La Famiglia Manno

Part Five: Serafina & Giovanni

Serafina "Fina" Manno was the second youngest daughter of Francesco Paolo and Elena Manno. She was born on October 12, 1942 in Terrasini, Sicily, where her family took refuge to escape the heavy bombing in Palermo during World War II. After the war, the family returned to Palermo.

We had a good family, six kids. We were a close family, a real close family. We had a nice house, but not big. We had like four rooms, eight people. My mama, she was beautiful. Good wife, the love of my father. She was a really good cook.

My father went to work and my mother raised the family. In Sicily, he was always going out of town to buy and sell. He was buying horses. Expensive, very expensive horses.

In 1958, Fina immigrated to the United States with her mother and her sister Rosalia to join her father and her brother Paul in St. Louis. She traveled with her sister Anna who had come back to Palmero from St. Louis to marry John Mineo.

Palermo, 1958 - Boarding ship to America (L to R) Rosalia Manno, Anna Mineo, Concetta Elena Manno, Serafina Manno	Passenger List, 1958 Italian Motorvessel "Saturnia" (click image to enlarge)

Fina and her sister weren't happy when they first came to St. Louis. They worked with their sister Anna at Nania's making wedding dresses.

We cried all day. Every day, we wanted to go back, because we didn’t like it here. We didn’t know the language. We didn’t know anything about St. Louis. My father was working at a bad job again.

We had to go to work. I was making a dollar an hour. It snowed. Back and forth with the bus. My face was all blue. There was nothing really to like. I went to school just a little bit because I started working.

In Palermo, Fina knew a boy named Giovanni Gabriele.

We were neighbors. We grew up together. We would fight all the time.

When Fina immigrated to the United States, Giovanni joined the Italian Merchant Marine as a mechanical engineer, and spent several years sailing around the world. On a stop in Baltimore in 1960, Giovanni called Fina and proposed.

We kind of got engaged over the phone. We wrote love letters and I asked her to marry me, if only she would come back to Sicily.

In 1963, Fina returned to Palermo and stayed with her sister Concetta and her family. On July 9, 1964, Serafina and Giovanni Gabriele were married.

Fina and Giovanni Gabriele, Palermo, 1964

Giovanni wasn't eager to return to St. Louis with Fina.

I convinced him that when he came here, if he didn’t like it, we would go back to Italy. I was pregnant with my son, and he said, as soon as the baby is born, we will come back to Palermo. We never came back.

They returned to St. Louis later in 1964. Their first son, Carmelo, was born in 1965. Frank was born in 1967 and Lisa in 1977.

When Giovanni arrived in St. Louis, he started working at the Combustion Engineering plant on the city's north side. Soon after, he took a second job working evenings as a busboy under Vince Bommarito at Tony's.

I enjoyed seeing all the people all dressed up — the ladies wearing the jewelry and special dresses — I thought it was beautiful. I fell in love with the work. A few years later, when my English got a little better, I was promoted to waiter.

One night, his plant manager came in for dinner and recognized Giovanni.

He was in a table for six, and he looked at me and said, "Aren’t you Gabriele?" I said, yes, and told him I had to come work here to get some extra money because my wife had a baby.

The next day at the factory, Giovanni got called into the office.

They said I couldn’t work two jobs, so I had to make a choice. I had fallen in love with the restaurant, so I stayed at Tony’s.

By then, Giovanni had become a captain at Tony's. His tips were better than his pay at the factory and he saw a future in the restaurant business. He got a second job working lunch at Vincenzo's in Ferguson to supplement his evening hours.

After nine years at Tony's, an opportunity came when Giovanni's brothers-in-law, Agostino Gabriele and John Mineo, decided to sell Agostino's on the Hill. Giovanni bought the restaurant for $10,000 and took over the lease. But before he could open, Vince Bommarito found out about the new venture.

Vince Bommarito, he fired me. Vince says, you're fired because you opened a restaurant — I was just a little guy!

Vince Bommarito, 1973	Giovanni Gabriele, 1973 Giovanni's on the Hill

Giovanni opened his new restaurant at 5201 Shaw on April 16, 1973, changing the name to Giovanni's on the Hill. His oldest son, seven-year-old Carmelo, worked as a busboy.

