Chef
Dominick DiBartolomeo
- Discipline
- Chef
- Based in
- Los Angeles, California, United States
i. Biography
Coming Up
Specialty retail depends on timing, language, presentation, and the ability to read what makes a guest care. Dominick DiBartolomeo trained at University of Southern California, then began working in Los Angeles in public relations, where those skills were practiced before they moved to a food counter: less campaign, more direct exchange across dairy cases, butcher paper, sandwiches, and wine. Counter work set the trade register. At Bristol Farms, the butcher’s counter put the work in the hands: weight, cut, freshness, and the repeated customer ritual of asking, listening, and portioning. The next station was The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills in California, where Dominick DiBartolomeo worked until 2022 in a specialty-food environment where product knowledge had to meet welcome, and a recommendation had to fit the meal in front of the customer. The present structure connects shopkeeping, prepared food, and industry conversation. Dominick DiBartolomeo is founder / owner of Domenico’s Foods, owner of the shop since 2022, and host of Industry Only at The Cheese Store. Each role sits inside the same trade problem: how food culture moves between maker, merchant, guest, and neighborhood.
The Current Chapter
"When I bought it, my goal was to honor its legacy while making it feel fresh and relevant." Taking over a long-running specialty shop is stewardship before it is reinvention. The institution carries history, customer habits, loyalties, and expectation; Dominick DiBartolomeo’s task has been to work inside that trust without treating the place as fixed in amber. Prepared food is one way the shop’s range has expanded. La Zucca, a vegetarian sandwich made with fried zucchini, basil pesto, ricotta, and lemon artichoke tapenade, was described as habit-forming. The build is straightforward on the page: crisp vegetable, dairy softness, herb-driven richness, and preserved artichoke brightness. Its value is in balance rather than complication. The wider practice includes Domenico’s Foods and the interview series at the store. One side is the physical cadence of ownership: cases, counters, customers, buying decisions, and the daily feel of a neighborhood food destination. The other is the recorded trade conversation, kept close to the same shop culture that formed Dominick DiBartolomeo’s work. "The shop has been around since 1967 and already had decades of goodwill, but I wanted to create something familiar and new, so we added sandwiches, salads, cheese boards, and wines by the glass." A specialty shop can stay itself while giving customers more ways to use it. Since 2022, the Beverly Hills address has added sandwiches, salads, cheese boards, and wines by the glass as extensions of the existing case-and-counter model: provisions for later, tasting for now, and more reasons to stay in the room. The through-line is translation rather than rupture. Public relations becomes hospitality language; butcher-counter work becomes product handling and guest service; a historic provisions shop becomes a current platform for retail, prepared food, wine, and conversation. Dominick DiBartolomeo’s role is proprietor, but the craft problem remains shopkeeping: keeping legacy legible while making the offer useful today.
Signature
La Zucca is the named signature: a vegetarian sandwich made with fried zucchini, basil pesto, ricotta, and lemon artichoke tapenade. In shop terms, it shows a clear structure: fried vegetable for texture, ricotta for softness, pesto for green oil and herb, and lemon artichoke tapenade for acid and preserved depth. Dominick DiBartolomeo is known for it because the sandwich reads as retail craft made immediate: ingredient-led, composed, and easy to understand without being thin.
Profile updated July 2026
FAQ
Asked of Dominick
Where did Dominick DiBartolomeo train or study?
Dominick DiBartolomeo trained at University of Southern California.
What is Dominick DiBartolomeo known for?
Hard-to-find Italian foods and ingredients.
