EDIBLE: Monterey County’s top bargains for the belly, from Lovers to Randy’s to Tommy’s.

A beautiful thing happens hundreds of times a week, in a humble little mom-and-pop spot named Tommy’s Restaurant (582-9503), in the heart of blue-collar Marina. There, in a bare-bones converted house behind a Del Monte Boulevard gas station, Judy Lee asks, “How would like your eggs?”

Her husband Tommy whips them up and sizzles some hash browns. She adds toast to the plate, slabs on some butter, and the “Working Man’s Breakfast” lands at one of the six settings at the old-school counter beneath the “CASH ONLY” sign.

For $1.49.

Amazingly, she’s apologetic the price is so… high.

A sheet of paper taped to the front window reads, “Due to increases in supply costs prices have changed. Thank you. [Smiley face].”

“It’s the eggs!” Judy says. “I can’t afford the eggs! Sometimes the price is higher on Friday than it was Tuesday!”

Yes, after four decades, the literal Best Deal in Town has nudged up. The Lees deserve a key to the city for keeping it at $0.99 for no fewer than 42 years.

Not that the value stops there. The woman next to me at the counter, Marina resident Maggie Weaver, comes almost every day for scrambled eggs, toast, fried rice (instead of hash browns), orange juice and coffee (to go): $5, tip included.

“I can hardly do this at home,” she says. “And I get to read the newspaper.”

I order three well-done pancakes, two eggs over hard, hash browns and what looks and tastes like turkey bacon for $3.75. Judy’s attention is swift and sweet. I’m out of there in 15 minutes and have leftovers for mid-morning; 8am has barely arrived and it’s already an A-plus day.

KRML radio mastermind and fellow gastronomic gumshoe Mike Hale recently set out to see how he’d do eating out on $10 a day and pummeled himself with whole meals made up of a lonely tamal or a single slice of pizza. Here I offer some other tools to tackle the mission of eating for $10 or less, keeping with Hale’s rules: “no fast-food, no national chains, no hanging out at Costco all day for free samples, no free wharf chowder, no pre-packaged, plastic-wrapped food from a convenience store, no coffee or smoothies.” Tommy’s has to be part of that list. (Send thoughts to edible@mcweekly.com; look for more bargains in the Weekly’s student guide Aug. 27.) And dig in:

$10 • All-you-can-eat pork sliders (Mondays only) • Salinas City BBQ (758-2227) • The most insane value here is that you get free sliders every Monday if you set the record for most sliders sucked down in one sitting. Play it right, and you don’t need to eat anything else for several days.

$9.90 • Sunset supper • Beach House at Lovers Point (375-2345) • The reason the ocean-view icon has the busiest rush in the county: If you’re seated between 4-5:30pm, a range of nice plates – including sole almandine, grilled salmon filet, cider-cured pork chop and bacon-wrapped meatloaf – are under $10.

$9.85 • Worker’s lunch • il Vecchio (324-4282) • The rotating pastas – at least two choices, like orecchiette al boscaiola with housemade sausage and polentacon verdure with Parmesan and pecorino – come steaming by tableside and are all you can eat, just like the fresh family-style salads. Lots of quality food.

$8.99 • All-you-can-eat pizza lunch buffet • Mountain Mike’s in Carmel (624-1007) • Different topping combinations appear at the salad bar/buffet, as do some greens, and folks on the hunt for maximum bang for the lunch buck.

$5 • Hamburger combo • Main Street Bakery and Catering (771-CAKE) • A homemade burger or grilled ham and cheese with a side salad or fries and a soda means old-school satisfaction.

$4.50 • The breakfast sandwich • Randy’s Sandwich Shop (375-9161) • The signature Jaws sandwich, with five meats and three cheeses, is a value just like the $5 Godfather. But it’s the bulky breakfast star, with sausage, bacon or ham, that can serve as breakfast and lunch.

$4.50 • Sex in the City sushi roll • Yama Sushi (646-9262) • OK, it’s technically $9 for eight-piece maki rolls with shrimp tempura, avocado and half tuna and half salmon on top. But since all rolls are half off all the time, that’s four-and-a-half bones for a large special roll. Maki for that price never happens.

$3.99 • Bahn mi sandwich • Chopstix (372-2622, 899-2622) • Whether it’s the combo with pâté and pork or the solid veggie with crunchy daikon, cucumber, carrot and tofu, it’s fresh for less.

$3 • Two slices of pepperoni pizza • Pelican Pizza (649-4040) • These types of deals don’t exist in this decade; $0.50 more for solid combination slices.

$2.99 • Breakfast burrito • Troia’s Market (375-9810) • Key words: eggs, ham, potato, white American cheese, homemade salsa, XXL value.

$2.50 • Carnitas taco • Taqueria Zarape • Here the signature tacos, like the deliciously juicy, citrusy carnitas, are too meaty to eat easily. So I separate the two tortillas and make two from one. A great lunch, particularly buttressed by the generous salsa bar and chips.

$1.50 • Hand roll • Asian Market (384-3000) • The Marina ethnic grocery styles a seven-inch roll with cucumber, fish cake, krab, daikon root and carrot, made fresh every two hours, for cheap.

$1.49 • Working Man’s Breakfast • Tommy’s Restaurant (582-9503) • The once and future king of frugal food.

Quickbites

• While harvest hits awfully early and California Wine Month beckons, area wines just got a galvanizing boost with a law requiring locally made wines be labeled Monterey County. More on the blog, www.mcweekly.com/edible.

• Moroccan-spiced pizzas, bulgogi broccolini, Szechuan green beans and pasilla pepper tamales are not what I expected to see on the menu when I stopped byGiorgio’s Italian (800-7573) for a media lunch last week. But there they were. More on the new items on the blog.

• He’s keeping the list of food trucks secret until the week of the event, but longtime radio personality, hot dog wrangler and party promoter Domingo “Dingo”Rivera has an ambitious and delicious food truck gathering scheduled for the end of the month at Northridge Shopping Mall in Salinas. Between five and seven trucks will appear noon-4pm or 1-5pm Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29-30, in the open area next to Main Street at Northridge.

• Travis Tucker of Ketel One Vodka and Nolet’s Gin steps in as guest mixologist at The Clement’s C Restaurant + Bar (809-0666) on Cannery Row 5-7pm Friday, Aug. 14, with special creations and deals.

• Alvarado Street Brewery hosts its first Brewmasters dinner Friday, Aug. 21, with Drake’s Brewing collaborating on beer pairings to go with things like orange-zested oysters, green Thai curry crayfish and coffee-rubbed beef tenderloin ($65, www.alvaradostreetbrewery.com).

• Carmel Valley Coffee Roasting Company (899-1996) has its newest outpost in Seaside in the City Center at Broadway and Fremont. Get the details on the blog later today.

• Jack London’s Bar & Grill (624-2336), a Carmel institution across decades and two locations, shutters at the end of the month.

• Speaking of Carmel bars, Brophy’s Tavern (624-2476) is getting the boot from its new landlords. But they have until next year to get it figured out.

• The Whaling Station (373-3778) brings back escargot after a 25-year hiatus thanks to new ownership.

• George Bernard Shaw: “There is no sincerer love than the love of food.”