As a young girl, Toni’s summers were spent vacationing with her family in Venice, Italy. She would meet and visit relatives in the Venitian cafes and enjoy the wonderful food. At that early age ‘the restaurant business was what I wanted to do’.

“I moved to Danville from Santa Monica when I was 13 years old, and as an adult, I had a similar restaurant in Danville called the Rising Loafer.”

Come dine in a warm, inviting restaurant with the ambiance of an Italian café while enjoying mouth-watering fresh, organic homemade foods. The Courtyard Café & Bakery provides a delectable cuisine, and owner, Toni Fiorenza makes both breakfast and lunch customers feel right at home with her kind personal touch.

“We use as much natural product as we can get and stay as local as possible. Buying produce from area growers and vendors at the Farmer’s Markets. Our soups are made fresh everyday. We offer both vegetarian and meat quiches and use organic greens for our salads. Each day we prepare yet another new creation — a different quiche, special sandwich and delicious soup. Our specialty soup on Friday is always Cream of Green Chili, and we serve a lot of it.”

“Our burgers are made with certified Black Angus beef and our chicken has no hormones. The Mediterranean Chicken sandwich has feta cheese and sundried tomatoes and our pastrami comes directly from New York, and has no fat.”

“For breakfast we offer different types of Pancakes and Scrambles, French Toast, Eggs Benedict and Biscuits with Gravy are always on the menu. Cappuccinos, Lattes and Mochas are made with Santa Cruz Organic Fair Trade Coffee.”

“The menu changes with the seasons. We go lighter in the Summer with salads and grilled fish and more hearty, comfort foods in the Winter with meatloaf and strogganoff.”

“Our catering menu includes an expanded hot lunch offering as well as a Continental or Full Breakfast and complete Dinners selections including Appetizers and Desserts. We cater everything from Super Bowl parties, Office Meetings and Birthdays to Engagement Parties, Weddings and Baby Showers.”

The outdoor patio is picturesque with a fountain, tables and chairs. In Spring and Summer, umbrellas go up covering the patio with color and European flair. During the Winter months, the patio is still utilized for daily and private dining under the protection of a heated canopy. It’s just like Venice. Indoors, the Cafe’s walls are adorned with many colorful paintings by local artists. “We’ve been exhibiting their paintings for years and are honored to have them. We also sell a lot of the art right off the walls!”

“I’m very independent and pretty much self-taught. I had a good support team around me. I came to Merced to do consulting work, fell in love with the quaintness of the town and the friendliness of the people.”