We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Francesco Lucatorto. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Francesco below.

Hi Francesco , thanks for joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

A mission for a restaurant, tend to sometimes get’s lost in the never ending purse of a profit.

which in my eyes almost always compromise quality and customer satisfaction.

our mission at Ceci’s Gastronomia it’s to introduce in the always changing food scene of LA, something

that had barely changed in the past centuries, Italian Home Nonna’s cooking.

A Nutritionally balanced menu with the gol of introducing a healthy diet and lifestyle to out Patrons.

Also we strive into creating a safe and educational environment for families and kids, to understand

where to look for healthy foods and where food actually come from.

something really lacks in this country

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Francesco Lucatorto, From Genova Italy, i’ve discovered the love for cooking first and hospitality then, during my early high school days.

I specialized in Italian cuisine and I have peeked into French and Japanese techniques, before developing a visceral love for the simple well made things, that if really made well, they aren’t so simple anymore!

We are among the very few to have introduced focaccia genovese and it’s sandwiches to LA. made with organic flour and long ferments, Sicilian sea salt, and extra virgin olive oil.

What makes me most proud is the beautiful community that we created, our regulars, became friends, babies where born, people moved close and they are thrilled to have found us, or whoever moved away did it sending love messages

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Was december 2019 when I decided to quit my chef position in a long time popular Restaurant.

driven by a very optimistic approach, I was designing and testing a pasta bar concept, popping up in f

few spaces around east hollywood silverlake area.

things where great, people out and about, spending, having fun, seemed to me the best time to be

doing what I was doing and the numbers were supporting our thoughts.

All incredible till march 2020, things as we all know took a sudden stop, but not our will to be cooking and designing our model.

out of survival instinct and will to introduce something even better and unique Ceci’s Gastronomia took his first steps from out home kitchen, week after week with an always changing menu, focaccia genovese and Tiramisu available everyday.

grew to the point that we decided to go all in, finding a brick and mortar space and starting our adventure with Ceci’s Gastronomia in Los Angeles.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

An organic Social Media approach was what it started it all for us, a website and a yelp page.

then when our patrons tried our food, it was a snowball effect of word of mouth kind of advertise, many of our regular were reccomended to us by a friend or a family member.

to me there isn’t anything better!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.cecisoven.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cecis_gastronomia/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cecis-gastronomia-los-angeles

Image Credits
Ceci’s Gastronomia