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  3. Best Restaurant Dishes For $12 and Under

Best Restaurant Dishes For $12 and Under

By Food & Wine
Updated March 08, 2017
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Lamb Liver Fritters: Abattoir, Atlanta
Credit: Photo © James Camp Photography
From Los Angeles to New York, these amazing dishes are as delicious as they are cheap.
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Black Truffle Gnocchi: Perennial, Chicago

Black Truffle Gnocchi: Perennial, Chicago
Credit: Photo © Michael Meas
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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

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Lamb-Meatball Sliders: Locanda Verde, New York City

Lamb-Meatball Sliders: Locanda Verde, New York City
Credit: Photo © Rebecca Stepler
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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

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Fried Chicken & Waffles: Simpatica; Portland, OR

Fried Chicken & Waffles: Simpatica; Portland, OR
Credit: Photo © David Lanthan Reamer
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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

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Spicy Seafood Soup: Heaven's Dog, San Francisco

Spicy Seafood Soup: Heaven's Dog, San Francisco
Credit: Photo © Bret Putnam
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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

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The Tini Weenie: Tini; Providence, RI

The Tini Weenie: Tini; Providence, RI
Credit: Photo © Jan Dane
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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

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Philly Cheesesteak: The Bazaar by José Andrés, Los Angeles

Philly Cheesesteak: The Bazaar by José Andrés, Los Angeles
Credit: Photo © Robert Catrini
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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

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Lamb Liver Fritters: Abattoir, Atlanta

Lamb Liver Fritters: Abattoir, Atlanta
Credit: Photo © James Camp Photography
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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

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1 of 7 Black Truffle Gnocchi: Perennial, Chicago
2 of 7 Lamb-Meatball Sliders: Locanda Verde, New York City
3 of 7 Fried Chicken & Waffles: Simpatica; Portland, OR
4 of 7 Spicy Seafood Soup: Heaven's Dog, San Francisco
5 of 7 The Tini Weenie: Tini; Providence, RI
6 of 7 Philly Cheesesteak: The Bazaar by José Andrés, Los Angeles
7 of 7 Lamb Liver Fritters: Abattoir, Atlanta

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Best Restaurant Dishes For $12 and Under
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