OUR STORY

C.J. Fiorella: In 1984 my wife Carolyn and I were working in our family grocery business, “Fiorella’s Fine Foods”. Our job was to order and stock everything that was sold “from the floor” of the store.

My Dad was the produce buyer and he got up each morning at 3:00 am and went to the French Market to purchase all the produce we sold.

My Dad passed away suddenly in 1977 and I assumed the responsibility for buying the produce. Part of my morning ritual when buying produce, was to stop and get a cup of coffee at the restaurant across from the French Market.

One morning I went in to get my usual cup of coffee, Mr. Anthony, the owner,  told me he had to give up the place for health reasons.

I don’t know why he chose me, but he did and told me the restaurant was mine if I wanted it.

The rest is history and we opened for business May 3, 1985.

We ran the restaurant for many years at its original location near the French Market until we sold the business in 1999.

Now here we are in 2016 and have reopened as “The Original Fiorellas’ Cafe”, here on Franklin Ave.

Many folks have asked us, “Why do you want to do this again?” We asked ourselves: Why? To our resolve, we’re doing it again because we love it.

Fueling our desire to “Do it again” was the hundreds of times over the years that we heard:  “When are you going to open again? or “We sure miss your food.”

Others miss the tradition…and such “Fiorella’s” is revived through my dearest sons, Kelly and Calcie.

So, the Fiorella name and good eats live on.