Enoteca Maria, the restaurant where the chefs are grandmothers

When visiting New York, you have to be ready to live experiences that are not easily available anywhere else. The truth is that the Big Apple always has some hidden surprise that leaves its visitors indelible memories hand in hand with amazing anecdotes to tell forever.

Located in the historic neighborhood of St. George, in the Staten Island district, is a small and cozy place that can be accessed by ferry for free and whose journey takes no more than 25 minutes. It is a very special restaurant called Enoteca María, and it is dedicated to those who want to enjoy quality homemade food, like the food that grandmothers could prepare at home. Every day of the week, a different grandmother is in charge of cooking for the diners.

The Enoteca María restaurant has started from that idea, becoming the first restaurant that hires real grandmothers from all over the world as chefs to prepare the recipes that they like the most from their kitchens, those that they prepare in their own homes and that represent the culture the country where they were born and raised.

The restaurant brings together dishes from different cuisines. In total, there are more than 30 grandmothers who cook traditional dishes from countries such as Algeria, America, Argentina, Colombia, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Korea, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Turkey or Venezuela.

According to the cooks, the idea of ​​the restaurant is to “transfer the culture” with which each dish is loaded, to all the diners in the world and thus, be able to exchange preparations and different flavors from all over the globe.

Thanks to the cultural diversity, Enoteca María has a wide variety of foods that include pasta, pizza, meat, spices and vegetables from different countries. Half the menu changes daily. The Italian half is always kept, and the other half depends on the grandmother who cooks that day.

The restaurant also offers a free course that lasts three hours and is called: “Training of the nonne”. Here it is the very grandmothers who teach their secrets to achieve a perfect traditional dish. In this way you can learn directly from the “nonnas”. The only condition is that attendees cannot choose the nationality of the chef. In this way, discrimination is avoided, and an atmosphere of breadth and solidarity is generated. As many of the grandmothers do not have enough experience in cooking for large numbers of diners, they receive training beforehand in order to guarantee better service.

The history of Enoteca Maria dates to 2006, when American Jody Scaravella, of Italian roots, decided to open a restaurant after the death of his grandmother Domenica and the loss of his mother, with the idea of ​​preserving his family’s traditional food and bring that feeling of home and community to the modern or avant-garde kitchen. Scaravella wanted to continue the family culinary culture, but also be able to pass it on to others.

With no restaurant experience or business plan, it was an 85 percent failure in the first six months, according to Scaravella. Then people began flocking to the 30-table restaurant at 27 Hyatt Street, which is currently open three days a week, Fridays and Sundays with the last sitting at 7:30 PM as the grandmothers need to get home.

In its beginnings, the Italian restaurant brought together several grandmothers from different regions of Italy cooking their own menus, but over time, it ended up bringing together grandmothers from all over the world.



During the first months of the pandemic, the restaurant was dedicated exclusively to serving food to essential workers on weekends, where the nonnas cooked part-time. Later, the grandmothers would eventually go to the premises to make sauces from their countries and sell them in the restaurant itself. After 18 months closed, the restaurant reopened its doors thanks to a total remodeling and with all its organic products.

The public reception has been so positive that the restaurant receives calls from Europe and Asia on a weekly basis, with customers wanting to make reservations for their visit to New York.

Some of the recommended dishes are the homemade roasted octopus, the crepes, the tasty white veal and its delicious cheesecake.

Without a doubt, anyone who visits New York City should not miss this place, since in addition to its exquisite food, it is famous for its great service and friendly staff. Enoteca Maria has received the Bib Gourmand award for its tasty dishes at a fair price.

We have the unbeatable price of $500 per day for your Billboard:

Option 1: Your 60 second video/photo will be shown, 60 seconds per hour 22 times a day.

Option 2: Your 30 second video/photo will be shown, twice an hour, 44 times a day.

Option 3: Your 15 second video/photo will be shown 4 times per hour 88 times per day.

Please let us know which option you would like to choose. Remember that we have a response time of 72 hours.