Best $3 menu
In a town where getting a decent meal for $5 is difficult, finding one for under $3 borders on impossible. But it can be done! At New Saigon Sandwich, on the western edge of Chinatown, a boxed meal of teriyaki chicken with sticky rice will set you back $2.50. A Vietnamese cold-cut sandwich - served on French bread, with an array of toppings - is a mere $2.25; the other seven sandwich options, ranging from barbecue chicken to vegetarian tofu, require an extra quarter. Big spenders willing to part with three bills have still more options on the boxed-meal front, including curried chicken or vegetables and tofu, both of which come with rice or noodles. The prices alone are shocking, but throw in the fact that these offerings happen to be quite tasty, and New Saigon Sandwich looms as one of Boston's best-kept culinary secrets. Give the PB&J a rest - at these prices, you really can't afford not to have Vietnamese for lunch.

New Saigon Sandwich, 696 Washington Street, Boston, (617) 542-6296.