Italian Grandmas Take Over NY Restaurant

ByMarilyn Terrell
June 23, 2009
2 min read

I spotted this NY Daily News story on ColdMud, an aggregator site I love that scours the Web for interesting food news. (Researcher note: “Cold Mud” is diner slang for chocolate ice cream).

Tired of cooking only for their own sometimes unappreciative families, eight Italian grandmas are taking turns in the kitchen of Enoteca Maria restaurant in St. George, Staten Island in New York City, and diners are praising the results, according to this article by Christina Boyle in the New York Daily News. 

New York state Senator Diane Savino is a regular. “It’s kind of like having dinner at your grandmother’s every day of the week,” she said. “These are not fancy chefs, these are Italian women who know how to cook Italian food.”

One of the grannies, 62-year-old Teresa Scalici, (pictured above), learned to cook from her own grandmother in Agrigento, Sicily, when she was a child– dishes like ollo rollatini and ravioli with rabbit– and keeps all her recipes in her head. She dreamed of having a restaurant, and when she heard about Enoteca Maria she had only one question: “Do I have to do the dishes?” (No, she doesn’t).

“My family have this everyday so they don’t appreciate it anymore. I prefer it here, because the people love me,” she added. “On Saturday nights the customers clap.”

Enoteca Maria is located at 27 Hyatt Street, Staten Island, New York +1 718 447 2777 and is open from Wed-Sun.

Photo: via The New York Daily News

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