Egg ‘n Bacon Pizza for $9 at Coco Brooks

Calgary, it seems to me, has always been a fairly pricy place to eat out. Even through an oil crash and pandemic, it’s not uncommon to still spend $15 and more for lunch. And while it’s good to support all local restaurants, a lot of people who have lost jobs or are otherwise struggling through this pandemic perhaps can’t afford these prices.

Thus I’m reviving a much-earlier series on cheap eats in Calgary. Specifically, these are restaurants or food counters where you can get a good lunch for $10 or less. A number are places I’ve reviewed before, and even if their prices have inched up in recent years, they still haven’t crossed the magic $10 threshold. Others are new to me but offering great deals.

As always, if you have a favourite cheap eats place or two of your own, let me know through the comments section of this blog.

It’s been at least 15 years since I was introduced to Coco Brooks, in an industrial part of southeast Calgary. They’ve since moved to an airier place nearby.

Coco Brooks is in an industrial district in southeast Calgary

But not much else has changed, especially on the menu: calzones, pasta dishes and a bunch of salads. Nearly everything is under $10.

Through the years, the signature offering has been individual-sized (eight-inch) pizzas, which you can bake at home or buy frozen. But for maximum enjoyment, order them at the counter, grab a seat and wait about 10 minutes for your bubbling-hot box of pizza to arrive.

It’s a little less vibrant during Covid takeout only

There are about two dozen types of pizza on offer, including bacon double cheese, barbecue chicken and pepperoni mushroom. They all start at about $9.

But I always get the same thing: egg ‘n bacon. Sounds weird, right? But it’s a fantastic mixture of scrambled egg, aged cheddar, mozza and smoked bacon. If you didn’t know, you’d swear there was no egg in there, just something light and fluffy. At $9.05, it’s a heck of a deal that I have to be pretty hungry to scarf down in one sitting.

I only seem to visit Coco Brooks about every two years. But I always know what I’m getting.

Coco Brooks
640 42 Avenue SE and two other Calgary locations
Monday to Saturday 9 am-6 pm. Closed Sunday
403-243-2677