DOMINICK’S STORY

My parents were from Calabria, Italy, where food is a passion and cooking is a way of life. I grew up in a first-generation Italian-American home that honored those traditions. 

After my father passed when I was 10, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen with my mother, aunts and uncles, helping prepare and cook delicious meals.  At age 13, I began working in my uncle’s Italian deli, learning the trade and helping my mother put food on the table for my sister and me.  

Over the years, I worked in pizzerias and delicatessens to put myself through school, where I majored in computer science and math. Eventually I met and married my beautiful wife, Raquel, took a job at Siemens engineering company and continued to work in the food industry as a second job. 

Climbing the Siemens corporate ladder, we lived in Puerto Rico, returned to New Jersey, and then finally were assigned to Sacramento. 

 We fell in love with Folsom and decided to stay and raise our children, Daniela and Jerry. One thing we noticed, though, was the area lacked a real deli. A lot of places call themselves delis, but they’re really sandwich shops. 

Raquel said, “Why don’t you leave the company and I can go back to work (in banking) and you can open a deli?”  So we did.

 We wanted to follow our East Coast roots and upbringing and build a unique place that would provide customers with the finest and freshest-quality food, large portions made from family recipes, fair prices and the Italian tradition of “first name” friendliness. That dream was realized with the 2004 grand opening of Dominick’s Italian Market & Deli in Granite Bay. 

Our customers loved our passion, commitment to quality and friendly service, and they embraced us.  It wasn’t long before the regulars from Granite Bay, Folsom and other surrounding communities kept encouraging us to open a small family restaurant. Dominick’s Trattoria & Bar debuted on Valentine’s Day 2006, next door to the deli. It quickly became the neighborhood gathering place.

From there, we expanded into our hometown of Folsom in 2010 with Dominick’s New York Pizza & Deli, a genuine East Coast pizzeria.  We sold it in 2016 so we could start a new restaurant venture. Two years later, the Corner Tavern & Grill opened its doors. 

A PRIVATE WORD

As pioneering restaurateurs for 15 years, Raquel and I have found fulfillment and happiness from introducing Sacramento to East Coast cooking and dining, and showing our customers those values we learned in a tight-knit Italian family – hospitality, friendship and the sense of close community that comes only when breaking bread with others at the table.   

As Raquel puts it:   “One of the things we wanted to do was share what we grew up with. What I love about what we’ve built is seeing customers who first started coming in when they were teenagers, and now they’re coming back with their own kids and teaching them the things we shared with them. That makes it worth everything we’ve gone through.  I hope we can duplicate that at the Corner.” 

As Dominick puts it:  “The greatest pleasure of our 15 plus year journey, is connecting communities and people.  I have enjoyed watching my staff grow both personally and professionally. Creating families of their own and become extended members of my family. It’s been a wonderful ride and we’re continually excited for the future.”