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Joe and Mary Jo Milano opened Caffe Daniela, a casual contemporary Italian restaurant concept in Worthington last August. While the new business is just celebrating its one year anniversary, expansion plans have them already opening a second Caffe Daniela Downtown, near the corner of Broad & High in the Huntington Building.
“What we’re trying to do is replicate an authentic cafe from Italy,” said Joe. “Many European cities are set up with more pedestrian-driven communities. Here in Worthington we’ve been able to do that quite nicely, and I think we can duplicate that Downtown. There’s a little bit of a different demographic, but we’ll adapt with a slightly more urban cafe.”
The new Downtown location will offer a menu very similar to the original Worthington cafe. Staples include soups, salads, pastas, paninis, pizzas, and a variety of desserts. Drinks include San Pellegrino, Espresso, Cappuccino, and soft drinks. Meal prices mostly fall in the $6.50-8.95 range.
Additionally, Joe plans to offer unique daily specials served up regularly. “Whatever I feel like making one day, is what I end up making,” he said. “My hope is that our customers come to trust me on that. We want them know that they’re going to like our specials because they like the way I cook.”
Joe is no stranger to the restaurant industry, having owned and operated the Villa Milano Banquet & Catering Center since 1982. “I’ve been in the business all my life and served probably 3 million people,” he added. “But we’ve always wanted to do something smaller and more open to the general public. Finally we were able to do that, and it’s been very well accepted.”
Initial business hours will run Monday through Friday from 7am to 4pm to serve breakfast and lunch with extended hours during special events. “We hope to expand the hours to accommodate public request… dinner, take out, or whatever,” said Joe. “It could eventually become a seven-day-a-week operation.”
The only other menu discrepancy between locations is the initial absence of beer and wine from the Downtown menu. “We don’t have our license yet, but we hope to have that very soon,” said Joe.
The Milanos aim to have the new Downtown location open the second week of August. “The countertops were purchased from Italy and being shipped over,” Joe said. “They’re being installed on Thursday. The construction company is working very hard and we’re trying to open as quickly as we can. This is very exciting for us and I’m looking forward to it being a great spot for everyone to enjoy.”
For more information, visit CaffeDaniela.com.
Sounds very promising!!
You guys are in for a real treat. We were fortunate to try their recipes when they were just launching their cafe concept and continue to do so. Recipes are straight from Italy and have been in the family for decades! And the owners are most welcoming.
Ran by this, this morning …. the space looks really large!
absolutely love this place…
Sounds very promising.
Dara Says: And the owners are most welcoming.
Yeah, when I talked to Joe on the phone he was very excited to already see some buzz about the place on CU and is really excited to have people in to try the place out. :D
I love the idea of daily specials and good espresso. There are a ton of places around to get soup, salad or sandwich, but not a lot of places to get good soup, salad or sandwich.
This is terrific, terrific news. These are exactly the kinds of eating establishments that downtown needs.
Here’s hoping the Columbus Underground community gets behind this place full throttle.
They’re our neighbor in Old Worthington and the food has always been a treat. Lasagna…rigatoni with sun-dried tomato pesto…cavatappi with basil pesto… Good addition to downtown area.
I plan to check this out in Worthington soon – looks great! Awesome to see one downtown too.
They’re our neighbor as well, and we eat there about 4 days a week. No question – the best basil pesto in town. Congrats to Joe and Mary Jo for making the jump to downtown!
I went to the Worthington farmer’s market, and in order to kill two birds with one stone, I ate at Caffe Daniela. Now I know what to expect when they open Downtown. I have pics after the jump.
http://deraj1013.blogspot.com/2009/08/caffe-daniela.html
Finally made it in here for lunch today. Love the space! If you can, sit at the high tables on the north side facing the windows. Great view of the lunchtime hustle & bustle at Broad & High.
I had the Chicken Panini (which I think was one of their specials of the day) which came with a side of pasta salad. Some people might consider the sandwich to be a little on the small side, but I thought it was actually a good lunch portion. Solid flavors and the pasta salad was pretty good too. Had two of the small $1 Cannoli to go too. Not too bad overall. Pretty easy to get in & out for around $10.
Would love some Saturday lunch hours. ;)