Business travelers can eat well while saving

— -- Business travelers can savor great food on the road without taking a big bite out of their companies' expense budgets.

For about $50 per day, it's possible to enjoy three sensational meals at restaurants in the nation's largest cities.

At the request of USA TODAY, Zagat Survey identified what it considers the top two restaurants in 10 cities for breakfast under $10, lunch under $12 and dinner under $30. Zagat Survey, which publishes guidebooks based on reviews by restaurant customers, rated the restaurants on food quality. In nearly every case, the eateries are in the central city.

"With so many food options available in all of these cities, you really don't have to break the bank when you're on the road for business," CEO Tim Zagat says.

And the winners are

Diners may have to be selective about menu choices at some restaurants to adhere to a $50-per-day budget.

Zagat's picks include restaurants with familiar fare, such as mouth-watering burgers and to-die-for pizza, as well as ethnic eateries with relatively unknown delights such as arancini and arepas.

At Boston's Galleria Umberto, for example, Zagat Survey says diners can lunch on arancini (baked rice balls) that "taste like heaven."

The No. 1 bargain restaurant for dinner in the 10 cities — Boston, New York, Washington, Miami, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle — is New York's Caracas Arepa Bar. The small East Village eatery serves "wildly satisfying Venezuelan street food," including arepas, corn-meal bread stuffed with a choice of about 20 fillings.

Maribel Araujo, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Aristides Barrios, says the best one, priced at $6.75, is stuffed with shredded beef, black beans, sweet plantains and cheese. Those fillings "bring out the essence of the arepa," she says.

Zagat Survey rates Seattle's Bakery Nouveau as the No. 1 bargain restaurant for breakfast, and Chicago's Hot Doug's as the No. 1 bargain eatery for lunch.