QB Tommy DeVito's parents bring famous chicken cutlets to Giants tailgate

Alexa and Tom DeVito, parents of New York Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito, served their family’s famous chicken cutlets at a tailgate party before the season opener outside MetLife Stadium Sunday.

The world learned DeVito’s nickname, "Tommy Cutlets," shortly after it learned about, well, Tommy DeVito.

After appearing in a game last year, former Giants running back Saquon Barkley could be seen on tape yelling the nickname, which seemed to fit the more we learned about DeVito: he’s a confident Jersey kid who lived at home with his parents in Cedar Grove and celebrated with a quickly and often repeated Italian hand gesture.

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In concert with DeVito’s rise in popularity — some wins with DeVito at the helm last season helped — there was a rise in interest in the cutlets that inspired his nickname. Since then, the DeVito family cutlets have been the basis for local restaurant menu items and craft beer.

Still, it’s hard to beat the original, which Alexa DeVito brought to the Big Blue Crew D1 tailgate Sunday morning ahead of the Giants’ season opener against the Minnesota Vikings.

Alexa and Tom DeVito brought several trays of fresh chicken cutlets: chicken breast pounded a quarter-inch thin, crusted with bread crumbs and herbs and fried to crispy perfection.

I’d skip a standard review, or a thumbs-up system, and give it simply two of those famous thumb-to-fingers, “so good,” oscillating gesture with which DeVito became synonymous.

Time hasn’t curbed DeVito’s love for his mom’s cutlets, either. Alexa DeVito says she makes them once a week — or whenever Tommy wants — and that folks are asking to try them “all the time.”

“Tommy loves them. They’re crispy, they're easy to eat. Easy to travel with. He just loves them and now everybody else loves them," she said. "They're a staple in my house.”

Time will tell if DeVito gets another chance in the spotlight for Big Blue, but the DeVito family cutlets, it seems, will endure.

Matt Cortina is a food writer for NorthJersey.com/The Record. Email: mcortina@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Tommy DeVito's parents serve famous chicken cutlets at Giants game