Authentic Homecooked Flavors at Radici in Hermosa Beach

One of my final restaurant meals pre-COVID-19 was in the casual beach town of Hermosa Beach. The last thing I had expected to find was an authentic Italian restaurant, but Radici, an upscale family-owned Italian restaurant, reminded me of Italy as I enjoyed an authentic home-cooked meal. Radici is owned by Laura Francisco and her mother Lucia Gasbarri. Lucia, who grew up in Pacento, a tiny village in the Abruzzo region of Italy, is a self-taught chef who has owned restaurants with her now deceased husband in Southern California for multiple decades. Laura brought her mother out of retirement to open Radici a couple of years ago. Lucia has taken family recipes that were carried through generations to create a menu of home-made pastas and traditional Abruzzese dishes in a modern and inviting open space.