Enoteca Maria is an “Italian” restaurant in New York City. Half of the menu is a fixed Italian menu, and the other half changes daily. Each day the restaurant chooses a grandmother from a different country around the world who designs the evening's menu to honor their native culture. 1)
There are two nonnas working in the kitchen at any given time, one as the chef and the other as her sous chef. This means that a European nonna and an African nonna can work side by side in the kitchen, learning each other's recipes. 2)
To this day, Nonnas of the World has featured cooks from Syria, Bangladesh, France, Japan, Poland, Venezuela, Greece, Czechia, Pakistan, or Turkey. 3)
The idea came about after owner Joe Scaravella lost his mother in early 2000. When he opened Enoteca Maria two years later, Scaravella employed Italian grandmothers (“nonnas”) in his kitchen to create a sense of homey comfort in his restaurant. 4)