When it comes to cheap eats, it seems the past 12 months in Toronto were all about three things - burritos, burgers and poutine. Yup, this was the year that burgers went gourmet. We had hints of this in 2007 with the emergence of The Burger Shoppe in Riverside; but since then it seems that almost every downtown 'hood has claimed a Mcburger alternative of its own, from the bison variety in Parkdale to organic on King West to an Australian pineapple concoction in Cabbagetown.

And what better to pair with burgers than poutine! Was it me or did half the restaurants in the city scramble to add some variation of La Belle Province's gravy and curds staple to their menu? But none went as far as a new spot at Adelaide and Simcoe that features 15 different varieties including the gut busting butter chicken poutine.

And then there were the burrito wars. It wasn't too long ago that Toronto was a burrito depraved city where we had to settle for eating them with a knife and fork at Mexitaco. But I guess when Chipotle moves into Toronto Life Square and charges close to $10, the bells start ringing at MBA schools leading savvy local entrepreneurs to stake out turf for a hot burrito franchise of their own.

And let's not forget the Burrito Boyz drama which has brought us Burrito's and undoubtedly an even more cut throat burrito battle to come.

Despite the onslaught of burgers, burritos and poutine, some other offerings managed to find there way into the best new cheap eats of 2008. Here's a look at the top 10:

Manpuku photo by Squeakyrat on Flickr