A 'Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives' guy opening new restaurant in NJ

He’s not even old enough to drink, and he’s opening his restaurant. It’s all thanks to his skill and passion and the TV show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/CgawhzvNU67/?hl=en

Giovanni LaCorte is 20. His father, Joe LaCorte, owns Joe’s Meat Market in Bound Brook. When the deli was featured on Guy Fieri’s show in 2022, Giovanni was the youngest chef in the show’s history.

He’s been whipping up stuff in their kitchen that you would never expect from a deli. He volunteered at a high-end restaurant in Staten Island just for the experience and quickly picked up fine dining tips on how to infuse fresh herbs in his dishes and liquors into his sauces. The deli started squeezing tables into the small space, and soon, weekends were packed with reservations for this unlikely setting.

Now, after “Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives” and Instagram celebrity Giovanni is going to be running his restaurant out of a space next door to the deli his family owns.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C4dP1Iouf23/?hl=en

It will be called simply Giovanni’s and will serve upscale food but with, according to mycentraljersey.com, “a modern, elegant and minimalist vibe featuring lights imported from Italy, wood floors, neutral colors and a waterfall outside.”

You can look forward to choices like homemade rigatoni with truffle cream sauce, lobster oreganata with mussels, clams, shrimp, and calamari, or filet mignon tips, sundried tomatoes, and burrata.

Giovanni’s will be at 113 Clinton St., South Bound Brook, and is set to open in late December. And no one is looking forward to it as much as Giovanni LaCorte.

“There was always something in my heart directing me to go into the kitchen,” he said. “I just loved to see the action. You’ll never see anything like it. A restaurant kitchen is amazing.”

I would say he’s found his purpose.