The Name Is a Thank You Note to Lincoln Park. The Pastry Case Makes Us Thank Them.
Artur and Iryna Yuzvik named their all-day bistro after Abraham Lincoln as a gesture of gratitude. Then they filled it with Ukrainian babka, lacquered croissants, and the best poached eggs on the block.
The name is shortened from Abraham, a nod to Lincoln Park and to the country that welcomed Artur and Iryna Yuzvik after they left Ukraine. They opened Soloway Coffee Roastery in Ternopil in 2016, became the first Ukrainian roastery permitted to export coffee to the United States, brought their first American Soloway café to Lincoln Avenue in January 2024, and opened Abrah right next door in June 2025. That is a lot of ground covered in a short amount of time, and the pastry case at Abrah suggests they have not been cutting corners along the way.
Walk in and the case stops you. Lacquered croissants, seasonal and classic, apricot, pistachio, chocolate, almond, plain. Ukrainian chocolate babka. Crème brûlée Danish. Sculptural trompe-l'oeil desserts shaped like fruit that look too good to eat and are worth eating anyway. Sourdough, malt, and Guinness breads made in house, which is what everything else in this place gets built on. The team trained with French pastry chef Romain Dufour and it shows in the lamination. Get there on a weekend if you can. The bread sells out and earlier is better.
In the morning and through brunch, Abrah runs classic European café dishes built around that bread. I am a sucker for Turkish eggs and was very happy to see them on the menu and even happier when they arrived. Poached eggs on savory Greek yogurt with olive oil, tomatoes, olives, and bread for dipping. You mix it all together and it is exactly as good as it sounds. The mushroom toast was fantastic. The Benedicts are solid and the poached eggs are consistently on point, which tells you something about a kitchen that must be cranking them out all day long.
In the evening the menu pivots toward Ukrainian classics. The chicken Kyiv delivers. It is not my favorite version in the city but it is a genuinely good one and a treat to have when you are in the mood for it.
The coffee is connected directly to Soloway, which means it is not an afterthought. The custom blend was developed with the Soloway roasting team in Ternopil and the baristas here know what they are doing with it. I have not had a bad cup across multiple visits.
The block this sits on is one of the nicest in Lincoln Park, and Abrah is the kind of place that makes a spring or fall morning feel like a genuinely good decision. Large banquettes along the walls, comfortable and easy to settle into for a long breakfast with someone. Twenty-six seats, which means it fills up. Reservations are worth making if you are coming for a full bistro meal. If you are grabbing something from the pastry case, just show up.
Stay up-to-date
