The Dish: Chicken cutlet sandwich at Farina Di Vita in Philadelphia's Queen Village section
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- This Dish comes to us from a viewer recommendation because they know we love a good hoagie spot.
They sent Action News' Alicia Vitarelli to Farina Di Vita, a critically acclaimed Italian sandwich and pasta shop in Queen Village, where the sandwiches make this spot an absolute foodie destination.
"When people bite into the sandwiches, we want them to feel the flavors of home," says owner Brandyn Ortiz.
For Ortiz and Jason Okdeh, the longtime friends and owners of Farina di Vita, those flavors of home come courtesy of their grandmothers.
At their award-winning sandwich shop on the corner of 3rd and Catharine in Queen Village, they want to make sure you're well fed.
"Because your grandma would be like, 'Eat!'" laughs Ortiz. "They're always making sure you ate. It's the first question when you woke up and when you just got done eating dinner. It didn't matter. You had to eat."
Two of their best sellers are named for their grandmothers.
For Okdeh, it's the "Marie."
"She's a classy Italian," says Okdeh. "This is a 24-month Parma Prosciutto DOP on top of fresh mozzarella with arugula, grape tomatoes, and we do lemon and lemon zest."
His Marie was a trailblazer.
"She was an immigrant from Italy," says Okdeh. "She didn't speak any English and she could beat anybody in rummy, even if she cheated."
Brandyn Ortiz created a gorgeous cutlet sandwich to celebrate his grandmother Patsy.
"Patsy was a matriarch," says Ortiz. "She raised 10 children on her own."
Her sandwich is bursting with that love.
"It's very hearty, very warming, very comforting, just like Patsy," he says.
The star is the chicken cutlet, one of the cornerstones of Farina Di Vita.
"When we opened up, that's what we wanted," says Ortiz, "one of the best Italians and one of the best cutlets in the city."
The name is a nod to how the South Philly family friends started the business.
"Farina Di Vita means flower of life," says Okdeh. "We started the company as a pasta pop-up. We do it mostly for events now. When we got the brick and mortar, we were just trying to figure out what to do."
So, they kept the pasta and also built a sandwich empire.
Here are the secrets to their chicken cutlets:
"Two things," says Okdeh. "The first is this cutlet is never pounded. It is literally fileted, so nothing ever gets beaten out of it. This is cut by hand.
The second main thing is Pecorino Romano."
They add that cheese to the breadcrumbs before they dredge.
First, it's a quick fry and then they bake it to finish.
Patsy's sandwich gets two of those cutlets on a custom super seeded Cacia's roll.
"It just soaks everything up," says Okdeh. "It's the perfect bread."
It's served with their vodka sauce, a nice hunk of burrata cheese, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and a dash of pepper.
