Copycat Emilio’s Ballato Chicken Parm (Obama’s Favorite NYC Version)
Prep time: 25 min Cook time: 1 hr 10 min (including sauce simmer) Servings: 4
Emilio’s Ballato has been feeding downtown New York since 1956 — Obama’s favorite table, two-hour waits on weekday nights, George Clooney photographs on the wall. The chicken parm is their signature, and it is genuinely different from every other version in the city: panko breadcrumbs with Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano pressed directly into the crust, a San Marzano sauce simmered for a full hour and blended completely smooth, and a double mozzarella finish — buffalo for richness, low-moisture for the classic broiled pull. One serving runs about $40 at the restaurant. This makes four for around $22.
The Story Behind the Recipe
Ballato’s opened in Nolita in 1956 — one of the old Italian-American red-sauce joints that once lined lower Manhattan before most of them disappeared. Emilio Vitolo Sr. took it over in 1989 and renamed it after himself. Today his three sons run the kitchen and the dining room: Anthony drives the cooking and has built a large off-menu secret menu over the years; Mario and Emilio Jr. work the room. The restaurant is Michelin Guide listed and seats fewer than 60 people. On any given evening the line outside runs two hours. Barack Obama has visited multiple times — before and after his presidency — and photographs of him, George Clooney, Taylor Swift, Aaron Judge, and a generation of downtown New York regulars cover every inch of wall space. The oversized individual chicken parmigiana — a single giant cutlet, not a family-style platter — is the dish most associated with the restaurant, though Anthony’s secret menu is the reason regulars come back.
The chicken parm at Emilio’s is genuinely different from the family-style American version at Carmine’s or the standard version at most other Italian-American restaurants. Anthony Vitolo uses panko breadcrumbs rather than regular Italian breadcrumbs — the flakier texture fries faster and stays crispy longer. Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano go directly into the panko, so the cheese flavor is in every bite of crust, not just on top. The sauce is not a chunky marinara: it is a Spanish onion, garlic, and fresh basil–scented San Marzano tomato sauce simmered for a full hour, then blended smooth into something closer to a velvety tomato coulis. The cheese is a two-mozzarella combination: fresh buffalo mozzarella for richness, low-moisture for the browned, gooey pull that people expect. The cutlets fry in extra-virgin olive oil and butter — the butter accelerates the crust’s browning at the edges — and finish under the broiler for just two to four minutes so the cheese melts fast, glossy, and fresh. A serving at the restaurant runs about $40. This recipe makes four for roughly $22.