He fixed up the restaurant. He painted it. There was an old Trevi Fountain on the wall that never worked. The night he opened the restaurant, he had on his tuxedo. It was a tuxedo restaurant, just like Tony’s. My mom was in the kitchen; he had one cook. He had one waiter and a dish washer. And I was a busboy. I was a little kid.

My father stole the template from Tony’s, which was take care of your customer. The people came in and he mesmerized them with his charm. He saw how Tony’s Americanized the Italian kitchen. He develop the tiny menu from Tony’s concept with his own family recipes.

We had no business at the beginning. We did four people. Six people. People would just accidentally walk in.

Giovanni's on the Hill, 1973

But business picked up. Joe Pollack gave the restaurant high marks in his February 13, 1974 St. Louis Post-Dispatch review.

Giovanni's, at 5201 Shaw Avenue, is in the friendly confines of St. Ambrose Parish. It serves an excellent variety of fine food, well-prepared and well served. A full dinner will run close to $15 per person, but portions are large and the evening is a pleasant experience.

The outstanding memory of dinner at Giovanni's is the variety of delicious sauces. All are of splendid flavor and generally are very light.

Giovanni continued to fix up his restaurant, removing the nonworking fountain and adding a chandelier. When the landlord raised the rent, Giovanni bought the building from the DiMartino family for $89,000.

In 1980, Giovanni received an envelope from the White House inviting him to cook at Ronald Reagan's first inauguration. He was one of fifty restaurateurs chosen to participate in an event called "A Taste of America" held at the National Visitor Center on the four days preceding the inauguration.

I had no idea why they picked me. I don't have anything to do with Reagan. We're all good Democrats up here on the Hill. Still, I'm very proud this has happened to me.

Giovanni chose two dishes for the four-day event — Tortellini alla Panna and Vitello Tonnato — serving bite-size samples to thousands of dignitaries and guests.

Carmelo Gabriele remembered the publicity his father received for his efforts.

That’s what put dad on the map. For four days he got such press, it was unbelievable. We built a banquet room upstairs. We’re doing bus tours. We’re doing weddings. The business is really flourishing. Giovanni’s becomes national in terms of reputation.

Giovanni returned to the nation's capital in January of 1985 with 500 pints of dry pasta. Invited to cook for Reagan's second inauguration, he served Farfalline al Salmone at the preinaugural event.

On the last day, this big guy comes into the kitchen and says, "Mr. Giovanni, Frankie wants a tray of pasta. He loves it."

Well, Frankie was Frank Sinatra. Then, 45 minutes after sending the pasta up, Frank Sinatra comes into the kitchen and says, "Giovanni, Giovanni, how do you make this pasta? It is delicious. Why don’t you call it Presidential Farfalline?"

Farfalline del Presidente Reagan became a permanent offering on Giovanni's menu. Joe Pollack included the dish in his December 17, 1987 St. Louis Post-Dispatch review.

The presidential pasta that leads the list is a bowtie noodle with a cream and salmon sauce; it's rich, and yet the delicate flavor of the salmon comes through nicely, and it made for a splendid entree.

Farfalline del Presidente Reagan

In July of 1984, Giovanni opened a restaurant in Effingham, Illinois.

I have a good friendship with Chuck Keller. Chuck came to my St. Louis restaurant for many years. He kept saying, "You've got to come to Effingham. You've got to come to Effingham." My business in St. Louis was and is very successful so a decision was not easy.

Giovanni finally decided to take the plunge and partnered with Keller to open Casa Gabriele adjacent to Keller's Ramada Inn complex in Effingham.

The opening was greeted by a flood of curious patrons, but the rush subsided. Giovanni was bewildered, but not bothered, by the eating habits in Effingham.

It's a good town, but the people need a little educating on food and quality. Their palate is a little behind. A good percentage are not capable of separating fresh from frozen or canned foods. A lot of times you give them something they've never had — something truly good — and they think it's not good.

Casa Gabriele closed about a year later.

Giovanni Gabriele

In 1977, Giovanni's brother, Agostino Gabriele, opened a small restaurant on Bellevue Avenue called Agostino's Little Place. In 1979, he moved his restaurant to a larger space on Manchester Road in Winchester Plaza.

