Tommy DeVito, the N.F.L. team’s rookie star quarterback, is beloved by his state’s Italian Americans. He’s billed as “the Passing Paisan.”
At Natoli’s Italian Deli in Secaucus, N.J., in the shadow of MetLife Stadium, one can now order the Tommy DeVito hero — chicken parm a la vodka — just like the breakout Giants quarterback likes it.
In the past month, Mr. DeVito, raised across the Hackensack River in Cedar Grove, has rocketed from third-string obscurity to star on the often-dismal New York Giants, keeping their long-shot playoff chances alive and becoming an icon of the greater Meadowlands metro area.