Inside the N.Y.C. Restaurant Where Grandmas Rule the Kitchen: 'They're So Full of Love'

First starting with Italian 'nonnas,' Enoteca Maria's rotating 30 chefs now include grandmothers from countries including Japan, Peru and Sri Lanka

After Joe Scaravella's grandmother died in 1999, he really missed their traditional Italian family meals together.

To bring back these comforts of home, in March of 2007 he created a restaurant in Staten Island, New York, he called Enoteca Maria, where different Italian grandmothers — or 'nonnas' — would cook the meals they served their families for decades.

"They're so full of love, they hug me and they hug the customers," Scaravella, 67, tells PEOPLE in this week's issue.

Scaravella then decided he wanted, as he says, to "celebrate every culture," and added a melting pot of nonnas to his staff. There are now 30 rotating nonnas ages 50 to 91 from Italy and other countries including Japan, Peru and Sri Lanka serving up their native cuisines three nights a week to adoring diners.

"They say 'Oh it was so good,' " says one Enoteca Maria nonna, May "Dolly" Joseph, 71, from Sri Lanka. "It makes me feel really happy, out of this world."

Opening the restaurant, named in his late mother Maria's honor, also restored a sense of joy in Scaravella's life.

Related: More Stories to Make You Smile

"I just tried," he says, "to recreate that part of my life that was gone. This is like therapy for me."

The home-cooked meals these nonna chefs create change daily. On April 9, for example, nonna Adelina from Italy's dishes included Agnello Arosto — roasted lamb with potatoes in a white wine sauce — and a variety of pastas. Meanwhile, nonna Yumi from Japan cooked miso grilled salmon and a Japanese eggplant dish

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

"Most of these ladies, their husbands have passed away, the children have grown up and they've moved out," Scaravella says. "They're packed with culture and they need an outlet. And that's what we do — we provide that outlet."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.