13 top Miami chefs on their go-to cheap eats from before they made it big

“Pepperoni pizza. But when I was a young chef, I used to go to this Vietnamese restaurant in Houston, in downtown. I used to order Hutieu, a Vietnamese dish. It’s a seafood and pork soup with clear mung bean noodles. It was like $5 or $6. There was this other place where I used to get massive burritos for $3.85. It was called Chacho’s. They were huge and I would get a steak burrito.”

“The loaded potato griller from Taco Bell. It’s still on the menu. It’s $.99. Also the 29-cent cheeseburger from McDonald’s, when that existed. I don’t eat a lot of caviar.”

“It was probably a piece of pizza in the United States at the beginning of my career. I moved here and all I had was pizza and burgers. I also cooked rice and [made] nigiri. It’s cheap as long you know how to make it.” 

“It had to be rice with a fried egg. That’s the best dish. I’ve even had it on my birthday. It’s sort of disgusting, but I also add creamed corn to the rice and eggs. It’s delicious, and I just happen to really like creamed corn.”

“I used to eat peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches, BBQ potato chips and chocolate milk. It’s good.”

“I was a master at making mystery meals from stuff I found in the cupboards. I lived in L.A. 10 years ago, had three roommates and was super broke, so I would whip up crazy stuff. I think that’s what prepared me for the cooking competition shows I did. But I grew up on arepas, and those are cheap, so that’s usually my go-to for a cheap meal.”

[Editor’s note: Barrientes was a winner on Scott Conant’s “24 Hour Restaurant Battle” and “BBQ Blitz,” and participated on “Guy’s Grocery Games”—the hardest of all, he said.]

“I used to go to shitty restaurants that have closed down. I loved Cart Driver in Denver. The oysters and pizza are awesome.”

“I love Taco Bell. I still eat it late-night. I get a Burrito Supreme value meal with a Dr. Pepper soda, and you have to get an order of nachos with extra jalapeños. I go through like 30 packs of Fire sauce, too. I have a pile of all their different hot sauces and I pour them all on top. This has been going on for like 30 years. When I lived in New York City, I used to take off my chef’s jacket (I worked in a Mexican restaurant) and would sneak my Taco Bell into the restaurant and eat it downstairs in my office.”

“The noodle cups, the ramen noodles you get for like 79 cents. But I’d amp them up with a raw egg and julienne veggies that were in the fridge. Then you add a tablespoon of MSG powder to it. It was really good, like a mini-ramen.”

“My go-to cheap meal is still a Cuban sandwich from La Carreta.”

“Simple: A turkey sandwich with Doritos and Welch’s grape juice.”

“Pancake houses. I still love making pancakes.”

“My favorite thing is pasta with butter and Parmigiano!”