Crunchy, Saucy, Smackin’ Chicken Parm Sandwiches Are Fried to Order at This New Pop-Up

Danielle Grivet has been dreaming of starting a pop-up since 2010. A culinary school graduate who worked in the industry before she detoured into fashion, she launched her chicken Parmesan sandwich pop-up, Bette’s, in the Bay Area in October 2023.

Grivet didn’t truly become enamored with the dish until she made one for her boyfriend, but after that day in 2019, something stuck and led Grivet to test a series of tweaks on her recipe in the ensuing years. “Chicken Parm is something I turned my nose up at before, like, ‘Oh, I know real Italian food,’” Grivet says. “But then over time, I thought, ‘Okay, I want to perfect this because I’ve already perfected my sauce.’” She later found herself out of work in 2023 and decided to finally give her idea a try.

But Bette’s iteration of the chicken Parm that bargoers of Propagation, Rickhouse, Olfactory Brewing, and others already know and love evolved and went from a fork-and-knife affair to handheld status. A trip to Boston got Grivet thinking of offering her signature dish in sandwich form, but rather than an East Coast-style roll, she took inspiration from pork katsu sandwiches served on Japanese shokupan, or milk bread.

Bette’s

Beyond the new bread, Grivet has other tricks up her sleeve. Grivet’s prized sauce is a simple one, made with cherry tomatoes and pepper for a little added heat. Eight-ounce chicken breasts are brined ahead of time before they mellow in a flavored egg wash at each pop-up. Grivet makes each sandwich to order, lifting each piece out of its eggy bath before breading it in a mixture of Panko and Italian breadcrumbs, noting that the smaller Italian crumbs help fill in the gaps of the airy Panko crunch, and ultimately add more flavor. She then fries the chicken, pressing two four-ounce chicken patties between slices of shokupan from Andersen Bakery and Cafe. The bread gets a slather of Grivet’s cherry tomato sauce with a slice of Provolone and a basil leaf placed between the chicken cutlets for good measure. “You get the crunchiness and saltiness from the chicken,” Grivet says, “and then the acid and the heat from the sauce, and then that sweetness from the bread.”

Grivet has been singularly focused on chicken Parmesan sandwiches since launching her pop-up, and she’s working on some new riffs. Grivet just permanently added the K Parm sandwich, a side step from the traditional with added gochujang sauce, mozzarella in place of provolone cheese, and a smattering of green onions instead of basil. She’s also been playing around with arancini, or deep-fried risotto balls, and she brought a crab version to a recent pop-up at Rickhouse, which she likens to a cioppino risotto. A spaghetti arancini option is in the development stage and could make an appearance at an upcoming pop-up. “It sounds crazy, but it’s actually a version of very, very authentic street food in Naples and Sicily,” Grivet says.

The “Bette” of Bette’s is not one woman, but three. Grivet has the unique family history of having three grandmas by the name of Bette — a great-grandmother on her mom’s side, plus two Bette’s on her father’s side — and given her devotion to family, it only makes sense to name her pop-up after these significant figures in her life. “I’ve always wanted to be that Grandma with the good sauce,” Grivet says. “I feel like with the classic chicken Parm, the sauce is super simple, but it means so much to me, because that’s just my thing, I guess — I’m trying to take after her. By the time I’m that old, imagine how good it’s going to be.”

Bette’s next pop-ups are scheduled on Sunday, March 31 at Bar Gemini; Saturday, April 6 at Propagation; and Thursday, April 11 at Rickhouse. Follow Bette’s on Instagram for the latest on upcoming events.