Nonna’s In The Kitchen!
As a foodie, I love this story: a great restaurant on Staten Island has hired Grandmas from all around the world to cook for him – and keep their family recipes alive for generations to come!
Bravo Jody Scarvella, Owner Of Enoteca Maria On Staten Island!
According to a great story from CBS New York:
A restaurant kitchen staffed by grandmas was the vision of Jody Scaravella, who opened Enoteca Maria in 2007. At first, he hired exclusively Italian nonnas, filling a personal void left by his own late grandmother.
The story goes on to add:
Over time, he began to invite additional grandmothers from around the world to take turns cooking the foods they grew up with. Today, countries from Japan to Algeria are represented in the kitchen on a rotating schedule.
“You have two grandmothers every day,” Scaravella explained. “You always have an Italian nonna, and every day, the featured kitchen changes.”
A “Nonnas of the World” calendar assigns each grandmother a monthly date in the kitchen. “Sometimes people call, and they want to know when the Greek nonna’s cooking,” he said. “But some people enjoy the surprise.”
And yes, you can get the cookbook with these classic family recipes!
Here is a link to the story, which includes a great video interview with one of the “Grandma Chefs”!
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2018/01/30/enoteca-maria-the-dig/
I love this story – keeping family recipes alive and letting these Nonnas, who have raised their families with longtime family recipes, take over the kitchen…terrific – I would love to go to this restaurant!
I love that Jody is helping to keep longtime family recipes alive for generations to come…it’s one of the things I love most about this story.
I also shared a story recently about the meal I had at the incredible NEXT restaurant in Chicago, which put on multi-course menu highlighting the fifty best restaurants in the world…here’s a look:
Yes, that’s my wife Alex watching as they “paint” our table – with our dessert! See how that is done by clicking here:
Let me know what you think of these “cooking Nonnas!”
Categories: Art, Books / Media, chicago, cookbooks, Exotic Travel, Food, food blog, Food Review, Memoirs, New York, Recipes, Restaurants, Travel, Travel Adventures, Travel Memoir, Uncategorized, Wacky Food
This sounds like a stroke of genius idea, John.
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Yes, Robbie I love this idea!
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Fantastic idea I must say.
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What a fabulous idea. I love stories like this.
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Thanks for the comment – I agree, it brings a smile to my face – on a newsy when not much else is!
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What a brilliant idea I love it and that dessert made me think of one of my favourite chefs Michael O ‘Hare who is brilliant and his meals are like paintings …awesome 🙂
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I love that image….”meals are like paintings” – thanks for sharing!
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That is awesome! I hope I can get there the next time in NYC
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I want to go as well! Thanks for the comment!
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Great idea! I’d eat there! Probably couldn’t afford ‘Next’ but that looks amazing too! All those delicate bites! 😉
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This is so sweet , Love it!
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John, there are two spare chairs in that photo of the table. I think you and I should join the Nonnas, and demolish all that great-looking food! I so need that lottery win! 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
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Pete, that would be a blast, wouldn’t it?
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