Sam's Italian-American

For the past few weeks, I've been driving by an intriguing sign offering a chicken parmesan meal, with salad and pasta, for two for $22 at Sam's Italian American restaurant. I understand that there are people who take their chicken parm very seriously, but for me, it isn't at the top of my list for red sauce Italian menu options. I'd much rather have eggplant parm if I'm going the parm route, but a busy evening and the bargain price combined to make this offer one I could not refuse. Nice Godfather reference, huh?

The special which I took advantage of, is offered Tues-Thurs evenings for take out only. When I called (463-3433) at about 5:30, I was given the option to have 2 chicken parms or one chicken parm and one chicken marsala. I kept it simple with two of the same items and arranged to pick up our meals in 30 minutes. I arrived at Sam's with a minute to spare, which gave me a moment to chat with a colleague who was also picking up his dinner. Apparently, he and his wife have been taking advantage of this super deal on a weekly basis and he had only positive things to share about the food. Now, we've eaten at Sam's before, but in all honesty, it has been a while. You know we're Cafe Capriccio lovers, and we've been happy at Caffe Italia, but we don't really go out often for Italian-American cuisine. And, I'm not certain that we'll be heading to eat at Sam's for chicken parm anytime soon, but I do know that getting takeout is definitely something we will repeat.

The picture below shows the full spread minus the half loaf of (Prinzo's?) bread. The meals were carefully packed, piping hot where appropriate, and thoughtful accompaniments like grated cheese and salad dressing were also included. The chicken was really very good - pounded thin, moist with a bit of crispy-crunchiness to the coating. The cheese was not overwhelming, perhaps even a bit scant, and the sauce ratio on both the pasta and chicken was the way I like it - not too heavy. The sauce itself is not my favorite style of red sauce. I found the sauce to be a little sweet and I more enjoy a sauce that has been simmered with a generous amount of red wine to achieve richer, more dense flavor, but that is simply my preference.

The chicken parmesan dinner for two special actually translated in my house to five meals - dinner for two the first night, a colorful salad for lunch the next day for me, half an order of chicken for the hubby's next day lunch and the remaining pasta rounded out my dinner two nights later. For folks who are looking for a reasonably good meal at an excellent price ($29 with tax and a generous fiver to the server) - I definitely recommend Sam's. There's a reason they've been a neighborhood staple for 40+ years.