Over 40 years ago Damien’s family opened Caffe Dello Sport at 307 Hanover Street – the current site of Damiano’s. It was here that Damien learned at an early age the fine art of barista– brewing espresso, waiting on tables, and serving the burgeoning caffe clientele. Damien opened his first restaurant, Carmelina’s Ristorante, while a junior at UMass-Amherst. His first menu featured all of the dishes cooked by his mother and father during his childhood years in the North End. Those dishes to this day remain an influence on all of his menus. His education at the UMass and Le Cordon Bleu in Paris laid the groundwork for his professionalism in the ownership and operation of eight restaurants from Massachusetts to California. Now he has come full circle, back to Boston’s North End, with the creation of Ristorante Damiano.