Author Archive
Posted on August 29, 2018 - by Enoteca - (Comment * FaceBook It * Send to Friend)
Big Spread in Norwegian Magazine
Now people can read about Enoteca while they’re flying Norwegian
Click this Link to see the artle
NORWEGIAN MAGAZINE
Bon Voyage!
Posted on April 27, 2018 - by Enoteca - (Comment * FaceBook It * Send to Friend)
The nonnas are a hit on Good Morning America
Check out the video!
Posted on March 7, 2018 - by Enoteca - 2 comments so far
Enoteca Maria Presents Nonnas of the World!
Our two kitchens at Enoteca Maria will continue to serve regional Italian cuisine from the nonne of Italy, while offering a second menu of a different nonna every night from any and every country in the world. Start following the online book that is being generated at www.nonnasoftheworld.com
Also, please click on the link to the right marked Nonna Calendar for our upcoming international Nonnas. Thank you for supporting our efforts!
Warmly,
Jody Scaravella
These are The Nonnas of the World:
Pauline from Trinidad, West Indies
Lucia from Brazil
Yumi from Tokyo, Japan
Carmen from Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mariela from Vargas, Venezuela
Nina from Brest, Belarus
Rosa Maria of Medellin, Colombia
Habiba of Oran, Algeria
Mafuza of Bangladesh
Zena of Kamishly, Syria
Helena from Prague, Czech Republic
Adelina from Casola, Napoli, Italy
Zuleyka from Mao, Dominican Republic
Carmelina from Marcianise, Napoli, Italy
Nadezhda of Mezhdurechensk, Kazakhstan
Rosa from Schio, Vicenza, Italy
Christina from Bergamo, Lombardia, Italy
Marita from Cuenca, Ecuador
Ploumitsa from Chios, Greece
Maria of Torella dei Lombardi, Campania, Italy
Jolanta of Suwalki, Poland
Monique of Chateauroux, France
Luisa from Piacenza, Italy
Rosaria from Chieti, Abruzzo, Italy
Margherita of Casteldaccia, Palermo, Italy
Hulya of Turkey
Adriana of Spoleto, Umbria, Italy
Posted on March 7, 2018 - by Enoteca - (Comment * FaceBook It * Send to Friend)
Nonna Pauline from Trinidad, West Indies
Pauline often reminisced about the delightful aromas wafting from her mother’s kitchen as she cooked all the Island foods. As a young mother Pauline wondered what could she leave her children? What would be her legacy? She questioned and pondered these thoughts. Her spirit leaped as she recalled how certain food scents were able to evoke wonderful memories that bought her back to the time, place and people involved. Her aha moment! That’s when she began to dabble more in the kitchen by experimentation and duplicating traditional West Indian dished that her mother made for her and her sister. Since then she has had the pleasure of cooking for friends, family and guest who have been enraptured by the taste, and textures of her tantalizing Trinidadian dishes.
Posted on January 2, 2018 - by Enoteca - (Comment * FaceBook It * Send to Friend)
Visit Enoteca Maria when you travel to NYC – feat. Nonna Ploumitsa
Article Here:Â https://www.fodors.com/news/nonna-is-making-dinner-and-all-of-new-york-city-is-invited-12301
The quality and authenticity of a restaurant increase considerably when a nonna (Italian for grandmother) is working the kitchen. At Enoteca Maria, there isn’t just one nonna cooking her traditional recipes—there are two.
Enoteca Maria is a restaurant with a unique concept: every evening, one of the resident Italian nonnas and a guest nonna from a different part of the world cook their own recipes from the old country, giving diners the opportunity to enjoy nonna’s home cooking away from home.
Not many restaurants offer the promise of eating an entirely different cuisine every time you visit. The rotating menu is an opportunity to always try a new dish. Nonna wants you to live a little, life is so short!
The OG Nonna
Born and raised in Brooklyn, owner Jody Scaravella‘s tight-knit Italian family was the inspiration for the concept of the restaurant. Recognizing that his grandmother Maria was the one responsible for preserving his Italian family’s cultural and culinary traditions, Scaravella opened a restaurant that featured a rotating lineup of four Italian nonnas who would take turns cooking their time-tested dishes for the grandchildren of New York City.
Understanding that the culinary knowledge and tradition of every nonna could be lost to history, Scaravella began to compile a cookbook filled with recipes from nonnas around the world, each written in their native language. This appreciation of diversity and desire to retain generations-old knowledge spread to his restaurant, which now features a guest nonna from a different part of the world every night, making their own family’s specialties for Scaravella’s customers.
