maybe I just love the idea of all that goodness rolled up, fried crisp and smothered in cheese... I really don’t know. What I do know is that
whenever I see a chimi I eat it. I love em’ and with this chimi there was oh so much to love about it. For starters the portion is perfect for those of us who actually have an appetite worthy of taking the “chimi challenge”. I mean this thing is about a pound and a half (or two) of lively lip smack’n’ lunch grub. No matter whether you fill it with chicken, steak or beef it’s still coming out one fat chimi. It’s served flanked on both sides with homemade rice and beans, topped off with sour cream and chives. Your gonna love the chimi that’s for sure. Your gonna want to save half for later... but don’t. Eat it all and savor the wonderful warm feeling you get when you finish a good meal and feel it was well worth the cost. Cost? Like I said $6.95. I know you would rather just pull up to the window and grab a bag of semi-warm classic bbq bacon cheddar triple beef with everything concoction. I realize a “dollar” menu attracts the cheap feeders like blue hairs to a bingo bash. When you have the urge to eat the fried blood and beaks the fast food chains serve up just picture the bloody mixed up meat mush in a huge vat being stirred, squished out and stamped into a flash frozen “all beef” patty. Then picture the teenager who smacks a stack in the machine, slaps the meat on the bun (pre-grill marked side up), squirts it down with the goop they call condiments and sticks it in the warmer window. They usually make as many as they can and rely on some computer generated daily statistic spreadsheet to gauge just how many they’ll need in the next few hours. Crazy talk! I want my food cooked for my order. I want beef that could be sold by a butcher. I want chicken that at least looks like chicken. On second thought I want chicken that is chicken. The only thing “all beef patty” means is that there is no turkey, pork, or whatever meat other than beef. It has no reference to additives, fillers, chemicals, MSG, or whatever else they can come up with. However, any part of a cow is fair game. This ain’t eat’n folks... never has been... never will be.
You can find a decent deal at many local restaurants, if you can’t your either not looking hard enough or not reading EV. Now that you’ve read this article if you happen to be near East End for lunch you have no excuses. Tostado’s is serving it fresh and delicious and still keeping it as cheap as the foul fast food filth. They may not have a “dollar” menu but then again neither does any good restaurant in Cincy. If your lunch destination has a drive-thru... drive on by. Your colon will thank you.
Tostado’s also has a full bar, and karaoke at your disposal. Here’s a fun lunch idea. Take your boss out, drink some mezcal Margarita’s (I recommend at least 2), eat a chimi and sing “Take this job and shove it” on the mic. Bet you can’t have that much fun with a plastic play land and a happy meal!