I'm currently in a coastal American city, and all food is expensive here! You can have a casual lunch or dinner at a ramen shop, a Neapolitan pizzeria, a Thai restaurant, or an American burger spot and you will pay $25-30 per person after tax and tip at each of them. (Assuming you don't drink alcohol, and assuming you avoid both bottom-barrel and upscale places.)

There doesn't really seem to be a "cheap local default" option like there would be in Japan, or Portugal. I guess McDonald's sort of fills that niche, but this neighbourhood doesn't have one. The two best "cheap" options near me are both Vietnamese.

One nice thing about this is that there's no penalty for experiencing a variety of food.

I've been able get better or equivalent results than most non-japanese ramen places near me by starting with miso paste and fresh noodles from the local h-mart, without the massive amount of work that typically goes into ramen.

Not everyone can fly to Italy for a pizza to save money! But seriously, pizza in most countries is horrible. When I lived in Ecuador the pizza had some really funky cheese. I'm not sure if you can even call it cheese. That's probably why it is almost impossible to order a plain cheese pizza. They are trying to cover it up with an assortment of vegetables and meats.