“It’s hundreds of years of culture coming out of those fingertips,” the restaurant owner said.
There's something special about Grandma's cooking. It's always wholesome and not just full of flavor but also full of love! That's pretty much the motto at Enoteca Maria, a Staten Island restaurant where the chefs are a rotating group of international women. It started off as an Italian eatery where "nonnas" (the Italian word for grandmothers) would run the show.
According to its website, the restaurant celebrates cultural diversity by serving cuisines from around the world, but "we do it in the most uniquely authentic way possible. Real grandmothers from every country across the globe are invited and hired as chefs to cook the recipes handed down to them that they cook at home for their families, that make up the fabric of the culture they were born and raised in."
What's interesting is that not only do they serve delicious food from grandmas around the world they are also teaching it. They hold classes where aspiring chefs can get the opportunity to learn from the nonnas in the kitchen.
Joe Scaravella who owns the restaurant said he was inspired by his own roots. After losing several family members, including his sister, mother, and his grandmother who was born in Italy and were excellent cooks, he wanted to start an Italian eatery to process his own sadness over their deaths. “The real story behind this place is grief — my own personal grief after losing a lot of my family, and trying to re-create them,” the 67-year-old told The Washington Post. “That was what it was all driven by.”
Now the restaurant has grandmothers from all over the world including Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Puerto Rico, Italy, Germany, Greece, Poland, Armenia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, India, Egypt, and Trinidad and Tobago. And that's just to name a few!
“My whole life, I never wanted to go to an Italian restaurant, because it just never hit the spot,” he said of the time just before he started the 30-seater eatery. Everything changed when the nonnas came in to do their magic. “There were a lot of ladies at home that had all this information,” said Scaravella. His mother and grandmother knew “the secret to a good meatball” and “how to repurpose stale bread.” Speaking of the matriarchs he said, "These ladies, they’re the source. They are the vessels that carry this information forward.”
While he misses his own nonna, the women at the restaurant have not only helped him connect to his own roots but done the same for so many other people as well. “It’s hundreds of years of culture coming out of those fingertips,” he said. “It’s beautiful stuff.”
References:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/01/24/staten-island-nonna-grandmothers-restaurant/
https://www.enotecamaria.com/wp/
Cover Image Source: Instagram | enoteca_maria
