Every weekend, Joe’s Meat Market in South Bound Brook hosts sold-out, waited dinner service in its humble deli space, with white tablecloths and candles surrounded by pizza boxes and potato chips.
“They come for the food, not for the ambiance,” Giovanni LaCorte, 20-year-old chef and son of deli owner Joe LaCorte, previously told MyCentralJersey. “But soon, I’ll have people coming for the ambiance, too.”
On Tuesday Feb. 18, Joe’s Meat Market opened Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant, named after its young chef, in a former church fellowship hall next to the deli at 113 Clinton St.
Reservations are required through Friday, Feb. 21 and can be made by calling 848-305-4467. Starting Saturday, Feb. 22, the restaurant will have space for walk-ins, although reservations will be recommended.
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Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant continues the upscale dinner service that Giovanni began hosting in the deli about a year ago — but with a modern, elegant and minimalist vibe featuring lights imported from Italy, wood floors, neutral colors and a waterfall outside.
Seats for 120 people fill three dining rooms, also suitable for private events and weddings, between white walls and black ceilings. It’s a far cry from the 40-seat deli, where on packed weekend nights patrons sat on the pizzeria side of the space, too.
But the food is the same. Just as he used to do at Joe’s Meat Market’s Friday and Saturday night dinners, Giovanni serves classic, refined Italian-American dishes, like a $16 Brooklyn-style sausage ring, $19 homemade linguini with clam sauce, $40 veal Milanese, $23 vodka chicken Parmesan, and $24 pork chop giambotta at Giovanni’s Italian Restaurant.
Lobster oreganata made by Giovanni LaCorte at Joe’s Meat Market in South Bound Brook.
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“I make good, simple dishes that people love,” he said. “People aren’t just coming in for a roast beef sandwich — they’re also coming in and ordering tomahawk steak.”
When Joe’s Meat Market was featured on “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” in 2022, Giovanni was the youngest chef ever on the show at 18.
Since then, he has capitalized on his television stint by creating Instagram videos. He has nearly 15,000 followers, most who began following him after he appeared on the Food Network. Now, people visit from throughout the tristate area to try the food — and take a photo with him.
Go: 113 Clinton St., South Bound Brook; giovannis-nj.com, 848-305-4467.
Jenna Intersimone.
Contact: [email protected]
Jenna Intersimone has been a staff member at the USA TODAY NETWORK New Jersey since 2014, although she’s a lifetime Jersey girl who considers herself an expert in everything from the Jersey Shore to the Garden State’s buzzing downtowns. To get unlimited access to her stories about food, drink and fun, please subscribe or activate your digital account today. You can also follow her on Instagram at @seejennaeat and on Twitter at @JIntersimone.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Joe’s Meat Market in South Bound Brook opens Italian restaurant
