In a previous episode of the series on food, Gianni Mura talked about trends in restaurant dining. He talked about what quickly caught on as a popular way of getting a little taste of everything. Instead of a primo (first course), secondo (main dish), contorno (side dish), and dolce (dessert), a restaurant would offer a tris di assaggi (three "tastes," or miniature servings) of primi piatti (first courses). This became, and still is, a great way for tourists, or anyone else, to find out what they like. Depending on what's offered, and on the kind of restaurant, the three servings may arrive all on the same plate at the same time, or on separate plates, one after the other. 

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At the end of concerts, audiences ask for an encore. In Italian, this is called a bis. It comes from the Latin for "twice." It has come to mean "again" or "more" in a concert setting, where people want to hear a piece played a second time, or something extra once the programmed performance is over. If you're dining with friends at home, and would like another helping, you can use bis:

Posso fare il bis?
Can I have a second helping?

In rare cases you can ask for a bis in a restaurant, but usually in a restaurant setting, bis will indicate two small servings of two different dishes, rather than one normal one. Likewise, a tris (coming from the Latin for "three times") denotes three small servings of a dish rather than one normal serving.
 

Now that you know what tris means, here's a tris of tidbits about Italian.
 

1) Past meaning present

In some cases Italian uses il passato prossimo (constructed like the English present perfect) to express an idea that in English would use the present tense. Here's an example. Luca is telling the doctor that Lara will promise to take care of him. She hesitates but then agrees. She uses the past participle of promettere (to promise) rather than the present tense, as we would in English.

Dottore, che... che devo fare?

Doctor, what... what should I do?

-Senta, se lo dimetto,

-Listen! If I release him,

mi promette di non lasciarlo solo neanche un attimo?

do you promise not to leave him alone, not even for an instant?

Promette, promette... -Eh... sì! Promesso.

She promises, she promises... -Uh... yes! I promise.

Captions 47-49, Il Commissario Manara - S1EP7 - Sogni di Vetro

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Capire (to understand) is another word that often gets used in its passato prossimo tense to mean what we think of as being in the present.

Ho capito, ma adesso, qua in mezzo alla campagna...

I get it, but now, here in the middle of the countryside...

con le mucche, che facciamo?

with the cows, what are we going to do?

Captions 10-11, Francesca - alla guida

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As a question tag, the person and auxiliary verb are often left out:

Tiziana, calmati.

Tiziana, calm down.

Ho già fatto richiesta per farti scarcerare,

I've already put in a request for you to be released,

però mi devi dare una mano.

but you have to give me a hand.

Mi devi aiutare, capito?

You have to help me, do you understand?

Captions 21-22, Il Commissario Manara - S2EP9 - L'amica ritrovata

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Ho capito (I understand [literally "I've understood"]) is what you commonly say to let someone know you're listening, much like "I see," "I get it," or even "uh huh." 

2) A common modo di dire

E poi eravamo in giro tutte le notti,

And then, we were out and about all night

perché a quei tempi gli artisti andavano ad alcool e quindi...

because in those times, artists were fueled by alcohol, and so...

Captions 3-4, L'arte della cucina - La Prima Identitá

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In giro is a very general way to say "out" or "around," when you ask or say where someone is, or where someone has gone. There are many ways to use this expression, so check it out here.

3) Hidden vowels and silent consonants

In an online video lesson, Marika talks some more about object pronouns, this time with the participio passato (past participle). One important thing that can be difficult to grasp is that when the pronoun is used, the object (in the form of a pronoun) comes first. Let's look at this example.

Hai guardato il film? Sì, l'ho guardato.

Did you watch the movie? Yes, I watched it.

Captions 15-16, Marika spiega - I pronomi diretti con participio passato

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We also need to remember that the "h" in ho is silent. L'ho sounds like "lo," but the apostrophe is there to tell us that it's really lo (it) ho (I have). We have "l" + silent  "o" + silent "h" + "o."

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One extra tidbit concerning the passato prossimo: While constructed like the present perfect, it often translates with the English simple past tense, just as in the above example. 

That's it for the tris!