Hot Stuffed PeppersÂ
Around the World in 20 Nonnas
The Nonna d’Italia rotates between nonnas with origins throughout Italy such as Palermo, Abruzzo, Campania, Umbria, and Napoli. These nonnas prepare a menu of classic Italian dishes and specialties of their own like hot stuffed peppers or marinated octopus. The guest nonna contributes two or more options each for an appetizer, main course, and dessert. Nonna Ploumitsa serves a Greek-style lasagna called pastitsio, which is layers of pasta, ground beef, and tomato sauce baked and topped with béchamel sauce. Nonna Anna from Armenia serves up a saucy khashlama, a beef stew cooked in beer with peppers, onions, and tomatoes followed by a dessert of puff pastry served with reduced grape and walnut jam bites. Bangladeshi Nonna Muhfuza’s samosas satisfy as an appetizer before an entrée of chicken curry and pholow, a home-style dish consisting of flavorful curried chicken and basmati rice, served with a side salad and hard boiled egg. Nonna Alexandra from Sofia, Bulgaria makes banitsa, baked filo dough with eggs, yogurt, feta cheese, and butter, or bob yakhniya, big white beans simmered with onions, peppers, tomato sauce, and parsley, thyme, and mint.
For those who are curious about to learn more about their new nonna, the restaurant’s website offers short bios of each nonna written in their mother tongue.
Marinated Octopus
What Is It About a Nonna?
A meal that has been prepared by the experienced hands of a nonna evokes a certain comfort that no other food can give. It is made from decades of practice without a recipe and with the additional inspiration of feeding loved ones. Although the nonnas at Enoteca Maria are still strangers to the guests they are feeding, there is a certain magic in what they do, and to find that personal touch in a New York City restaurant is rare. Now eat your pasta, you look pale!
Nonna-Style
Nonna is not necessarily on top of the latest food fads and health concerns that influence people today. It has become common to modify traditional recipes in order to satisfy health requirements or accommodate dietary restrictions. Nonnas are old school, cooking with taste and satisfaction in mind–not a trim waistline or the daily vitamin A requirement. Food made from scratch by someone who genuinely enjoys what they are creating and has had years to tweak the recipe to perfection contains healthful properties that will not be found in the pre-packaged bean sprout salad at the juice bar. Nonna would be devastated to know what you are eating these days, it’s no wonder you’re so slim, you’re wasting away, eat, eat!
Pear Salad
Taking Care of Nonna
Anyone who has worked in a restaurant, especially in the back of the house, knows that this is no easy gig. Cooking in a restaurant is a grind, which is why the featured nonnas at Enoteca Maria only work one night a month, and the Italian nonnas rotate their schedules so they are also not working too hard. We want to keep nonna happy and healthy!
Nonna’s World
A kitchen with two nonnas at the helm could be enough to make guests feel at home, but along with the food, the dining experience is also hospitable. The restaurant is cozy, and diners can choose from a few seats at the small bar or relax at a table in the dining room. The staff is friendly and attentive, eager to answer any questions about the food or the nonnas. The guest nonna occupies the kitchen upstairs so the diners can watch her do her thing. The atmosphere is festive, welcoming a diverse crowd of New Yorkers–locals from the neighborhood, couples on a date, friends having a casual dinner, and groups celebrating a special occasion.
The Staten Island location may put people off at first, but the restaurant is only a five-minute walk from the Staten Island Ferry. The ferry service is free and departs every 30 minutes to and from Lower Manhattan. So Nonna doesn’t want to hear any excuses about why you are not visiting her.
Some people are lucky enough to have their own nonna who cooks her specialties from the old country with love, but for those who don’t, there is Enoteca Maria.
Nonna Ploumitsa at Enoteca Maria
27 Hyatt Street, Staten Island, New York 10301
Phone: (718) 447-2777
Reservations are suggested and are for a two-hour seating. Cash only.
Lunch: Wednesday through Friday from 12 pm to 3 pm.
Dinner: Wednesday through Sunday from 3 pm until close.
Posted on December 31, 2017 - by Enoteca - (Comment * FaceBook It * Send to Friend)
Believe it or Not, we’re in Ripley’s!
The Nonnas of the World gets an illustrated mention in Ripley’s Believe It or Not.
Posted on October 22, 2017 - by Enoteca - (Comment * FaceBook It * Send to Friend)
Nonna Lucia From Brazil
Meu nome e lucia Amaral Dutra. Sou brasileira vinda de uma cidade bem pequena e acolhedora do estado de Minas Gerais. Vim de uma familia que gosta muito de cozinhar saborosos pratos simples e tipicos da nossa regiao. Tenho 63 anos, casada, mae de 3 filhos e vovo de 3 netinhos (2 netinhos de 3 anos e uma netinha q esta a caminho).
Amo ter minha casa cheia e rodeada por familiares e amigos e adoro passar meu tempo na cozinha fazendo petiscos para eles. Moramos todos nos EUA a algum tempo e aqui mantemos nossa cultura viva com nossa deliciosa culinaria Brasileira a qual estou muito contente de poder compartilhar com vcs. Sou muito feliz e grata a Deus pela vida, a familia q ele me concedeu e as oportunidades que foram me confiadas.
