“Just like grandma used to make” is much more than a clever advertising scheme, it’s literally what’s happening at Staten Island’s Enoteca Maria, where the kitchen’s staffed not by professionally trained chefs, but by a fleet of “nonnas” from around the world. For about a decade, owner Jody Scaravella has opened his kitchens to grandmothers cooking the cuisines of their native countries. It started with just Italian grandmothers, after his own heritage, but has since expanded to include dozens of women from places like Argentina, Algeria, Syria, the Dominican Republic, Poland, Liberia, and Nigeria.Scaravella got his first recruits by placing an ad in an Italian newspaper seeking “Italian housewives to cook regional dishes,” but over time, his roster has grown by references and word of mouth. “I talked to everybody when somebody gets in, we talk about the concept, I always ask them if you know somebody who wants to cook,” he said. “The concept has just mushroomed.” Though some nonnas are Staten Islanders, most come from Brooklyn, with some traveling from as far as New Jersey and The Bronx to cook at the restaurant.
While the nonnas are the big draw, the restaurant also employs one male “nonno,” Giuseppe Freya from Calabria, who makes all the pasta. “He makes the raviolis, he makes the ricotta gnocchi, he makes tagliatelle, he makes the pasta sheets for our lasagna,” Scaravella explained. “He’s fantastic.”
