Best Restaurant Dishes For $12 and Under

Chef Ryan Poli favors Roman-style gnocchi, which he makes by stirring semolina on the stove in an indulgent mix of black-truffle broth, chopped truffles, truffle oil and a little Parmesan butter. Once the semolina firms up, Poli cuts it into precise squares and fries them until they're crisp on the outside, but still creamy inside ($12). —Tina Ujlaki

Except for the Italian goat cheese, every part of the lamb-meatball sliders is made in-house: Andrew Carmellini grinds the lamb with onion, simmers the meatballs in tomato sauce, then serves them on Parmesan-onion buns with cucumber pickles ($12 per order). They're fantastic and reminiscent of the old-school type—the kind one might think Carmellini grew up with. —Kate Krader

Every restaurant I eat out in now serves fried chicken, from high-end places to gastropubs. At Simpatica, chef David Kreifels serves the curry-seasoned chicken at brunch, paired with cakey waffles and a vanilla-infused dried-fruit syrup ($12). —Kate Krader

Charles Phan pays homage to the noodle shops of northern China with a menu full of classic dishes. His sweet-and-sour pork, which he makes with pasture-raised pigs, is exemplary, but I'm going back for Phan's seafood soup, a searingly spicy broth packed with wheat noodles and copious amounts of wild shrimp, white bass, scallops and squid. The soup, served only at lunchtime, is a bargain at $10. —Jan Newberry

Tini's signature recipe is the four-inch Tini weenie, a tribute to the wiener joint that used to occupy the space. The house-made, all-pork frank ($7) is juicy and well seasoned, with the perfect snap; it's served in a toasted, buttered bun and topped with a spiced chowchow (pickle-and-vegetable relish) made with a mix of cabbage, carrots and onions. —Kate Heddings

For his Philly cheesesteak, avant-garde chef José Andrés eschews the usual lumpen bread for something he calls "air bread," a thin, crisp, hollowed-out roll; trades bland cheese goo for tangy cheddar espuma (foam); and ditches greasy shreds of mystery meat for slices of seared wagyu beef sprinkled with fleur de sel and micro chives. His creation feels as decadent as the original, but it's as ethereal as something Tinker Bell might eat. And the cheesesteak ($8) tastes amazing. —Ray Isle

I'm a confirmed liver hater, and apart from a few select foie gras pâtés, I avoid it. So I felt very brave when I chose the lamb liver fritters at Abattoir, the meat-focused restaurant from Anne Quatrano and Clifford Harrison. The fritters are irresistible: sausagelike patties of lamb liver and meat, with tart green-tomato relish alongside. There are three sizable fritters to an order for $8.50. —Kate Krader