"Based on a true story": Vince Vaughn shares how the real-life Nonnas' became a successful restaurant with the grandmothers and their family recipes
Nonnas is a biographical comedy drama film that was released on Netflix on May 9, 2025. It is directed by Stephen Chbosky, who turned the screenplay by Liz Maccie into a heartwarming film about the delicious relationship between people, culture, and food.
The lead actor, Vince Vaughn, who plays Joe Scaravella, the owner of the popular Italian restaurant, Enoteca Maria, in Staten Island, recently appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and shared the true story behind the film.
"So you have Japanese grandmothers, you have Greek grandmothers and it just became a place for these wonderful matriarchs of their family to go and cook their family recipes. And so it's based on a true story," he shared.
The episode was released on May 1, 2025, in which Vaughn talked about the film, his childhood, and working with Al Pacino.
Apart from Vaughn, Nonnas stars Talia Shire, Lorraine Bracco, Brenda Vaccaro, Susan Sarandon, Joe Manganiello, and Linda Cardellini in prominent roles.
Vince Vaughn talked about Nonnas with Jimmy Fallon
On his recent appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on May 1, 2025, Vince Vaughn shared details about the true story behind his latest film. When asked about the Enoteca Maria restaurant, whose inception the film explores, he said:
"It's a real restaurant in Staten Island. A gentleman named Joe opened up a restaurant, and hired real-life Italian grandmothers, nonnas, to be the chefs. And it's like a salute to these grandmothers who cooked their family recipes. And it became very popular locally."
He continued to talk about the recent development of the restaurant and how it provides an opportunity to keep different culinary traditions alive, saying,
"He later expanded it to Nonnas of the world. So you have Japanese grandmothers, you have Greek grandmothers and it just became a place for these wonderful matriarchs of their family to go and cook their family recipes. And so it's based on a true story."
How did Nonnas bring Enoteca Maria's story to life?
Enoteca Maria is a popular Italian restaurant at 27 Hyatt St, Staten Island, that is known for providing its customers with authentic Italian food prepared by Italian grandmothers instead of professional chefs. Joe Scaravella, the owner of the restaurant, had inherited his maternal grandmother's culinary traditions and equated food with the store of memories of our loved ones.
He believed that through food, the ones without families can feel like they have a family for a while. So when his mother passed away, he decided to open a restaurant as food was the only thing that gave him a feeling of their presence. He wanted to hire real Italian grandmothers to cook, as he believed that they were the repository of culture and identity. On the restaurant's official website, Joe writes,
"Growing up, I realized that my grandmother had been the repository of our family culture and identity. And I found out that, like her, millions of grandmothers all over the world pass down their heritage to their grandchildren."
To open Enoteca Maria, the place named after his mother, Joe put everything on the line. He used all his savings and his mother's insurance money to buy and remodel a place in Staten Island. He fought to get the occupancy permit and contacted every food critic in town to give the restaurant a visit. Despite his efforts, the business didn't take off, and Enoteca Maria barely found customers.
However, Joe's vision and the nonnas' culinary brilliance were soon recognised by the critics, the local community, and the culinary world, making it a success story. The film has emphasised every aspect of the story, from Joe's childhood being influenced by his grandmother's cooking to the struggles of opening the restaurant.
Here is the official synopsis:
"After losing his beloved mother, a man risks everything to honor her by opening an Italian restaurant with actual nonnas — grandmothers — as the chefs."
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