A New York restaurant is “desperate” to hire an Irish grandmother as a chef, according to its owner.
Joe Scaravella opened Enoteca Maria 17 years ago while processing the grief that came from losing his grandparents and parents.
The Staten Island restaurant, which has inspired a film starring Vince Vaughan, hires grandmothers (or Nonnas) from all over the world so its punters can enjoy home-cooked meals from various cultures.
Grandmothers from Syria, Algeria, Italy, Brazil, and everything in between, have cooked in the restaurant to date – but one country has eluded them so far.
Nonna Carmen from Argentina, a chef at Enoteca Maria in Staten Island. Image: Supplied.On Moncrieff today, Mr Scaravella made a public appeal for an Irish grandmother to come cook at his restaurant.
“We are desperate for an Irish grandmother,” he said.
“We came very close before with this woman who had a very heavy brogue and she said she was from Killarney.
“She was going to cook for us on Paddy’s Day and we’re very excited about it, but she got cold feet – it can be a little daunting come in.”
Nonna Rosa from Peru. Image: Supplied.Mr Scaravella said his decision to open Enoteca Maria was “grief driven”.
“About 20 years ago I lost the last of my family; I lost my grandparents and then my parents,” he said.
“Basically, I was just trying to comfort myself and I was trying to backfill that part of my life that was gone.
“So, I started this place and invited Italian grandmothers in because I’m Italian it was trying to recreate – that’s how we started.”
Nonna Sahar from Egypt. Image: Supplied.The restaurant began to expand beyond Italian food after a while, according to Mr Scaravella.
“I guess about eight or nine years ago we started actually inviting these ladies [from around the world] in,” he said.
“We’ve had a few dozen cultures, several Italian ladies, a few ladies from Turkey and just recently a woman contacted me about her grandmother who is Syrian.
“We’ve had a Syrian woman before about five years ago who used to cook for us, so the cultures keep repeating - but we want to represent every culture.”
The movie inspired by Mr Scaravella’s story is called Nonnas and has a US release date of March 24th this year.
Main image: Nonna Ploumitsa from Greece with restaurant owner Joe Scaravella. Image: Supplied.
