When my grandmother got well into her eighties and nineties, you couldn’t always be sure what the next plate of lasagna might bring: too much oil, too much salt? A mystery ingredient from the brillo box? Even though her better days of cooking were behind her, each meal left her unforgettable stamp of flavor and style on it.
My grandmother, like many other Italian matriarchs from decades ago, would have loved what’s going on at Enoteca Maria, a new addition to the St. George section of Staten Island. I can imagine her fitting right into the kitchen there preparing a bresaola roast, tender and flaky with pine nuts held together with string, or her homemade manicotti in red sauce next to an aluminum foil tray of roasted potatoes.
The owners of Enoteca Maria, Joe and Denise Scaravella, have made their restaurant a haven for women from Italy who love to cook. They come from Napoli and Roma, Torretta and Palermo, Marche and Milano. Each one is distinct in their accents, personality and of course…cooking. On different nights, one of these women takes control of the kitchen, prepares the menu, and creates her signature dishes, usually culled from passed-down family recipes and old hometown tradition.
It’s this inconsistency or diversity which makes it a restaurant unique to dining out Italian. You might see tilapia on the menu several times in a week, but each woman makes it different…and good! It’s a risk that renders occasional flops, but the frequent diner is willing to overlook these rare misses for the abundance of culinary home runs. Eating there makes you wonder just what exactly is going on in that kitchen—what have the ladies been talking and thinking about all day while these recipes take shape? You have the confidence and anticipation that whatever arrives at your table is just what each grandmother makes for their families at home.
Native Brooklynites, Joe and Denise originally conceived the spot as a wine bar which would also offer small plates of food. But the grandma phenomena was too great to minimize. (Nonetheless the Italian wines are still an important reason to feast here. The Rabosa Passito is exceptionally good with dessert).
Joe had an idea for a photo shoot to play up the warm, nurturing grandmas and turn them into mad angry women for a short while. Some of the women don’t speak English too well and were lost on the idea. “Why am I supposed to be angry?” Joe improvised and chided the women to imagine disciplining an unruly child. We built up that mood with lighting, yelling, the proper kitchen weapons, and the ladies marching angrily towards the camera. But in every shot, at least one grandma lost the act and cracked a smile.
Six o’clock arrived and it was time for business and time for the grandma of the night to whip up her magic.
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