In a city as food-crazed as New York, the West Village stands out as the epicenter of hip. Its charming, tree-lined streets are packed with buzzy destination eateries where beautiful people jam into tiny spaces to indulge in the latest culinary trends.

Three restaurants stand apart in this dining hotbed: Little Owl, The Clam, and Market Table. Known for their warm and welcoming service and sophisticated simplicity, this trio forms a shrine to a low-key elegance that disrupts the neighborhood’s otherwise sometimes-pretentious vibe. They’re the fruit of one of the most innovative collaborations in recent culinary history: The extraordinary partnership between chef-entrepreneurs Mike Price and Joe Campanaro.

Laying the Foundation

Price and Campanaro met in the early 1990s while plating salads at the white-tablecloth establishment Symphony Cafe. The pair bonded over brunoise, then developed a fun-seeking friendship. “Mikey wasn’t even 21,” Campanaro remembers. “We couldn’t go out drinking with the rest of the team. We had to spend our time playing ping pong and pool.” Relegated to the soberest parts of Manhattan, the young men spent their evenings clearheadedly talking about their dreams and ideas.

After leaving Symphony Cafe, Campanaro and Price went their separate ways. It was then that Campanaro was approached by Jim Bradley and Danny Abrams of West Chelsea’s Red Cat; they offered him the opportunity to help them open The Harrison in Tribeca. “Joe gave me a call,” says Price. “He asked me if I wanted to come with him.”

The Harrison was set to open days after the 9/11 attacks in lower Manhattan. Price and Campanaro worked side by side through the dark period that followed, knowing that their contributions to the neighborhood would help Tribeca get back on its feet. When it did, they felt ready to start a business of their own.

Dinner Party, Not Dining Experience

In 2006, they opened their first venture: Little Owl. Their vision? To value good over glitz. “When we worked at Symphony Cafe, there was a beet salad that had literally 15 components,” Price says. “We wanted to scale back that excess and celebrate simple food and simple plating. Our concentration was on technique and flavors—not how much stuff we could fit on one plate.”

Their idea worked. By creating an atmosphere that felt more like a dinner party than a dining experience, Little Owl disrupted the notion that an upscale restaurant had to be fancy. “I really felt that people want a more simple style of food,” says Campanaro. “If you look around, there are certain techniques that are interesting and kind of fancy. But at the end of the day, there aren’t that many restaurants surviving on those kinds of techniques. Back to basics is where it’s at. That’s where the real bread and butter is for our restaurants."

The Empire Expands

The simple, neighborhood sentiment they invented at Little Owl saw immediate success. Just one year later, Campanaro and Price opened their second restaurant, Market Table. Price explains, “We wanted to build an open kitchen so guests could walk up and say, ‘God, what a delicious meal.’ Or, ‘Hey, the cod was a little salty.’ That kind of feedback and interaction you get with the customer is irreplaceable.”

The pair opened their third West Village destination, The Clam, just two years ago. And to commemorate the occasion, Campanaro gifted Price with his first pair of Japanese knives — the perfect present to celebrate a seafood restaurant that oozes refined excellence and calm.

One + One = Excellence

In an industry fraught with ego, Price and Campanaro have chosen an atmosphere of partnership over competition. They’ve formed a team that’s truly supportive of one another’s tastes, strengths and goals. “We learned to help each other in a cutthroat environment. … If I needed help, he was there, and if he needed help, I was there for him,” explains Campanaro.

The result is something larger than either could have achieved on their own. One plus one, for the pair, is far greater than two separate individuals. “There are points in our careers where we are better at one thing than the other,” says Campanaro. “Because of the dynamic of our relationship, we can feed off of one another.”

Supporting the Team, Living the Dream

After more than two decades of friendship — and almost a decade as business partners — the pair operates like a well-oiled machine, picking up slack when necessary and buoying one another through life’s obstacles. “We’re a unit. We’re one,” says Campanaro. “There are certain times in our careers where I’m fired up and I’m doing really great work. Mikey might be focused on something else, like having babies. And then there are times where I might be going through something in my life, like my father just died, and I need that support. Trust has a lot to do with our success.”

This sense of comradery is extended to their team. Their servers are encouraged to wear their own clothes, showcase their personalities, and contribute their ideas and skills across all aspects of the business. “We pride ourselves on building a good team, and on treating our employees well,” Price explains. In return, he continues, “We get great loyalty and people who spend a lot of time in the restaurants over the course of years. [People] who dig what we do and appreciate the way that we treat them.”

On to the Next One

With three renowned restaurants under Price and Campanaro's belts — and a reservation list that extends beyond the month — the world is their oyster (or should we say, their clam). So what’s next? “I’ve started to get the itch,” says Price. “We’re starting to look at that next project. I don’t know what it is yet, but we’re both at that point.” Unsurprisingly, Campanaro is also poised for action. “When Mikey gets that itch,” he says, “I know to get ready.”