It’s been over a year-and-a-half since I’ve revisited this, about one of the most popular restaurant dishes actually not just at Italian-themed establishments, but also at any type of restaurant. Chicken Parmesan is the most popular of any restaurant chicken dish, at least according to a fairly recent poll.
The previous update was sparked by reading a piece about Ken Auletta, the longtime New Yorker writer who has had an obsession in finding excellent Chicken Parmesan preparations, and part of a group of guys who have been foraging the Italian-American eateries of the New York area for years in search of quality versions. For Auletta, a “test of a good Southern Italian restaurant is whether their chicken or veal parmigiana had a good sauce, the breading is crisp and has not been drowned in sauce, and the chicken or veal is not so thin it tastes like cardboard.”
Chicken Parmesan is an American creation that grew from the eggplant parmigiana preparation from southern Italy and Sicily, with the meatier chicken substituting for the less caloric eggplant at its core. Veal Parmesan came first, at least by the 1930s while Chicken Parmesan debuted on restaurant menus at least a couple of decades later. Veal Parmesan is certainly a much better dish – though the version at the venerable Ralph’s near the Italian Market in Philadelphia a few weeks ago was disappointing – and my favorite dish as a kid, but Chicken Parmesan is ubiquitous throughout the country, the veal version much less so. Industrially produced, widely distributed, easily affordable, and easy to cook with, abnormally large, if typically fairly tasteless, chicken breasts provide the key reason for the popularity of Chicken Parmesan. The dish at restaurant is a chicken breast or two – rarely pounded very thin – breaded and pan-fried, sometimes baked, and topped with mozzarella and maybe some other Italian-inspired cheeses and melted in an oven, and served in a tomato sauce usually with a side of pasta, likely spaghetti, also in that tomato sauce. You know what it is. And even longtime New Yorkers and Italian-Americans like Ken Auletta might really like it if done well.
People like Italian-American food, in even the most minor key. And here is what Chicken Parmesan will currently cost at the biggest Italian-American restaurant chains:
The average price is just about $22, $2 more than in February 2024. Interestingly, the number of locations for each of the chains decreased when I did this in February of last year with one exception, Olive Garden.
Chicken Parmesan is also a common menu item on Houston area Italian-American menus. It will average about $3.50 more than the national chains, but will hopefully be tastier. Certainly it will at some of these:
The version at Maggiano's Little Italy
The previous update was sparked by reading a piece about Ken Auletta, the longtime New Yorker writer who has had an obsession in finding excellent Chicken Parmesan preparations, and part of a group of guys who have been foraging the Italian-American eateries of the New York area for years in search of quality versions. For Auletta, a “test of a good Southern Italian restaurant is whether their chicken or veal parmigiana had a good sauce, the breading is crisp and has not been drowned in sauce, and the chicken or veal is not so thin it tastes like cardboard.”
Chicken Parmesan is an American creation that grew from the eggplant parmigiana preparation from southern Italy and Sicily, with the meatier chicken substituting for the less caloric eggplant at its core. Veal Parmesan came first, at least by the 1930s while Chicken Parmesan debuted on restaurant menus at least a couple of decades later. Veal Parmesan is certainly a much better dish – though the version at the venerable Ralph’s near the Italian Market in Philadelphia a few weeks ago was disappointing – and my favorite dish as a kid, but Chicken Parmesan is ubiquitous throughout the country, the veal version much less so. Industrially produced, widely distributed, easily affordable, and easy to cook with, abnormally large, if typically fairly tasteless, chicken breasts provide the key reason for the popularity of Chicken Parmesan. The dish at restaurant is a chicken breast or two – rarely pounded very thin – breaded and pan-fried, sometimes baked, and topped with mozzarella and maybe some other Italian-inspired cheeses and melted in an oven, and served in a tomato sauce usually with a side of pasta, likely spaghetti, also in that tomato sauce. You know what it is. And even longtime New Yorkers and Italian-Americans like Ken Auletta might really like it if done well.
People like Italian-American food, in even the most minor key. And here is what Chicken Parmesan will currently cost at the biggest Italian-American restaurant chains:
- Bertucci’s – $24.99, served with spaghetti in tomato sauce – 13 locations
- Biaggi’s – $23.25, served with something called “Three-Cheese Alfredo Rigatini” – 16 locations
- Bravo! Italian Kitchen – $26.99, served with herbed linguini; – 23 locations
- Brio Italian Grille – $28, it is called the fancier, slightly Frenchified Chicken Milanaise, but it is Chicken Parmesan; served with herbed pasta – 25 locations
- Bucca di Beppo – $33.99 for a portion that feeds three, $11.33 per person – 69 locations
- Johnny Carino’s – $21.99, served with spaghetti with tomato sauce – 24 locations
- Carrabba’s Italian Grill – $24.49, Served with your choice of side – 212 locations
- Fazoli’s – $11.99, served with spaghetti with marinara sauce and two breadsticks – 196 locations
- Il Fornaio – $39 – served with spaghetti pomodoro – 18 locations (only offered in two, though)
- Maggiano’s Little Italy – $26, served with spaghetti and marinara sauce – 52 locations
- North Italia – $26, served with “parmesan rigatoni” – 40 locations
- Olive Garden – $21.29, served with a side of spaghetti – 943 locations
- Romano’s Macaroni Grill – $22, served with spaghetti and tomato sauce – 17 locations
- The Old Spaghetti Factory – $22.75, served with a side of spaghetti with tomato sauce – 41 locations
- The Spaghetti Warehouse – $18, served with spaghetti with tomato sauce, bread and salad or soup – 5 locations
The average price is just about $22, $2 more than in February 2024. Interestingly, the number of locations for each of the chains decreased when I did this in February of last year with one exception, Olive Garden.
Chicken Parmesan is also a common menu item on Houston area Italian-American menus. It will average about $3.50 more than the national chains, but will hopefully be tastier. Certainly it will at some of these:
- B.B. Italia – $26
- Carrabba’s, The Original – $28.39, served with a side of fettuccine Alfredo
- Cavatore – $26, served with a side of penne with tomato sauce
- Ciro’s – $22.95, served with a side of fettuccine Alfredo
- Coppa – $29, served with a side of fettuccine with a cheese sauce
- D’Amico’s – $26, served with a side of fettucine Alfredo or spaghetti with tomato sauce
- Enoteca Rossa – $32, served with side of pasta
- Fratelli’s – $18 (only on the lunch menu), served with a side of pasta with tomato sauce
- George’s Pastaria – $24.95, served with a side of pasta
- Grotto – $27, served with a side of angel hair pasta with tomato sauce
- Italianio’s – $14.95
- Marmo – $30
- Mia Bella – $26, served with a side of pasta
- Milton – $30, served with a side of spaghetti
- Numero 28 – $24, served with a side of spaghetti
- Palazzo’s – $22, served with a side of fettuccine Alfredo
- Passarella – $21.95, served with a side of spaghetti with tomato sauce
- Piatto – $24.95, served with a side of fettuccine Alfredo
- Primo Pasta – $18.95, served with a side of fettuccine Alfredo
- Rocco’s – $18.95, served with a side of fettucine Alfredo
- Trattoria Sofia – $28
- Triola’s Kitchen – $28, served with a side of rigatoni with tomato sauce
- Zammitti’s – $21.75, served with side of linguine
- Zanti’s – $32, served with a side of pasta
The version at Maggiano's Little Italy
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