Unlike most restaurants, the Enoteca Maria restaurant in New York offers only home-cooked food by grandmas coming from all over the world.
Joe Scaravella, a 61-year-old Italian-American born and raised in New York, opened the restaurant in 2007. After losing almost all his family members, he tried to recreate the feeling of a home-cooked meal in his restaurant.
He employed(雇佣) grandmas from different parts of Italy at first, and later, he began hiring grandmas from other countries like Argentina(阿根廷), Brazil, France and Greece. He built two kitchens in the restaurant: one for Italian grandmas to cook during lunchtime and the other for grandmas from other countries to cook every evening. The menus in the restaurant are often changing because what is being served depends on the grandmas who are on duty.
The restaurant opens five days a week from Wednesday through Sunday. At present, there are more than 40 grandmas and a grandpa working in it. Most of them came to the US with their children, helping take care of their grandchildren. Scaravella gave them the chance to express themselves in a culinary(烹饪的) way.
Enoteca Maria has received positive(正面的) reviews since its opening. Customers are impressed deeply by its delicious food, comfortable environment and most importantly, the grandmas who may remind them of their own.