In 1986, Agostino joined a third Gabriele brother in Louisville as a partner in his popular restaurant, Vincenzo's, and sold Agostino's Little Place to Giovanni. In January of 1987, the Winchester Plaza restaurant's name was changed to Giovanni's Little Place.

Initially, Giovanni's younger son Frank managed and served as chef at the new restaurant, while Giovanni and Carmelo ran the restaurant on the Hill. But in 1990, Giovanni gave the Manchester Road restaurant to Carmelo as a wedding present.

I knew I was in for a lot of work, but I didn't know just how much. All of the recipes at both locations evolved from my father's kitchen, but our menus were not identical. Basically, we were a lot more casual than the Hill location. We had no chandeliers and no fancy molding on the walls. We did have white tablecloths and the table-side preparation. After all, why not be treated right when you're out for dinner?

2000 Giovanni's Little Place Menu (click image to enlarge)

Giovanni's Little Place Dining Room

According to Carmelo, if cooking for Ronald Reagan's inauguration put his father's restaurant on the map, "when he went on Oprah, that’s when Giovanni’s went crazy."

In 2002, it happened that Oprah Winfrey was in town. She was at the Ritz Carlton and there was a storm, so she couldn’t fly out. She asked some people in the lobby, if you’re in St. Louis, where do you go eat? This lady says, there’s only one place. Giovanni’s.

So they called my dad and they said we have a really important client; do you have room for eight? My father never refused a table in his life. We’ll find a table.

So in comes Oprah. The place is packed. People loved her and she knew that. She bought Dom Pérignon for everybody at the restaurant. She fell in love with my father. Dad overwhelmed her with his charm. And he created a dish for her — Pappardelle alla Bella Oprah. It’s in a tomato sauce with ricotta and pesto, because she’s a vegetarian.

Pappardelle alla Bella Oprah

The next morning, she calls the restaurant. "Mr. Giovanni? Oprah Winfrey." And he says, "Oh, Oprah! Bella!" — like he knew her for a hundred years. She says, "I want you to come cook in Chicago."

When he went on the show, she introduced him and she says, "I won a lot of awards, I’ve won all kinds of attributes, but nobody ever named a dish after me." And then he and Frank, with the help of her people, cooked it for the whole studio audience.

After Oprah, for about two years, you couldn’t get into Giovanni’s. It was bigger than the president. It was bigger than anything we’ve ever done. People from all over the country wanted to try this Pasta Oprah.

Frank & Giovanni Gabriele, Oprah Winfrey

Giovanni's on the Hill continued to get high marks from the critics. Joe Bonwich detailed the ambiance in his June 12, 2003 St. Louis Post-Dispatch review.

Immediately on entering Giovanni's, it's clear that the intent is to provide a top-drawer experience. The host is in full formal wear, as are all the waiters, and he leads you to a table surrounded by molded walls lined with ornately framed oil paintings, intermittently broken up by niches holding small classical statues. A fresh rose, sometimes two, is the primary ornament on each white-linened table, which is gently spotlit from above, allowing for an effect of dimness in the overall dining room while providing sufficient, although by no means bright, light on your meal.

Giovanni's on the Hill Dining Room

Giovanni's on the Hill, 5201 Shaw

In 2003, Carmelo sold Giovanni's Little Place and opened Cafe Bellagio at City Place in Creve Coeur.

I was OK at my place. It was a smaller restaurant. I had three children and we were just paying the bills. And the guy who owned City Place, Bill Koman, was looking for a restaurant.

They built a million dollar restaurant and gave us six months free rent. We put no money into the place because of my dad’s name. He told them, you do this and I’ll have Oprah at the grand opening. That sold the deal.

It was THE place, Cafe Bellagio. We were the hottest restaurant in town for three years.

While the restaurant was the hottest in town, the Cafe Bellagio name was too hot. After two years of legal sparring with the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, the name of the Creve Coeur restaurant was changed to Il Bel Lago.

Il Bel Lago, 11631 Olive, City Place

When Cafe Bellagio opened in 2003, Frank Gabriele left Giovanni's on the Hill and joined his brother Carmelo as executive chef at the new restaurant.

My dad says, you guys need to work together, it’s a big operation. It’s lunch, dinner, happy hour, a big restaurant. I’m good here. He had his people. And we sort of left dad alone and branched out on our own.

