Grandmothers United: Enoteca Maria
by Hungryman
October 28, 2007
Six Italian grandmothers of St. George, Staten Island have got this whole restaurant business all figured out. By taking turns at the stovetop, each nonna gets to rule the kitchen one day each week, and no one has to work more than a few weekly lunch or dinner shifts. Everyone gets a chance to cook and nobody collapses, exhausted in the gnocchi–it is a win-win arrangement. But really, it’s the lucky residents of St. George who are perhaps the most fortunate, as they get a glimpse into regional home cooking from a different part of Italy nearly every night of the week. As should already be clear, this is not your typical Italian restaurant: this is a place where meals are punctuated by frequent appearances from a well-proportioned older Italian woman who, in halting English, inquires at every table whether everything is “bene.†And the only real response is: “Si.”
Read the rest of the review on NYC Nosh.