Danielle Hendrix
Baldwin Park residents AJ Campofiore and Francisco ‘Chico’ Mendonça brought Bem Bom’s brick-and-mortar location to life in late 2018.
The ‘good good’ life Over the years, Baldwin Park alleyway neighbors AJ Campofiore and Francisco ‘Chico’ Mendonça’s friendship allowed them to cultivate a vision for their Corrine Drive restaurant, Bem Bom. DANIELLE HENDRIX ASSOCIATE EDITOR
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hen two Baldwin Park residents first met in the alley between their homes years ago, they had no idea their budding friendship would lead to them becoming restaurateurs. AJ Campofiore and Francisco “Chico” Mendonça are the business partners behind Bem Bom, a Mexican and Portuguese restaurant on Corrine Drive. They also
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BALDWIN PARK LIVING | FEBRUARY 2020
happen to be neighbors connected by an alleyway between their homes. Campofiore and Mendonça both moved their families to Baldwin Park in 2011. Campofiore, Bem Bom’s managing partner, is originally from Connecticut. Mendonça, Bem Bom’s chef and founder, was raised in Portugal but moved to Baldwin Park from Dallas, Texas. Mendonça, a classically trained French chef with more than 25 years of experience in culinary arts, moved to the Orlando area to
help open another local restaurant. He soon realized he was meant to create his own concept. That’s when Bem Bom — which means “good good” in Portuguese — was born. “I said, ‘I want to do something that I can depend on myself and don’t have to answer to anybody,’” he says. “I’m just going to serve what I want to serve and let the customer dictate whether they like it or not. Food trucks were just starting in Orlando. … I was looking at them and saying, ‘What kind of business could I do for myself?’ People seemed to have fun with the food trucks. I said, ‘That’s really amazing.’ It was only its infancy in Orlando.” He and his wife bought their first food truck soon, and Bem Bom
