The Restaurant In Staten Island That Brings Grandma's Home-Cooked Meals To Diners – With A Twist

Describing a meal as worthy of praise often comes down to the feeling it evokes, like the warmth and comfort of something your grandma might have made. There's a special kind of joy in food that stirs up memories of family gatherings and home kitchens. At Enoteca Maria in Staten Island, restaurateur Joe Scaravella has embraced that sense of nostalgia by bringing in grandmothers from around the globe to cook their cherished, traditional dishes for diners.

Scaravella, a Brooklyn native, got the idea to open his unique restaurant after the tragic loss of his grandmother, mother, and sister within a short time span. Moving from Brooklyn to another of New York City's five boroughs, Staten Island, to live on the waterfront, he came up with the concept as an homage to these important women in his life whom he'd lost. 

In March 2007, Enoteca Maria (named after his mother) opened its doors with a kitchen headed up by actual grandmothers, sharing their recipes for an authentic "tastes like homemade" experience. Although Scaravella's innovative project began with solely Italian grandmothers, in 2015 he expanded the concept to invite grandmothers from all over the globe to come cook (or any women over the age of 50 regardless of whether they had grandchildren). The criteria? They must have been born in the country of their cuisine, have signature recipes, and of course, be fantastic cooks. Instead of attempting to garner long lost cooking tips, hacks, and tricks your grandma knew, diners enjoy made-from-the-heart meals at Enoteca Maria for its "Nonnas of the World" experience, which Scaravella has often said is more of a cultural exchange than a restaurant.

The nonnas cooking at Enoteca Maria are not only learning the ins and outs of professional kitchens, but they're also teaching young women how to cook like a grandma through the restaurant's "Nonnas In Training" program. A two- to three-hour, one-on-one experience, Enoteca Maria's free cooking class is designed to pass the knowledge of cooking styles and recipes down from one generation to the next.  

As the focus of the Staten Island restaurant, not to mention one of the most popular cuisines in the world, Italian dishes play a starring role at Enoteca Maria. But with the addition of other nonnas, the restaurant has expanded its offerings with dishes from Japan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Greece, and more. Samples from Enoteca Maria's ever-changing menu have featured dishes such as pholourie — a Trinidadian street food of fried spiced dough balls made with split peas prepared by Nonna Pauline from Trinidad and Tabago — and eggplant dengaku, tender steamed and char-grilled eggplant glazed with miso, crafted by Nonna Yumi from Japan.

Enoteca Maria's cosmopolitan kitchen welcomes nonnas from very different backgrounds to share recipes, techniques, and stories, connecting with diners who walk in the door for a taste of grandma's cooking. The nonnas can often be seen in the dining room, too, chatting with customers and making everyone feel at home. This unique concept is worth a trip to Staten Island, if only to taste the recipes you wish your grandma had taught you. Though, if you can't make the journey, you can get a glimpse of what dining there might be like as Netflix released the movie "Nonnas" in May of 2025, a comedic interpretation of Scaravella's inspiring story.