A fried chicken sandwich with lettuce on a plate, served with yellow peppers, set against a teal and yellow background.
Southern Fried Chicken Sandwich (Photo courtesy of Abode Kitchen & Bar)

🍽️ Restaurant: Abode Kitchen & Bar
📍 Location: 515 Allegheny Ave., Oakmont
⏱️ Hours: Lunch: 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Tues-Fri | Dinner: 4-10 p.m. Tues-Sat | Weekend brunch: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat-Sun
🌐 Links: abodekitchenandbar.com, Facebook, Instagram

❤️ Best $15ish meal(s): Southern fried chicken sandwich, The Picnic and cereal-milk French toast.

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Why go?

A yellow graphic with a faint city map background reads: “$15ish Meal Map. Explore the map,” with a right-pointing arrow.

Abode Kitchen & Bar took over the longtime Chelsea Grille space with a handsome dining room, big bar and a menu that riffs on familiar American comfort food. Meatloaf, chicken parm, Swedish meatballs and fried chicken share space with Calabrian chiles, harissa, cereal milk and Cool Ranch crumbs.

Dinner can get expensive, but lunch offers great value. Most sandwiches run $12 to $16, many on brioche baked in-house, while weekend brunch offers several dishes around $15.

What to order 

My pick is the $14 Southern Fried Chicken sandwich: a crisp chicken cutlet with harissa aioli, pickles, shredded iceberg and honey-mustard vinaigrette on soft brioche. The pickles and harissa cut through the fried chicken, while the honey mustard brings just enough sweetness.

The $15 Picnic is pretty substantial, layering roasted turkey, thick-cut pepper mortadella, bacon and jack cheese with sweet onion jam, Calabrian mayo and honey-mustard vinaigrette. Sour cream-and-chive chips are tucked right into the sandwich for crunch.

At weekend brunch, the $11 cereal-milk French toast is filled with nostalgia: cereal-milk crème anglaise, brown-butter salted cornflakes and powdered sugar.

A sandwich with turkey, lettuce, potato chips, and a red spread is cut in half on a plate with three yellow peppers in front of it.
A slice of toast coated with cornflakes and powdered sugar sits on a plate with a pool of cream or syrup.

The Picnic (left) and the cereal milk French toast (right) (Photos courtesy of Abode Kitchen & Bar)

Good to know before you go

Lunch is the easiest way to keep the bill around $15 at Abode, where dinner entrées reach well into the $20s and $30s.

Brunch has a few more possibilities, including a $14 Low Country Benedict built on honey-glazed hoe cakes with chipotle hollandaise and Cool Ranch crumble. The cereal theme makes its way behind the bar, too, with cocktails that reference Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms.

A two-story restaurant named ABODE, with green and white exterior, large front windows, neon signage, and three large plant pots outside, illuminated at night.
(Photo courtesy of Adobe)

Know a Pittsburgh-area restaurant with a great meal around $15? Email us at social@publicsource.org.

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