OUR STORY
Our parents, Suzanne Lo Coco and Cesare Di Lorenzo opened their first restaurant in Pasadena in 1997. It was affectionately named after our mother, La Fornaretta (The Small Baker Girl); a nickname given to her by our father when he found her covered in flour while making dough. Our mother grew up working in our grandfather Giovanni Lo Coco’s restaurants in the Bay Area, where Lo Coco’s Restaurants are still successfully in operation today. She paired her culinary knowledge with our father’s talents in marketing and public relations, and together they created a formula for success.
In 2006, when the historical building that housed La Fornaretta in Pasadena for nearly ten years was purchased, the new landlords made my parents a very generous offer to vacate. As the Sacramento Bee put it, in an article written within a few months of La Fornaretta relocating to Northern California: “Pasadena’s Loss was Newcastle’s Gain!”
Upon opening our new restaurant in Newcastle, our parents drafted my brother Gilberto and I at age twelve and thirteen and tossed us out into the dining room as busboys on the weekends. The importance of instilling a dynamic work-ethic in their sons was paramount to our parents. We initially squabbled and complained—we didn’t want to give up weekend plans with friends; but the cash tips at the end of the night certainly made us eat our words. As we got older, we were assigned more challenging tasks. While working closely alongside our parents, we began learning all aspects of the business.
Our parents divorced in 2011, and in 2013 our mother left her well-trained chefs and the care of La Fornaretta in our father’s hands. Gilberto gravitated more towards the kitchen, and eventually grabbed at the opportunity to further his culinary skills while working with family at Lo Coco’s in the Bay Area. By age 20, under my father’s wing, I began asserting myself and accepting mounting responsibilities at La Fornaretta, as we added a wine bar and expanded our catering and banquet services. When our father’s health began to decline, my brother and I were able to take over all aspects of the business and allow him to retire. On June 29, 2019, our father passed away.
My brother and I are proud to be the third generation of restauranteurs in our family. It is our priority to maintain the Lo Coco/ Di Lorenzo family legacy—producing high quality, authentic Sicilian food, while maintaining a high standard for service. Our father Cesare’s charisma, charm, and passion for the restaurant business lives on through us, and the atmosphere at La Fornaretta is alive with his spirit and the memories shared with our patrons over the last 23 years.
La Fornaretta invites you to join the family, to relax in our atmosphere of traditional Italian hospitality and let us prepare our finest Sicilian cuisine especially for you.
Arrivederci,
Gian Luca & Gilberto Di Lorenzo
In 2006, when the historical building that housed La Fornaretta in Pasadena for nearly ten years was purchased, the new landlords made my parents a very generous offer to vacate. As the Sacramento Bee put it, in an article written within a few months of La Fornaretta relocating to Northern California: “Pasadena’s Loss was Newcastle’s Gain!”
Upon opening our new restaurant in Newcastle, our parents drafted my brother Gilberto and I at age twelve and thirteen and tossed us out into the dining room as busboys on the weekends. The importance of instilling a dynamic work-ethic in their sons was paramount to our parents. We initially squabbled and complained—we didn’t want to give up weekend plans with friends; but the cash tips at the end of the night certainly made us eat our words. As we got older, we were assigned more challenging tasks. While working closely alongside our parents, we began learning all aspects of the business.
Our parents divorced in 2011, and in 2013 our mother left her well-trained chefs and the care of La Fornaretta in our father’s hands. Gilberto gravitated more towards the kitchen, and eventually grabbed at the opportunity to further his culinary skills while working with family at Lo Coco’s in the Bay Area. By age 20, under my father’s wing, I began asserting myself and accepting mounting responsibilities at La Fornaretta, as we added a wine bar and expanded our catering and banquet services. When our father’s health began to decline, my brother and I were able to take over all aspects of the business and allow him to retire. On June 29, 2019, our father passed away.
My brother and I are proud to be the third generation of restauranteurs in our family. It is our priority to maintain the Lo Coco/ Di Lorenzo family legacy—producing high quality, authentic Sicilian food, while maintaining a high standard for service. Our father Cesare’s charisma, charm, and passion for the restaurant business lives on through us, and the atmosphere at La Fornaretta is alive with his spirit and the memories shared with our patrons over the last 23 years.
La Fornaretta invites you to join the family, to relax in our atmosphere of traditional Italian hospitality and let us prepare our finest Sicilian cuisine especially for you.
Arrivederci,
Gian Luca & Gilberto Di Lorenzo