3 Giovani: Where Italian Fare and Family-Owned Hospitality Meet
With Italian comfort classics served in an equally cozy atmosphere nestled in the heart of Greenwich Village, 3 Giovani is a family-owned establishment where Tuscan cuisine and friendly hospitality meet for the most welcoming and authentic space in Manhattan.
Chef Hido Holli’s menu of homemade dishes include Beef Carpaccio, thinly sliced filet mignon topped with arugula and shaved parmesan and Polpo, their grilled Mediterranean baby octopus with cherry tomatoes, asparagus, onions, olives. Pasta plates such as the Taglierini Pesto featuring a basil-nut pesto sauce and Rigatoni Buttera made with hot and sweet sausages, green peas, and tomato-cream sauce will make you feel like you’ve crossed over to Nona’s house in Italy.
Other must-try dishes include their Ravioli Funghetto, Squid Ink Linguini with mixed seafood, and the Chicken Martini. You will also find Branzino which is fillet baked ‘al cartoccio’ and served with summer vegetables, the Confit D’Anatra, roasted duck legs with a brandied mushroom medley & cranberry sauce, and their Vitello Capriciossa, a rack of veal ‘milanese’ topped with fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and arugula.
Gent Kasmi, the second-generation of the family behind the brand is continuing the tradition of bringing tasty rustic Tuscan cuisine in a casual yet contemporary neighborhood restaurant. Kasmi explains how his father originally opened 3 Giovani with two friends, with the restaurant name translating to three young men in Italian. Tucked away in a cozy nook in Greenwich Village, they have indeed expanded since first opening as a pizza joint with a wood-burning oven in 1988.
Diners visiting the space today will enjoy dishes which are heavily influenced by the land and made up of ingredients of the Tuscan countryside. Think fresh herbs, rosemary, parsley, and thyme,
as well as olives, lemon, spicy red pepper flakes and cracked peppercorn. The scrumptious secret is the harmonious union of simple ingredients with complex flavors.
Having grown up in the restaurant and finding he loved watching the food being prepared and the people coming and going, Kasmi began helping out behind the registry and is now proud to serve a whole new generation of loyal customers, as well as his own family who is there almost every night.
