Buca di Beppo

Menu Description: "Chicken breasts lightly sautéed and topped with lemon butter sauce and capers."

Buca di Beppo's Chicken Limone was deliciously simple to reverse-engineer: I asked the server to check on what kind of dairy is used in the sauce and whether or not white wine is cooked into it. After getting the information I needed, I ordered the dish to go with the sauce on the side and got to work back in the lab. Several versions hit the sink as I unsuccessfully experimented with various amounts of wine, butter, and cream.

It was only after I decided to chill the lemon-butter sauce that I got the information that I needed. The sauce formed a firm solid in the fridge, which indicated that my recipe needed a lot more butter than first estimated. I made the proper adjustments and the sauce that sat in my pan was a perfect match that could surely stand up to a blindfolded taste test. The rest of the secret technique required pounding the chicken breasts until thin. This tenderized the chicken and made each piece the same size as the original. A quick sauté later, I was arranging the chicken on a serving platter, adding capers, spooning on plenty of sauce, and I had before me a beautiful culinary carbon copy indistinguishable from the real thing.

Try my Buca di Beppo Chicken Limone copycat recipe below, and try my clone for their garlic bread for the full experience.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 by Todd Wilbur.

Get the mints ready. The secret to re-creating Buca di Beppo's garlic bread starts with using the right kind of bread and lots of fresh garlic. Bakers at each restaurant start baking bread early each day, so you'll want to find a freshly baked loaf of focaccia in your market's bakery, and cut it in half through the middle using a large serrated knife. The better the foccacia, the better your garlic bread will turn out. 

In my Buca di Beppo Garlic Bread recipe below, the garlic cloves are sliced very thin using a sharp knife and a steady hand. Arrange these slices over the top of the generously buttered bread. Add shredded mozzarella first if it's that version of the garlic bread you're making. Then, just make sure you each consume at least one slice when the lightly brown garlic bread comes out of the oven so that everyone's breath is equally stinky. 

Make the uber popular Chicken Limone from Buca di Beppo with my recipe here.

Source: Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 3 by Todd Wilbur.