· Brooklyn's Finest
Francese is a lemon sauce, not a parm
Chicken francese is an Italian-American sauté. A cutlet is floured, often dipped in egg, browned, and finished in a sauce of white wine, lemon, and butter. The sauce should taste bright, not like a cream gravy and not like marinara. Piccata is the close cousin. Piccata usually means lemon, butter, and capers, and it skips the egg dip that francese often uses. Shops blur the two. If capers matter to you, ask. Do not assume they are in a dish that does not name them.
It is not chicken parm. Parm is breaded chicken, tomato sauce, and cheese. Francese is the pale lemon sauce. Ordering one when you wanted the other is the common mistake. Both are on our entrée list. They are different plates.
The plate on our menu
At Brooklyn's Finest Pizza, chicken francese is $19.99. The order site describes it as chicken breast sauteed with white wine, lemon, and butter. Entrées are served with a salad or pasta. That is the plate. We are not adding capers, artichokes, or a cream finish the description does not include. If you need to know whether the cutlet is egg-dipped, call (718) 815-7070 and ask. The printed line stops at wine, lemon, and butter.
Veal francese and shrimp francese are separate entrées, with their own descriptions. The Mill Basin hero is a sandwich version: the menu describes that hero as chicken francese and fresh mozzarella on garlic bread. That is a hero, not the $19.99 plate. Order the plate if you want the entrée. Order the hero if you want the sandwich.
Trays and the weekend special
Chicken francese catering is on the catering list for a group. A half tray is portioned for 6–9 people and a full tray for 10–15. Read the current price on the catering page or in the cart. This post will not freeze a tray price that the order screen can show more clearly. The weekend specials flyer pairs a half tray of pasta, penne vodka or baked ziti, with a half tray of chicken parm or chicken francese. That bundle has its own price on the specials page. Order it as printed. Do not add a coupon.
A single $19.99 plate does not scale into a tray by multiplying. If you are feeding ten people, order the tray size, not ten guesses.
A home sauté is not our pan
At home, the usual path is thin cutlets, flour, egg, a fast brown in butter and oil, then a pan sauce of white wine, lemon juice, and a little more butter, spooned over the chicken. Do not walk away from the pan. Lemon sauce breaks if it boils hard after the butter goes in. Serve it right away, with pasta or a vegetable. That is a home outline so the name makes sense. It is not the shop's recipe, and it is not a promise that our plate uses those exact steps.
If you wanted the plate without cooking, order it. The dining room is the easier version of francese.
How to order it
Order at Order Online, which is order.brooklynsfinestsi.com, or call (718) 815-7070. On an iPhone or iPad, the app sends the same menu. The address is 1250 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10305. Sit down, pick up, or check delivery inside 4 miles. Hours end at 10:00 PM, or 10:30 PM on Friday and Saturday. Say salad or pasta when you order the entrée, because the menu serves it with one of those.
Chicken francese is the lemon plate. Chicken parm is the red plate. The hero is the sandwich. The tray is the crowd. Pick the one that matches the meal, then ignore any recipe that adds capers we did not print. The dinner page covers the rest of the evening menu if the table wants more than one entrée.
A couple can split a plate and a pie, or order two entrées if both people want the lemon sauce. A group that all wants francese should look at the tray before they order eight plates. Tell the shop if the side should be pasta for everyone or salad for everyone, so the ticket is not a surprise. Gluten is in the flour on a typical cutlet. Ask before you promise a guest a gluten-free francese. We list gluten-free pasta. We do not list a gluten-free cutlet. The phone is the place for that question, during open hours, before the order is paid. The plate is $19.99. The sauce on the menu is white wine, lemon, and butter. Salad or pasta comes with the entrée. If you wanted red sauce and melted cheese, that is chicken parm, and it has its own price and its own page. Order the lemon plate only when the lemon plate is what you meant. Then eat it while the sauce is still bright. It is not a dish that wants to sit in a car for an hour if you can help it. Pickup timed to your drive is the better plan. Call ahead if you are coming from farther than a few minutes.
Visit the shop
Brooklyn's Finest Pizza is at 1250 Hylan Boulevard, Staten Island, NY 10305. Call (718) 815-7070.
- Monday – Thursday: 10:00 AM – 10:00 PM
- Friday – Saturday: 10:00 AM – 10:30 PM
- Sunday: 10:30 AM – 10:00 PM