new look, SAME GREAT TASTE
Culinary hero hands the reins (and legendary recipes) to Palermo crew
Since 1967, Tony Paradiso’s shift had started in the dark of night. He’d arrive at the family deli before 2 a.m. to put on pots of sauce to simmer and make the lasagna and ravioli for that day’s lunch crowds.
But on Wednesday, he walked in around 11:30 a.m., via the front door instead of the kitchen, to a new but still homey restaurant, a growing line of customers and a welcome worthy of a hero.
The culinary hero of the old Del Monte Cannery neighborhood, that is. After all, how many people can make a mean meatball sandwich — and do it every day for 50 years?
They hugged him, they shook his hand. Most hadn’t seen him for nearly a year, since the Paradiso family sold their legendary San Jose business to Palermo Street Foods, which took these months to remodel the Auzerais Avenue property and staff up for longer business hours.
There were construction workers from nearby sites. Folks from Superior Court. Old-timers from the neighborhood. Lots and lots of Italians. Even short-timers like Charlie Rath, who’d been an avid fan for just 10 years but had to express his appreciation.
“Thank you for selling them your recipe for meatballs,” Rath said in a reverent tone.
“I sold them everything!” Paradiso, 88, responded, grinning.
The “them” is another longtime Italian restaurant family, Renato and Diane Cusimano, who ran a Palermo restaurant on South Second Street for nearly 20 years and one in Redwood City for the last nine years. The two families have known each other for decades.
The Cusimanos kept the most-requested Paradiso recipes — for beef-andspinach ravioli, for lasagna and for “Tony’s Meatballs” ($4 for a monstersized one). And they’re featuring specialties of their own, including arancini, eggplant and Sicilian-style pizza. They’ve added a cannoli-filling station near the front door, right below an old Del Monte sign, but kept the eatery’s signature exterior look, most of the interior layout and the back dining room area with the original fireplace.
“It’s very important for the Italian-American heritage to keep this landmark going,” Renato said. “These mom-andpop businesses are on the way out. We are going to try to keep it going the best we can.”
However, the Cusimanos said, there’s plenty of time for the community to learn about them, their history and their menu. On opening day, they wanted to keep the focus on the Paradiso family,
which operated a grocery here from the 1940s until the Paradiso sons — Tony, Richard and Louis — turned the shop into a deli in 1967.
“Mr. Tony, we need you! We’re lost!” a half-joking Diane Cusimano called out from the busy cashier station that Theresa Paradiso, Tony’s sister-in-law,
had staffed for decades. (Theresa was ill Wednesday and couldn’t attend the party.)
Tony, who had fed shift workers from the 3,000-employee Del Monte plant, replied: “It gets hectic. I had the same problem on my first day.”
Longtime customer
Damian Speno sensed an opening. “Oh, what day was that?”
“Before Christ,” Tony wisecracked.
It went on like that for hours, with hundreds of customers reminiscing and joking as they waited — mostly patiently — for their orders.
First in line was Russ Polito, whose cousin’s wedding was catered by the Paradisos back in the 1970s. Many customers, including Ann Maisano, Joe Casanova and Jesse Diaz, grew up in this neighborhood and recalled coming here when they were youngsters. Aaron Lugo showed up early with his mother, Louisa Ruiz; Tony remembered when Aaron couldn’t see over the counter.
And Gary Rovai, owner of the Goosetown Lounge, brought in the fifth generation of his family to eat at Paradiso’s, a toddler
named Kennedy. The early generations of his family and the Paradisos had played cards together in this back room, he said — and often any winnings would be spent right here.
“Why do you think he kept in business all these years?” Rovai said, laughing.
As the lunch rush slowed, Tony finally sat down. He lives just a short drive away and knows he’ll always be welcome here, but for now he plans to spend more time with his wife.
And just why did he keep working so long, so many years past a traditional retirement age?
Tony set everyone straight:
“For the love of it.”
DETAILS >> Palermo Street Foods is open six days a week (closed Mondays) for breakfast, lunch and dinner at 791 Auzerais Ave., San Jose. The website and menu will be up soon at http://palermoitalianresataurant.com.
“It’s very important for the Italian-American heritage to keep this landmark going. These mom-and-pop businesses are on the way out. We are going to try to keep it going the best we can.” — Renato Cusimano, owner of Palermo Street Foods