Rooted in Flavor & Family: Radici Ristorante’s Roots in Hermosa Beach
By Millie Martinez Stordeur
On a golden Hermosa evening, the glow of Radici Ristorante spills out onto Hermosa Avenue, just a few blocks from the bustle of Pier Plaza. Tucked slightly off the beaten path, it’s a spot many visitors overlook—but to miss Radici is to miss one of Hermosa’s true gems. The building itself carries history: for years it was home to Cal Beach, a beloved local hangout where neighbors gathered for good food and good company. Today, Radici carries that same spirit of connection forward, weaving in its own story of family, tradition, and the deep roots that tie Italy to Hermosa Beach.
The Roots of Radici
Owners Laura Francisco and her mother, Chef Lucia, carry decades of culinary history with them. For Lucia, food has always been part of her DNA. “I always liked to cook,” she recalls. “When I was young, my mother would wake me up and say, ‘Come on, you’ll help me make the gnocchi today.’ That’s where it started.”
Her childhood in the tiny village of Pacentro, Italy, was shaped by the rhythms of cooking fresh every day—shopping each morning for just-picked tomatoes, baking bread at home, and preparing meals from scratch. “My mother was a very good cook,” Lucia says. “Everything was light, fresh, and simple. That’s what I learned, and that’s what I still do today.”
Carrying Tradition Forward
For Laura, opening Radici in Hermosa Beach felt like a natural continuation of her mother’s legacy. “We wanted to bring a piece of our culture here to the South Bay,” Laura explains. “Radici means ‘roots’ in Italian, and for us, that word connects everything—our family’s past, the food we make, and the community we’ve built here.”
The menu reflects those roots. Handmade pastas like Lucia’s signature manicotti ricotta and her beloved cannelloni carne e spinaci carry the same authenticity she grew up with in Italy. Some dishes, like her gnocchi di patete radici, are family staples with decades of history behind them. “It’s a lot of work,” Lucia admits, “but it’s a pleasure, because I make something I love, and people love it too.”
Laura adds that their food, while rooted in their Italian heritage, is also meant to bring customers a sense of familiarity to their own palettes and experiences. Radici’s philosophy of freshness also mirrors Italian traditions. Just as Lucia’s mother once shopped daily for ingredients, the restaurant sources fresh tomatoes weekly for sauces and designs menus around what’s in season.
A Community Gathering Place
While Radici is rooted in Italian heritage, it has flourished in Hermosa Beach. Their monthly wine pairing dinners have become a hallmark, transforming into evenings of storytelling, laughter, and connection. “It’s more than food,” Laura says. “It’s about creating a place where people feel like family.”
Deeply Rooted, Always Growing
For Lucia, food is about memory—of mornings in Abruzzo kitchens, of past restaurants filled with regulars, of recipes handed down through generations. For Laura, Radici represents the future—an opportunity to share those memories while building new ones in Hermosa Beach.
Together, they’ve created a space that embodies the spirit of this town: welcoming, connected, and deeply rooted. At Radici, every plate is more than a meal—it’s a story of heritage, family, and community, told one bite at a time. ■
Photo By Craig Kohlhoff