I’m gonna be so real right now: I was straight STAR STRUCK to call into Ryan Seacrest. The adrenaline was flowing and I just went with it – I think it worked! If you watch Cheap Eats, read this blog or peep my Instagram you know tacos and burgers are going to be in the mix. Well we also found love for a creamy cake, Italian cold cuts and hey – listening is better than reading so check out my ...

Ahh, Charlottesville. Or “Cville” if you are a local. Or just loco for the UVA Cavaliers. This quaint East Coast college town might seem timeless thanks to the Jeffersonian architecture of the University of Virginia’s campus but the food scene is very much in the 21st century. This episode of Cheap Eats starts off with familiar enough territory at Bodo’s Bagels. And let’s face it, what college kid didn’t survive off the occasional bagel? But Cheap Eats also found familiar ...

And so Season 3 began. Fitting that we start with Annapolis, MD for this little town was where Cheap Eats was “born”. In the winter of 2014, days before Christmas, I flew out to Annapolis to shoot what would become the inspiration for Cheap Eats: a 10 minute short of Ali Khan literally eating Annapolis, with crab on the brain, #crabcakedestiny if you will. For a town that just ain’t that big, the food is unforgettable and it really does ...

Cheap Eats returns with all new episodes this summer, Wednesday nights, starting July 12th 10pm EST/ 7pm PST. In his third season, Food Blogger Ali Khan, aka yours truly, heads first to the Mid Atlantic, scoping out Cheap Eats in Annapolis MD, Charlottesville and Alexandria VA and Washington DC. Then the Cheap Eats tour heads out west to Portlandia aka Portland OR, and Spokane WA. Things shift south when Cheap Eats heads to Nashville TN, before crossing the Mason-Dixon line ...

It often starts in a backyard where a Dad dumps lighter fluid over a pyramid of charcoal briquettes. Hotdogs stand at the ready to be charred. You inevitably eat outside. For a moment, the modern suburban American is somehow a little more connected to nature and the primal beginnings of human civilization. Eating around the fire is both ancient ritual and modern day American food tradition. In either case, while the scenario is fun, eating well from fire is often ...

The things you just may not know about your hometown. Like finding out that St. Louis is the chess capital of the world. A fact to surely take pride in but something that also seems just a little trivial when placed next to the earliest memories of one’s life. The first time I saw fireworks was off the banks of the mighty Mississippi. The heat of a humid St. Louis summer is synonymous with watching professional baseball(Go Cards!). And then ...

The time has come to put Des Moines on your food map. I can’t say exactly when this Midwest town shifted from land of pork tenderloin sandwiches(you have company Indy) to a James Bear nominated food scene but the food renaissance of the 21st century is making its presence known in Des Moines. Of course there are somethings that remain timeless in Des Moines, like Miller High Life paired with quality fried anything or a college bar that doubles as ...

Chattanooga. Nooga. Gig City. Chat-town. Maybe you have heard of all the nicknames, or maybe your knowledge of this growing tech hub of the south is limited to the famous choo-choo. Whatever camp you fall in, you know now that Chat-town loves their food. Like big brother Nashville to the north, the Chattanooga food scene is rooted in the ways of the South but is also keenly aware of the adventurous palates of 21st century American diners. The Cheap Eats ...

Omaha. I just didn’t see it coming. Sure, a catch phrase like “Omahappening” puts you in a positive mood. Maybe you’re thinking that Cornhusker pride serves up some hearty Midwestern fare that starts with all day tailgates and ends with a serious steakhouse scene. Well that’s part of it. And so is hip neighborhoods, a thriving music scene and a quiet storm of Farm to Table cuisine. I came to Omaha thinking it would be all about the beef but ...

So how do you say it? I went with version one, the one with the drawl, and it earned me more than a few nods of approval. Invoking that drawl also reminds you that Louisville is a little bit Southern. As Baltimore straddles a line on the cultural map of the East Coast and the South, so does Louisville, with the South and the Midwest. This city might surprise you with a diverse set of famous former residents like Hunter ...