(L to R) Frank, Giovanni & Carmelo Gabriele

Giovanni Gabriele	Lisa & Giovanni Gabriele

In January of 2013, Carmelo and Frank Gabriele partnered with Dave Jones and Doug Tieber, developers of 16 Buffalo Wild Wings locations, to open Cini — a causal, fast food restaurant on South Grand at the edge of the St. Louis University campus.

Cini, 374 South Grand

Cini was short for arancini — the Italian appetizer was the restaurant's signature dish. The fried rice balls were offered with three savory and two sweet fillings, and complimented a menu of build-your-own piadina wraps, salad bowls and pasta bowls.

A modern atmosphere complimented the modern concept, featuring large, artsy lighting fixtures with silver and glass. From the order line, one could see the fridges stocked with fresh vegetables, as well as the grill.

Cini Order Line

Cini Dining Room

In May of 2013, a planned second Cini location opened at 8831 Ladue Road in The Colonial Marketplace. But by the end of the year, Carmelo and his partners had closed both locations.

We tried something called Cini; we tried to branch out. It didn’t work. We lost our butts. And then Cini we turned into Giovanni’s Kitchen. So at one time we had Il Bel Lago, Giovanni’s Kitchen and Giovanni’s on the Hill.

Cini Balls	Cini Menu (click image to enlarge)

Giovanni's Kitchen opened in April of 2014 on Ladue Road in the storefront space occupied by the short lived second Cini location. The modern decor was replaced by a more sedate ambiance, with dusky red colors and pewter panels, although the large round Cini light fixtures were retained.

Giovanni's Kitchen, 8831 Ladue Road

Giovanni's Kitchen Dining Room

As opposed to their failed fast-food concept, Giovanni's Kitchen's success flowed easily from the Gabriele brothers' forty years of experience. This was evident in Ian Froeb's June 19, 2014 St. Louis Post-Dispatch review.

As its name suggests, the new restaurant hearkens back to the Gabrieles’ father’s restaurant, and it even boasts Giovanni’s chef, Alessandro Bozzato, in the kitchen. But while the cooking here remains rooted in Italian and Italian-American tradition, Giovanni’s Kitchen reflects contemporary dining trends: It’s casual, affordable (though not cheap) and family-friendly.

At its best, the food here is elemental and vibrant. You can almost imagine you’ve stepped back several decades, before a thousand copies of this menu, each a little fuzzier and more faded than the last, had dulled our palates.

Bucatini with San Marzano tomatoes, cubes of spice-kissed guanciale, Pecorino Romano and olive oil and then garnished with fresh basil leaves is perfect in its simplicity.

Giovanni’s Kitchen closed in November of 2020 after a six-year run.

Bucatini all'Amatricana

On January 25, 2017, a fire caused extensive damage to Giovanni's on the Hill. The fire appeared to have started in a junction box in the wall of the second-floor banquet room. The restaurant had been upgrading its wiring and the flames were discovered after an electrical worker smelled smoke. Carmelo Gabriele told reporters that the restaurant would definitely reopen.

Carmelo Gabriele and his wife Maria with firefighters, Jan 25, 2017

Giovanni Gabriele came to America with only a dime in his pocket.

But I came with enthusiasm to succeed in this beautiful country. I worked very hard, but I knew I would make it. Since the day I stepped in this country, I fell in love with America. I knew it would be my opportunity because of the people. They've been kind, helpful and loyal.

Giovanni Gabriele died on June 10, 2019 at the age of 78 after a long battle with cancer. He and Fina had been married for 55 years.

Giovanni and Fina Gabriele

Carmelo was at his father's side when he passed away.

Before he passed away, that Sunday, he told me two things. Promise me you’ll take care of your mom. The he goes, Giovanni’s had its time. Don’t worry about it. You and your brother are doing really well. If you can’t do it because it’s too much, let it go. I had my time. It’s time for you to create your own time.

Carmelo and Frank initially decided to rebuild Giovanni's on the Hill in honor of their father. But they eventually sold the building and continued to create their own time in Creve Coeur, as their father had advised. They also continued to take care of their mother.

Fina Gabriele, April 11, 2021

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