Make the Most of Your Chicken Parm

Comforting, decadent, and most likely monopolizing an entire plate, chicken Parm is an Italian American staple beloved all over Chicago. A recent favorite is from the more contemporary Italian spot Void, where the team bones and brines an entire bird before serving it topped with slow-simmered red sauce, mozzarella, and Parm. It made me think about the creative potential of the homey trifecta, and we tasked contributor Amy Cavanaugh with finding five ways restaurants are serving it up around the country. “A lot of times you have chicken Parmesan, and the first bite is good, but then it’s a clump of hardened cheese. I wanted something more refined,” says Josiah Citrin of Culver City, Calif.’s Dear John’s, who stuffs the tomato and cheese goodness inside a butterflied airline chicken breast in a riff on cordon bleu. We also found an orange chicken-inspired take complete with a chow mein noodle crust, and another that swaps the poultry for an unexpected shellfish. Dig into all five delicious versions here.