Bustling Casual Italian Chain Opens Hayes Valley Location

The Italian Homemade Company, a burgeoning chain of quick-service Italian restaurants known for fresh pasta and sandwiches, has a new home in Hayes Valley. A location there is now open at 1 Franklin Street, just north of Market Street at the corner of Page. Daily hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. (closed Mondays), and eventually, partner Mirco Tomassini hopes to open for breakfast starting at 7 a.m.

“We do very authentic food that reflects our background, what we grew up eating,” says Tommassini, who hails, like his co-partners, from the Romagna region of Northern Italy.

Started in 2014 in North Beach by husband-and-wife co-owners Mattia Cosmi and Alice Romagnoli, the Italian Homemade Company has expanded to perennially packed Cow Hollow and Berkeley locations. Mirco Tomassini and investors Andrea Iannitti and Carlo Licciardi joined up to help the business grow.

The new location’s menu, like the existing spots, includes piadinas (rustic flatbread sandwiches almost like Italian quesadillas, with fillings like mortadella, caprese, or porchetta), salads, and “specialties” like lasagna, meatball platters, and a “gnocco roll” (gnocchi dough stuffed with spinach and ricotta).

But for many fans, pasta is the main event: Customers choose fettuccine, tagliatelle, pappardelle, gnocchi, or various ravioli, then select a sauce — marinara, bolognese, pesto, etc. The business also sells pasta to-go, beer and wine, and dessert including gelato.

While the Italian Homemade Company team is still getting their new location up to speed, they’re already at work on a new space: The Caffe Roma building in North Beach. That spot, vacant since Caffe Roma’s closure, would represent the Italian Homemade Company’s fifth location. Stay tuned for more details there.