At Natoli's Italian Deli in Secaucus, New Jersey, in the shadow of MetLife Stadium, you can now order the Tommy DeVito hero – chicken parmesan à la vodka – just the way the groundbreaking Giants quarterback likes it.
In the past month, Mr. DeVito, who grew up across the Hackensack River in Cedar Grove, has risen from the Third Division to star with the often dismal New York Giants, keeping their long-shot playoff chances alive and well has become an icon of the Greater Meadowlands League.
Mr. DeVito, 25, grew up loving the Giants and his mother's chicken sandwiches and watching his father, a plumber, fix boilers. Now he is known as “Tommy Cutlets,” a nickname he scrawled on fans' white tank tops during an event at Primo Hoagies in nearby Wayne. During his signature touchdown celebration, he posed for selfies while intertwining his fingers Italian-style.
A hometown NFL hero might seem like an anomaly in an era of free agents, multimillion-dollar contracts and teams with no local roots. But when Mr. DeVito showed up at the Meadowlands, he made it clear that a “New York” team has been playing in one state for nearly half a century. This state now claims ownership.
Tommy Cutlets has become the toast — or perhaps the bruschetta — of the cities that lie in the shadow of MetLife Stadium.
At Lombardi's Bar and Restaurant in Cedar Grove, where the DeVitos live down the street and have been customers for years, the owner resorted to a Mafia analogy to describe Mr. DeVito's sudden prowess.
“He’s the Don now,” said the owner, Al Lombardi.
The Don still lives with his parents, less than 10 miles from the stadium, but he is omnipresent on the back pages of tabloids and on social media.
Mr. DeVito started and won the team's last three games, including a thrilling comeback at home against the favored Green Bay Packers this week on Monday Night Football. Hardcore fans here have followed his career for years, from pee leagues to a high school state championship for Don Bosco Prep, the football powerhouse in Ramsey, New Jersey, and then for Syracuse University.
Hometown hopes faded earlier this year after Mr. DeVito went undrafted in the NFL draft, leaving him living with his family and uncertain about his football future.
But this spring he traveled to the Meadowlands and joined the Giants' practice squad as an undrafted rookie. He was on the bench when injuries to the Giants' top two quarterbacks opened up the starting role last month.
The rooting section of the DeVito family applauded his pieces with the signature hand gesture, whose myriad meanings can include a mundane “get a load of it” attitude. His father, Tom DeVito Sr., kissed his son's agent, Sean Stellato, on the cheek in old-fashioned style.
The cameras love the agent, who calls his client “Passing Paisan” and wears a black pinstripe suit, turtleneck and fedora.
And they love the abundance of DeVito contingent smoking cigars in the parking lot during pregame tailgating, amid tables of chicken parmigiana handcrafted by a cousin and a feast of Italian fare in aluminum trays.
On Tuesday morning, after sleeping just an hour after the triumph, his son Tom DeVito Sr. returned to the cauldrons.
“It’s heating season, so it’s business as usual for me,” he said. “I’m the donkey of the family.”
Reflecting on his son's sudden notoriety, he said, “It's gotten to the point where I tell my workers, 'I'm not going in because as soon as I walk in the house, everyone has their Giants jerseys on.' I can’t do any work.”
He added: “Every five seconds my wife sends me another media request – I have to return 818 text messages. It’s just so overwhelming for him and us.”
The hype didn't convince everyone. A crowd of regulars at the Belmont Tavern in Belleville on Wednesday stoically sipped Seven and Sevens and debated whether the quarterback had the stamina to earn a spot on the Wall of Fame.
“A few games don’t make a season – he has to earn his accolades,” said Joe Coviello, a Nutley supporter. “Once you start losing, you’re out.”
In any case, the wall already has two Tommy DeVitos: the gangster character from “Goodfellas,” played by Joe Pesci, who also grew up nearby; and the real member of the Four Seasons singing group, another local.
They are sold at Natoli's in Secaucus. Mr. DeVito's photo sits in the center of a family photo gallery set up in a corner. On Wednesday, the lunchtime crowd flocked to the counter for the Tommy DeVito hero.
“How do you whip a chicken parmesan cutlet with vodka sauce?” How do you beat this child? He’s a hero,” said Rob Gail, who was busy finishing his own sandwich. “He is a humble guy who lives at home with his mother and father. I lived at home until I was 30 and my mom makes great chicken schnitzels. I get it.”
It seems many New Jerseyans do this.
Teresa Fiore, a professor of Italian American studies at Montclair State University, said New Jersey has the third-largest population of Italian Americans in the country. “It is a deeply Italian state,” she said. “Tommy DeVito joins a very large family of famous Italians from New Jersey.”
The avalanche of stereotypes, from memes about would-be wiseguys in tracksuits to “Godfather” references, amuses Ignacio Urbina, one of the people who coached Mr. DeVito at Don Bosco Prep, a school named after a saint , who was born near Turin, Italy.
Standing out as an Italian “wasn’t a big deal at Don Bosco,” Mr. Urbina said. “It’s not exactly new territory for Italian-American families here.”
But Mr. DeVito's image is closely tied to his ethnicity. “It's the New Jersey thing – people still talk about 'The Sopranos' and 'Jersey Shore,' and all that flows into it, and people seem to eat it up,” Mr. Urbina said.
He called Mr. DeVito a hard-working, confident player who returns to school regularly, including at a recent football open house where he spoke to families of prospective students.
If Mr. DeVito is now far from high school prom, you wouldn't know it if you saw him, as he was swarmed by reporters at his locker after practice on Wednesday. He seemed unfazed. It could have been another afternoon training session at Don Bosco.
“I appreciate all the support and there’s a lot going on at the moment,” he said. “I just try to be myself. I’m going to show my personality.”
He is scheduled to start Sunday when the Giants play the Saints in New Orleans. Back at Lombardi, Mr. Lombardi said he hopes the ride continues for the Giants' offensive lineman. But he was realistic.
“An NFL quarterback and a gangster, there’s no difference,” he said. “Any day it could be over.”