This Restaurant Employs Grandmas Instead Of Professional Chefs

October 8, 2016

A flock of grandmas dish up the ultimate comfort food at this New York City restaurant.

restaurant hires grandma chefs

Enoteca Maria started out a decade ago with just Italian grandmas but has branched out to include 30 grandmas from around the world - Argentina, Algeria, Syria, Dominican Republic, Poland, Liberia, and Nigeria to name a few.

But wait, a bunch of grandmas in the same kitchen?

"Each one of these grandmothers feels like they're the boss, because in their particular family unit, they're at the top of that pyramid. So when you put all of these grandmothers that are all at the top in a room together, they all feel like they're in charge and they're all wondering what that other person is doing there," Scaravella told Gothamist. "It can get dicey."

But it works, and to great success.

"I regularly get phone calls from Australia, from England, and from Italy to book reservations. I'm always flattered by that," Scaravella says. "We get a lot of people who come from Manhattan, the ferry is right down the block. That's also very flattering, because there's a restaurant every twenty feet in Manhattan."