The Italian Homemade Company

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

From San Francisco's North Beach to Chicago's West Loop

The Italian Homemade Company was founded in 2014 by Mattia Cosmi and Alice Romagnoli with one clear idea: bringing the handmade flavors and culinary traditions of Emilia-Romagna into everyday American life. What started in San Francisco's North Beach has since grown to Berkeley, Long Beach, and Chicago, where the West Loop location on Fulton Street carries that same founding conviction — honest Italian food, made by hand, served without formality.

Gambero Rosso's 2026 recognition reflects what regulars already know: this is a place that takes craft seriously without making a performance of it.

The kitchen in plain sight

The kitchens at The Italian Homemade Company are open, and that transparency is intentional. Pasta is made fresh every day, and guests are invited to watch, choose, and build their own plate — pick a pasta, pick a sauce, and make it yours. The format is approachable, but the ingredients and technique behind it are not casual.

The pasta roster runs from fettuccine, tagliatelle, and pappardelle to gnocchi, ravioli (both a ricotta-and-spinach vegetarian version and a beef-and-ricotta meat filling), rigatoni, and tortellini stuffed with prosciutto, mortadella, pork, and Parmigiano. Sauces include a bolognese built on beef, pork, and tomato; a pasticciata that folds béchamel into that bolognese base; a bright marinara; basil pesto with pine nuts and Parmigiano; browned butter and sage; and a salsa Parmigiano. Daily pasta specials extend the range further.

Piadina and beyond

Alongside the pasta, the menu leans into another Emilia-Romagna staple: the piadina. Made yeast-free in the traditional Romagna style, each flatbread is toasted, folded, and filled — prosciutto di Parma with stracchino and arugula, mortadella with scamorza and oven-baked tomato, or a caprese with fresh mozzarella and basil, among others. The cassone, a warm stuffed version of the same dough, comes filled with combinations like homemade sausage with bell peppers and mozzarella, or meatballs with ricotta and Parmigiano.

Salads, cold plates, and desserts — tiramisù and panna cotta — round out a menu that is deliberately focused rather than sprawling.

Pasta classes and wine tastings

The Chicago location also hosts periodic hands-on pasta classes, where guests work through doughs from both Northern and Southern Italy, learning regional techniques, flour differences, and hydration before sitting down to taste what they've made alongside house sauces and an Italian-style aperitivo. Wine tasting evenings offer a guided tour of Italian regions and grape varieties, designed to make the subject accessible rather than intimidating.

Catering, delivery, and takeaway are all available, and vegetarian and vegan options are clearly marked throughout the menu — a practical reflection of the restaurant's stated goal of making authentic Italian food part of everyday life, for everyone.