Our Story & Italian Dining in La Mesa, San Diego
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Meet Chef Francesco Basile
Since 2001, Antica Trattoria has been a beloved authentic Italian restaurant and wine bar in La Mesa, San Diego, known for its fresh ingredients, honest flavors, and simple, traditional cooking. One taste will transport you to Italy, where old-world recipes and techniques are a way of life. If you’re searching for an authentic Italian restaurant near you, our menu offers a true taste of Italy in a warm and inviting atmosphere.
Sicilian-born owner Chef Francesco Basile, along with Chef Ruiz, embraces the changing seasons with dishes like Lobster with roasted fennel in spring, Caponata rich with summer tomato flavors, and Pumpkin Ravioli with chestnut cream in autumn.
The team at Antica Trattoria provides old-fashioned hospitality and a welcoming experience for every guest, whether you’re enjoying a family dinner, a night out with friends, a romantic evening, or a private event. We also offer off-site catering for corporate events and family gatherings in La Mesa and throughout San Diego.
Francesco Basile
Chef & Founder Antica Trattoria
over 30 years of experience in italian cuisine
Meet Chef Francesco Basile, founder of Antica Trattoria, an authentic Italian restaurant in La Mesa, San Diego with over 30 years of experience in Italian cuisine.
Francesco Basile might have been destined to become a fisherman instead of a chef, having grown up in a small fishing village on the coast of Sicily near Palermo.
“We had every kind of fish you could imagine,” Basile says. “We caught tuna, mackerel, clams, sea urchins and swordfish.”
His aunt and grandmother kept young Francesco busy by having him help peel potatoes and scrape scales off of the fish they were preparing. He hated it, especially when it came time to clean the silver sardines and anchovies for the elaborate Feast of Seven Fishes that marked Christmas Eve. But then something changed.
“I started to love it,” he says. “I wanted to go to cooking school.”
Francesco attended culinary school at the Istituto Statale Alberghiero in Palermo, where he learned the right way to hold a knife, how to make a silky and intensely flavored brown sauce and how to be economical and use every scrap in the kitchen down to onion skins and wilted lettuce leaves. Upon graduation, Francesco worked at a beach resort on Isola d’Elba, creating light seafood dishes and recipes, such as Cacciucco alla Livornese, a seafood soup with a tomato broth that’s similar to bouillabaisse. He cooked at a ski resort in the mountains, rolling noodles like pappardelle by hand, and making warming dishes like roasted pork and lamb.
After a few years of cooking, Francesco – like many young Italians – figured it was time to find his fortune in America. In 1991, he moved to Huntington Beach and started cooking at a bustling restaurant called Mangia. Adjusting to his new life was difficult at first, since he didn’t speak English, and Americans shopped at grocery stores instead of little artisanal shops. But the chef soon appreciated being exposed to a more Italian-American style of cuisine and learned how to be consistent in a high-volume restaurant. He returned to Italy for a short while and then came back to stay in California in 1994. Francesco cooked at Venus at the Spa in South Coast Plaza, where he learned how to use herbs, fruit and spices to create spa cuisine that was light, yet flavorful. In 1996, he landed a chef position at Panevino in the Gaslamp Quarter, which brought him to San Diego.
“It was such a nice experience to be in beautiful San Diego,” Basile says. During his three-year tenure at the award-winning restaurant, Francesco created signature dishes like a rack of veal roulade stuffed with a spinach frittata in porcini mushroom sauce.
One day a salesman who happened to share the last name of Basile with Francesco came into the restaurant. They weren’t relatives, but Francesco jokingly asked to meet his cousins. The salesman introduced Francesco to his daughter Marta and the pair fell in love. They married and have a daughter named Chiara. In 2001, Francesco and Marta became enchanted with La Mesa and opened Antica Trattoria. “I finally realized my dream to open my own restaurant,” Basile says with a smile. “The neighborhood is beautiful and the clientele supported me from the first day.”