We don’t have a huge cooking facility, so I do everything to scale of the café.”ĭomenico focuses on cooking with real ingredients, and even if it’s an item that he doesn’t make himself, he still ensures that the ingredients are top notch. If I don’t have what they’re looking for, I’ll try to make them something to their liking. I have some customers who come in every day and ask what’s on the menu. “We do mostly Italian and keep it on the pasta side. “We make classic items in my own way,” said Domenico. There’s nothing worse than a mushy cannoli.” If you’re looking for something less sweet, Domenico also offers focaccia bread and pastas like lasagna, penne, pasta salad, spaghetti, pesto, and more, with rotating specials. “I fill them on the spot so they’re soft inside and crunchy outside. Everybody is here I’ve gotten to meet people from Eastern Europe, South America, Africa, the Middle East, the Philippine Islands, you name it.” Domenico hopes to evoke memories from childhood or special trips across the globe where you can pop into your favorite café to grab a quick bite.Ĭaffe Paradiso offers chocolate and almond croissants, danishes, cookies, macarons, biscotti, cakes, gelato, and fresh cannoli. “People from outside of the area view it as simply a farm town, but this is just as cosmopolitan as San Francisco. “It has been a mind-blowing revelation coming to Brentwood,” said Domenico. With only two employees in addition to himself and his partner, he keeps things simple with the goal of emulating a corner café somewhere in Europe. We were received beautifully here.” Coming from a larger restaurant background, opening a small café has been a different journey for Domenico. It also gave us a chance to get to know other people working in The Streets of Brentwood who didn’t really have anywhere else to get a hot cooked meal. “Unlike larger cities that became ghost towns, it never felt depressing here. “During the pandemic there were still some people who would come, wearing their masks, and walk around,” said Domenico. It’s beautiful.”Īt the time, California had just reopened, only to shut down three days after Caffe Paradiso opened its doors.

It reminded me so much of the Piazza Navona in Rome with the oval shape and the fountain at the end. “When I saw that the corner spot next to AMC Theater was for sale, I came to see the shopping center. “The inspiration was more about the location,” said Domenico. After multiple successful restaurants in various cities, he landed at The Streets of Brentwood, opening Caffe Paradiso on Black Friday 2020. With a strong passion for delicious, homemade food and pleasing people’s palates, Domenico inevitably entered the restaurant world. Fortunately, he brought all of his family recipes with him. Originally arriving with the intention to return home in a few months, Domenico discovered all that California had to offer and never went back. Domenico Testa unintentionally immigrated from Italy to the United States in 1985.

Caffe paradiso