Diksha Sundriyal
Netflix’s ‘Nonnas’ follows the story of a grieving man named Joe Scaravella who decides to make a radical move in his life following his mother’s death. He decides to open a restaurant in Staten Island where the food will be made by Italian grandmothers. The intent is to give a homely experience to the customers, but the road to achieving that dream is full of many hurdles. Joe’s story takes many twists and turns before finding its happy ending, but what makes it even better is that it brings to life the true story of Jody “Joe” Scaravella. The film leaves us with a hopeful ending for the protagonist, but that was just the beginning of Scaravella’s journey.
Jody Scaravella Turned His Grief Into a Passion Project
Born and brought up in Brooklyn, New York, Jody Scaravella had spent his childhood admiring his grandmother and mother’s cooking. He would remember the spread of food on their tables, especially when they had people over. Time, however, aged the matriarchs of his family, and one by one, they moved on from the mortal world. As if the loss of his grandmother Domenica (who passed away in 1999) and mother Maria was not enough, he also lost his sister, Mariana. It was a very difficult and depressive time for him, and what got him through it was the vision of a place where he could recreate the feeling of eating the food made by his grandmother.
While visiting a farmer’s market that his grandmother used to frequent in Staten Island, he came across an old building which he decided to buy with the money he got from his mother’s insurance money. At the same time, he continued his job at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where he had worked for more than a decade and a half. He had no prior experience of running a business, let alone a restaurant, before, but this was something he was intent on seeing through, no matter the challenges. He moved to Staten Island in 2006 and opened the restaurant, which he named Enoteca Maria in memory of his mother, in 2007.
Jody Scaravella Still Runs Enoteca Maria
At 69 years of age, Jody “Joe” Scaravella has no intent of slowing down when it comes to running Enoteca Maria in Staten Island. The restaurant, which welcomes guests on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, has expanded significantly since its opening in 2007. While it began as a space for Italian grandmothers to cook the recipes handed down to them for generations, Scaravella decided to open the doors for the cuisines of other countries as well. Since 2015, grandmothers from Mexico, Peru, Ukraine, Pakistan, Japan, Poland, and Sri Lanka, to name a few, have been serving their signature dishes, and are called “Nonnas of the World.” For this, the restaurant has two kitchens. One is for the Italian nonnas, which is always served there. The other features a rotating staff, bringing food from a different side of the world daily.
This move seemed natural to Scaravella as he has always seen Enoteca Maria as a place of cultural exchange rather than just another restaurant. As a remembrance for the women in his life who inspired him to undertake this massive venture, the portraits of his grandmother, mother, and sister, Domenica, Maria, and Mariana, can be seen on the restaurant’s wall. He has shared the story of his restaurant, the challenges he met along the way, the recipes from his mother and grandmother, and the reward of running the place in his book, ‘Nonna’s House,’ which he co-authored with Elisa Petrini. He was also involved in the making of ‘Nonnas,’ where he helped the writers find the heart and soul of the film by sharing anecdotes that made it into the film, which was very “emotional” to watch.
Before this, he had received offers for everything from a reality show to a documentary on the restaurant. But eventually, it was the Netflix project that suited him the most. The movie’s success has been reflected in the number of calls Scaravella gets for reservations. Before the movie, the place was already so packed that when Susan Sarandon enquired about getting a table there, she was initially refused because Scaravella didn’t want to cancel the reservations of any of his regulars for her. He had to move some things around to be able to accommodate her. Now, the demand has increased tenfold. As for his personal life, much of Scaravella’s time is still dedicated to the restaurant. His current partner, Yumi Komatsudaira, is also a nonna at Enoteca Maria. The time he spends away from his business is kept under wraps as he highly values his privacy and that of his loved ones.
Jody Scaravella Wants to Preserve the Intimacy of Enoteca Maria
Running a successful restaurant is a huge deal, and most businesses focus on milking their popularity as much as possible. Jody Scaravella is not one of them. He welcomes all the love and attention that Enoteca Maria has received over the years, especially through the features in various national and international magazines and newspapers. But he is more focused on amplifying the love for cuisines and family recipes rather than the finances. He wants to “take the money out of this environment” because he doesn’t like “handing somebody a check for grandma cooking.” He intends to turn Enoteca Maria into a non-profit, and wants to develop a system where people can pay for their meals online while making the reservations.
His distaste for “chasing a dollar” is why the restaurant still takes reservations by phone rather than online. He has no intent to get the restaurant listed on online apps, especially the ones that deliver food at home, because he believes that the more time food spends in a box, the more it loses its value. To get people more interested in the restaurant, he has even started a system where people can get free cooking classes from the nonnas. His desire to preserve grandmothers’ recipes worldwide has led him to start an online group where people can share the recipes of their own mothers and grandmothers, no matter which part of the world they are from.
While uploading those recipes, people have to share a picture of their nonnas, a bit of their backstory, and their connection to the recipe. Sometimes, people upload these things in the handwriting of their nonnas, and in their native languages, which adds another layer of love and intimacy to the recipes. In the same vein, Scaravella has also come up with the idea of having the nonnas curate specific ingredients from their side of the world, which he intends to launch as a brand of its own. In all his ideas, Scaravella never thinks about money because he still works “from the heart more than from the head.” This was the approach he had when he started Enoteca Maria, and he intends to have the same mindset in all of his future endeavors.
Read More: Nonnas Ending Explained: How Does the Restaurant Become a Success Story?
