Where do the savvy people go in Highline to get a great meal for $10 or less?

Hungry? Seattle, a restaurant guidebook, singles out three southwest Sound hot spots -- Bai Tong Thai Restaurant in SeaTac, Schuller's Bakery in Burien and the Salvadorian Bakery in North Highline.

Hungry? Seattle is part of a series of food guidebooks designed to fit in a glove box, a handbag or even a jacket pocket. A second edition is set to come out in April.

Other “Hungry” cities include Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Minneapolis/St. Paul, New York, San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto.

The book identifies Bai Tong at 15859 International Blvd. S. as the place "Thai airline personnel go when homesick and hungry.

"Bai Tong's origins is the stuff of local food-lore: over a decade ago a former flight attendant for Thai Airlines signed a contract with the airline to provide authentic Thai cuisine to flight crews on layover. Her business blossomed with an international reputation," the guidebook reports.

“Other places only care about keeping their customers happy,” said Paul Ekratnat, a member of the staff at Bai Tong. “Here we care about what the customers want and we offer them traditional Thai food.”

Harold Taw, who reviewed the restaurant for Hungry? Seattle, has been disappointed by many Thai restaurants in the area, claiming that they tend to sweeten their foods too much by adding things like ketchup or sugar.

“But not Bai Tong,” Taw said. “It’s one of the few (Thai) places in the city that keep it traditional.”

How long the restaurant will remain in its location -- a former A&W Root Beer drive-in -- is in doubt because of airport expansion plans.

Dubbed by the book as a “stylish surprise in Burien,” Schuller’s Bakery at 15217-A 21st Ave. S.W. has since been renamed Maplewild Bakery and Cafe.

Kelly Carr took over the bakery from previous owner, Lori Schuller, after graduating from South Seattle Community College’s Culinary Arts School.

Carr worked for Schuller for two years prior to her departure and has enjoyed it ever since.

“I grew up in the area and it’s a good opportunity,” Carr said.

The only difficult thing so far has been keeping up with the work.

Carr hadn’t had any help until last spring, when she hired someone to help with the baking so she can concentrate on the cooking, which she would rather do.

“I’ve been doing everything myself,” she said. “I’m in the process of getting everything done and getting new signs put up.”

The bakery still offers the great organic, vegetarian food raved about in the guidebook. However, carnivores can now find delicious sandwiches, too, according to Carr.

Thanks to her Seahurst neighborhood location, people living in the area don’t need a sign to let them know this bakery is a great place to pick up snacks, breakfast or even lunch.

In addition to baked goods, Carr offers lasagna, casseroles, soups and quiches daily, and everything is made from scratch.

“A lot of people walk up or ride their bikes here,” Carr said.

When it’s nice out, Carr opens the back patio and lets her customers choose between sitting outside in the sun or staying inside, where the walls are adorned by paintings done by local artists.

The Salvadorian Bakery and Restaurant at 1719 S.W. Roxbury St. is another “hidden gem” where the guidebook's authors say customers can "stack these pupusas like hotcakes.

"... the Latin community knows this spot -- but it's catching on with gringos," reviewer Roberta Cruger notes.

Open since 1996, the restaurant was first just a bakery until locals started frequenting the place more often and requested entrees like pupusas, a homemade tortilla filled with meat, cheese and beans.

Wanting to please their customers, sisters and co-owners Ana Castro and Aminta Elgin remodeled the bakery into a full-fledged restaurant, serving everything from sweet treats to soups and tamales, Salvadorian style.

Castro, whose warmth and friendliness make the place feel like home, is happy with the way things turned out.

“We were the first El Salvadorian bakery and restaurant,” she said with a smile.

Castro and her family owned a bakery in her native land, but she was forced to leave it behind in the 1980s due to conflicts in Central America.

“We never knew we were going to use our knowledge (of running a bakery) here,” Castro said. “We didn’t know all of the rules here at first, but we did it. The whole family got together to help each other.”

Cruger, editor of Hungry? Seattle, observes that If you rearrange the letters in Seattle, you can spell out the words "let’s eat."

The book is a guidebook to the best neighborhood restaurants, bakeries and cafes in and around the Emerald City. It contains more than 300 reviews of diverse places, organized by neighborhood, all of which offer meals for under $10.

"A friend of mine who had done work on the Los Angeles edition mentioned it to me," Cruger said. "So I contacted the publisher and next thing you know, I'm editing the book.

"I remember sitting in my boyfriend's restaurant in New York night after night, trying to figure out why no one was there. One review in The New York Times changed all that. Suddenly he had a book and a celebrity chef. That's what inspired me, that's what inspired this book."

For more information on Hungry? Seattle, visit www.hungrycity.com, or pick it up at local bookstores.