Jody Scaravella began his Staten Island restaurant, Enoteca Maria, as extra of a ardour challenge for himself than a restaurant.
“Back in the beginning, it was a way for me to heal. I lost my grandparents and parents and other family and I was trying to find a way to comfort myself. I was trying to recreate that feeling of being cared for and loved,” mentioned Scaravella, who began the restaurant in 2007.
In this restaurant, precise grandmothers, or “nonnas” in Italian, from world wide are employed as cooks to prepare dinner the recipes handed all the way down to them — typically for a number of generations — which permits them to move down the material of the tradition they had been born and raised in, Scaravella mentioned.
“The food they make they had made for them as little girls. It’s part of them and now they’re sharing that love and knowledge and passing it down here,” Scaravella mentioned.
Each Friday, Saturday and Sunday, an Italian nonna and a nonna from a special nation put together their home made meals. The ladies rotate and create their very own menus.
Nonna Maria, of Torella dei Lombardi in Campania, Italy, has labored at Enoteca Maria for 11 years. She is 89 and says she nonetheless likes to work.
“I like the people. I like to cook. But mostly I like the people,” mentioned Nonna Maria, who declined to present her final identify. “My grandmother showed me and now I’m showing the people the beautiful food.”
The cooks create their very own menus: Nonna Maral from Azerbaijan (L) and Nonna Christina from Italy.
Enoteca Maria
Recent entrees included capuzzelle — lamb’s head roasted with contemporary herbs, greens and baked with white wine; branzino al cartoccio — Mediterranean sea bass baked in parchment paper with a lemon-herb sauce; lasagna, and braised bone-in duck.
This month, nonnas from Italy, Bangladesh, Egypt, Mexico, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Peru, Trinidad and Tobago, and Puerto Rico are scheduled to prepare dinner on the restaurant, named after Scaravella’s late mom.
“We have nonnas from all over the world. People contact us and want to be a part of this. We’re never at a loss for finding a nonna,” Scaravella mentioned.
The restaurant holds courses the place aspiring cooks get the chance to be taught from the nonnas within the kitchen. Jars of specialty sauces can be found on the market, an effort that was began when the restaurant was closed throughout COVID-19 and continues now.
Scaravella additionally began a digital cookbook challenge that collects the recipes and tales of grandmothers from across the globe known as “Nonnas of the World.” The crowdsourced recipe ebook permits anybody world wide to add a brief biography of their grandmother, three photographs and a recipe written of their native language. Scaravella’s imaginative and prescient was to protect the recipes, dialect and recollections, from all around the world.
The restaurant, which runs three seatings on the times of operation, has 30 seats and takes reservations.
“Whether it’s Italy or Japan, the nonnas come and provide food and comfort and history. It’s more than a restaurant,” Scaravella mentioned.
Source web site: www.marketwatch.com
