Alaska News

Dining review: Cheap, fast and filling at the Costco food court

The cheapest lunch is probably the PBJ you bring from home. The second-cheapest is the $1.50 kosher hot dog at Costco.

The outsized wiener can be dressed with ketchup (if you must), two kinds of mustard, onions, relish and sauerkraut. Guaranteed to be free of pig lips (see "kosher" above), it comes with a refillable soft drink. Beat that, dollar menu.

Is it a glamorous meal? Nope. But it's cheap and filling -- and so is the rest of the food court menu. Little wonder that it's always hopping. (Note: You don't need to be a Costco member to eat there.)

The Costco food court has the same bare-bones vibe as the rest of the warehouse: concrete floors, white plastic picnic tables and paper napkins. And value: The most expensive thing on the menu is an 18-inch pizza for $9.95.

For $27.58 our group of four had supper and dessert -- and lunch the next day, since we couldn't begin to finish the sprightly chicken Caesar salad ($3.99).

My 9-year-old nephew confided that he always orders the chicken bake ($2.99): "It fills me up." The good-sized turnover is made of a thin, pizza-like dough wrapped around chunks of tender chicken, bits of bacon and a creamy blend of melted cheese and Caesar dressing. He wound up taking a third of it home to reheat the next day.

His mom's hot turkey-provolone sandwich ($3.99) was housed in a toothsome ciabatta bun. (Having an in-store bakery means the breads are always fresh.) Its generous amounts of deli turkey and cheese weren't in the least overpowered by the tomato, red onion and basil and garlic dressing.

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My own barbecue brisket sandwich ($4.99) was the only disappointment. It arrived wrapped in a white cardboard collar whose base was soaked in a red-tinged oil. The beef was pull-apart tender, the sauce nicely tangy and the coleslaw good and crunchy. Ultimately, though, the sandwich was too greasy to finish.

Costco pizza ($1.99 per slice) has its fans; it's not unusual to see people walking out with four or five take-out boxes. But if you're a thin-crust aficionado, you should probably skip this pie. The sauce and toppings are flavorful but its base is quite bread-y, more like a pizza roll than a pizza crust.

Need a fast pick-me-up? Order one of the "very berry" smoothies ($1.45), whose sugar factor is off the charts. The strawberry-blackberry flavor adds a bit of tartness but overall this is one of the sweetest beverages ever to pass my lips. A couple of sips and I was happy to hand it back to the 14-year-old in the group.

That teen also enjoyed a foot-long churro ($1), whose pastry-like flavor was greatly enhanced by cinnamon and sugar, while the rest of the group shared a chocolate-vanilla-swirl frozen yogurt ($1.35) and a berry sundae ($1.65). The sundae was particularly good, its strawberry-blackberry compote providing a nice kick to the vanilla yogurt. Both were served in what looked like 12-ounce cups, which makes them the best frozen-dessert deal in town.

On another visit I reacquainted myself with the kosher dog and tried the Polish sausage (also $1.50 including drink) for the first time. There's not much flavor difference, although the Polish has a little more heft and just a touch of pepper. Those price tags haven't changed since 1985, which is why the company sold 69 million hot franks last year.

Sometimes you want a restaurant meal and sometimes you just want a quick, affordable bite. When you do, Costco awaits.

Donna Freedman, a former Anchorage Daily News reporter and reviewer, is a staff writer at Money Talks News and blogs at DonnaFreedman.com.

Costco food court

Hours: 10 a.m.-8:30 p.m. weekdays, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday

Location: 330 W. Dimond Blvd. and 4125 DeBarr Road

Contact: 907-349-2335 (Dimond) and 907-269-9510 (DeBarr)

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Donna Freedman

Freelance writer Donna Freedman is a veteran Alaska journalist who has written for the Anchorage Daily News and many other publications. She blogs about money and midlife at DonnaFreedman.com.

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