Costco is THE place for inexpensive dining

Perched on a bench in the Costco food court, amid the din of clanging shopping carts, 4-year-old Ellie Gottesman nibbles at a huge slice of cheese pizza, swings her dangling legs back and forth, then sips berry smoothie through a straw.

Her little brother Gabe does the same across the plastic picnic table, while their dad, Greg Gottesman, polishes off a hot dog blanketed in sauerkraut and mustard. A foot-long churro sits nearby, its ridges dusty with cinnamon and sugar, ready to become dessert.

It's a typical Saturday for the Gottesman family: Dad announces he's going to Costco; the kids announce they want to go, too — for the food, which to them trumps even kid-favorite McDonald's.

"The reason we come here is because this is their favorite place to eat," said Gottesman, who trundles Ellie, Gabe and usually their older brother Zach from Mercer Island to the Seattle Costco warehouse on Fourth Avenue South. "They love hot dogs. They love pizza. Sometimes we bring my oldest, and we can eat a whole meal for $8."

Beyond the discounted luxury sheets, megapacks of toilet paper, gallon buckets of laundry detergent and deals on tires and paperbacks, Issaquah-based Costco draws people in droves to devour its deals: a $1.50 hot dog or Polish sausage and soda; 18-inch pizzas for $9.95; a $1.55 frozen yogurt sundae topped with berries. Around the globe, Costco shoppers are lining up at food courts for local favorites like baked potatoes in England and bulgogi beef in Asia.

It's still not a free lunch, but to many shoppers it's a consistently good, cheap meal that sends them away satisfied, an essential in a era when eating on the run has grown more commonplace.

That consistency drives some to visit the store even when they have no shopping to do.

Witness four Microsoft workers chowing down on pizza and hot dogs at the Issaquah Costco food court on a recent sunny afternoon.

Programmer Jared Ko said he and his friends walk the 10 minutes to Costco several times each month for lunch and to try the free food samples inside the warehouse. A few tables away, MaryAlison Castleberry of Newcastle crunched her way through a Caesar salad. The transplant from England said Costco's the only place she's ever felt compelled to order a hot dog. Now she visits the food court nearly every time she's in the area.

"It's brilliant. It's very convenient, very cheap. It's consistently good, always the same standard."

Longtime relationships with suppliers have enabled Costco to keep the hot dog-and-soda combo price steady for more than 20 years, even as wages and other costs increase, said Chief Executive Jim Sinegal.

Despite the low price, he says, Costco's food courts manage to turn a profit. The trick is keeping things simple. Costco menus are limited to around a dozen items at a time, most easy to cook. Changes are rare. For the most part, food courts from Cancun to Tokyo feature the same items, with a few regional variations.

The Northwest stands apart from the rest of the country in one regard: Costco shoppers here order more Polish sausages than regular hot dogs.

Mary Robello of Seattle likes her Polish with sauerkraut.

"They're definitely the best hot dogs I've ever eaten, except when we went to Nathan's at Coney Island, and I think that was just the atmosphere," Robello said, sitting in the food court with her 17-year-old daughter, Marie.

Robello and Marie have capped off their monthly trips to Costco with a Polish since Marie was a little kid.

"Where else can you get lunch for $1.50?" Robello said.

While all that food may be easy on the wallet, many in the health community recommend eating in moderation at Costco and other stores with megaportions to take it easy on your health.

"People need to be conscious of serving sizes in particular," said Kristin Wurz of the American Heart Association. "I don't want to single out Costco, but their portion sizes tend to be pretty large.

"A slice of pizza is probably enough for two people."

Karen Gaudette: 206-515-5618 or kgaudette@seattletimes.com