Going out for a meal can be a chance to catch up with a friend, spend time in your neighborhood or try somewhere new. It’s also an expense that people are weighing more carefully.
In our town halls and community conversations, people have told us they want to be social, engage in their communities and support small businesses. They’re also concerned about affordability and how much everyday life costs.
That feedback helps us decide what to report on and what other resources would be useful.
That’s where the $15ish Pittsburgh Meal Map comes in.
We wanted to help people find a good meal out when they have around $15 to spend. And we wanted to make it specific: a place to go, an order to try and a sense of what to expect when you get there.
We know a $15ish meal won’t fit every budget. But for someone deciding whether to go out, knowing what they can order and roughly what it will cost can make that decision easier.
Working with local creators
For this project, we worked with local creators who have built online audiences by sharing food and lifestyle discoveries. They’re good at finding interesting places to eat and sharing what makes them worth a visit.
For example: Aakanksha Agarwal discovered that Amazing Dumplings co-owner and chef Fengping Geng naturally colors her dumpling dough with vegetables and has fashioned them into everything from rainbows to an edible “Starry Night.”
Working with creators also helps us reach people who may not already know Public Source. Someone who learns about us through a food video may then find reporting that helps them understand what’s happening in their neighborhood or across the region.
We paid the creators for their work and covered the meals they purchased. They went out to eat without coordinating their visits with restaurants. There were no comped meals.
We included the places where our contributors had good experiences. The map is a collection of recommendations and specific orders to try, rather than a ranking of restaurants. Every entry went through Public Source’s fact-checking process before publication.
A map that takes you to different places
We were intentional about including different parts of Pittsburgh and some communities beyond the city. We also wanted a range of cuisines and businesses represented, including Black- and immigrant-owned restaurants.
A dining guide can introduce people to a neighborhood, a business or a cuisine they might otherwise overlook. We wanted readers to see familiar places alongside the lesser-known spots and try somewhere outside their usual rotation.
We’ll keep adding restaurants over the coming months, but we didn’t want to keep these finds and their $15ish orders to ourselves any longer.
How to get access
Enter your email address to open the map. That also signs you up for Public Source’s newsletter, which arrives three times a week with news and stories from around the Pittsburgh region. (Read the rest of our journalism and you’ll have plenty to talk about over your meal!)
If you already subscribe, just enter the same email address. You won’t get duplicate newsletters.
We hope it helps you make plans with a friend, support a local restaurant or get to know another part of the Pittsburgh area. Tried one of the orders? Have a spot we should consider? Let us know.
Halle Stockton is the editor-in-chief at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. Reach her at halle@publicsource.org.
Natasha Khan is the director of audience & visual strategy at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. Reach her at natasha@publicsource.org.
