Cod Wine

Cod Wine

Figs and Wine in Staten Islandb

One recent sunny Saturday Joe Scaravella trudged through his Sangiovese vines in purple Converse sneakers and denim cutoffs, a thick gold chain dangling around his neck. "I don't have time to sleep," he sighed.

That's because he lives a double life. Much of the day Mr. Scaravella, age 54, works his full-time job as a material forecaster for the Metropolitan Transit Authority in Brooklyn, N.Y. But most nights Mr. Scaravella is better known as the proprietor and founder of Enoteca Maria, a 35-seat Italian restaurant that's generated so much press it's attracting visitors from other countries—and even Manhattan—over to sleepy Staten Island for a meal.

Enoteca Maria's popularity lies in large part with its "nonnas": a slew of local Italian grandmothers who rotate shifts, cooking up specialties based on what's available that night. And what's available is based in part on what ingredients are growing in Mr. Scaravella's sloping, terraced garden behind his home up the hill.

On just a fifth of an acre, Mr. Scaravella's garden overlooks the harbor, Brooklyn and the Verrazano Bridge. Every patch of soil is occupied by a wide variety of foods including arugula, watermelon-sized squash, peaches, figs and San Marzano tomatoes. Last year Mr. Scaravella found room to plant 30 Sangiovese vines; he spent much of this afternoon crawling up and down the hill weeding his little vineyard.

Many of the plants were donated by neighbors and customers. As such, Mr. Scaravella doesn't know the names of half the varietals he's growing. But for the past two years he and his posse of friends and volunteers have carefully followed the protocol for biodynamic farming, a process that involves planting according to the lunar cycle and using spray-on concoctions made from things like animal skulls filled with oak bark and deer bladders stuffed with yarrow blossoms to aid in composting and fertilization. Next year Mr. Scaravella hopes to get his plot certified as the first biodynamic farm in the five boroughs.

"It gives you an edge if you have your own garden because everything tastes better," said Tattfoo Tan, a local artist who helped clear stones and pluck weeds. Mr. Scaravella said he'd like more help, but has grown wary of strangers after one volunteer chopped down some vines he had grown attached to. "I was heartbroken," he said.

In front of the garden is Mr. Scaravella's modest two-bedroom, two-bathroom Dutch Colonial filled with family heirlooms and flea-market finds. He and his wife split up two years ago; one of his sons helps him out at the restaurant and stays in the guest bedroom, "ruining any chance of me being a bachelor," he joked. His mother, whom the restaurant is named after, is a big presence. Her antique ceramic dishware, painted with Norman Rockwell images, rests along a wooden rail that circles the dining room, and her old handbag hangs from a chair she used to sit in.

Born to Italian immigrants, Mr. Scaravella grew up in Brooklyn's working class Bath Beach neighborhood and lived on the same block for 50 years until most of his immediate family passed away. In 2006, he bought his home here for $673,000, convinced it was meant for him when he saw the dish rail where he could display his mother's plates. (Homes on the same street are currently listed for $663,000 and $844,000.)

Mr. Scaravella said he had no intention of opening a restaurant when he came upon a storefront for rent while he was out hunting one morning for a breakfast pastry. He placed an ad in a local Italian-language newspaper for a cook, and when women from as far away as the Bronx came showing off trays of their finest creations, he decided to try a rotation of chefs rather than just one. Rosa Turano drives in from New Jersey once a week to cook Northern Italian specialties like salt cod with milk and cheese and rabbit stewed with cinnamon. Because her husband is diabetic, Ms. Turano says it's only at the restaurant that she can "use butters and creams and make things I really love to make."

Most nights, Mr. Scaravella drinks and chats with his restaurant guests until the wee hours and fetes every birthday by blasting the Beatles song, "Birthday," on the stereo. He's thinking about opening another restaurant nearby featuring the cuisine of "nonnas from around the world."

But Mr. Scaravella said he has no plans to quit his day job, which offers health and retirement benefits. After long nights at the restaurant, Mr. Scaravella sometimes "comes in a little groggy," says Vincent Romanzi, Mr. Scaravella's manager at the MTA. "But one cup of coffee and he's back to normal."

About the Author

www.mybagshop.com

Fried Cod Balls and Red Wine, Portuguese Delicacies at a Restaurant $39.99 Eightfish Fried Cod Balls and Red Wine, Portuguese Delicacies at a Restaurant - Photographic Print

Cod $12.99 A delightful romp through history with all its economic forces laid bare, Cod is the biography of a single species of fish, but it may as well be a world history with this humble fish as its recurring main character. Cod, it turns out, is the reason Europeans set sail across the Atlantic, and it is the only reason they could. What did the Vikings eat in icy Greenland and on the five expeditions to America recorded in the Icelandic sagas? Cod, frozen and dried in the frosty air, then broken into pieces and eaten like hardtack. What was the staple of the medieval diet? Cod again, sold salted by the Basques, an enigmatic people with a mysterious, unlimited supply of cod. As we make our way through the centuries of cod history, we also find a delicious legacy of recipes, and the tragic story of environmental failure, of depleted fishing stocks where once their numbers were legendary. In this lovely, thoughtful history, Mark Kurlansky ponders the question: Is the fish that changed the world forever changed by the world's folly?

Wine $29.95 Wine

Cod Catch $24.99 Cod Catch - Photographic Print

Drying Cod $24.99 Drying Cod - Photographic Print

Common Cod $39.99 Common Cod - Giclee Print

Coral Cod $24.99 Stuart Westmoreland Coral Cod - Photographic Print

Potato Cod $124.99 Johnny Haglund Potato Cod - Wall Mural

The Cod War $44.99 English School The Cod War - Giclee Print

COD: War Collection X360 $59.99 COD: War Collection X360

Summer in Cape Cod $19.99 Summer in Cape Cod - Masterprint

Cape Cod $4.99 "Cape Cod" by Henry David Thoreau is a classic work of literature that can be enjoyed by all. Download "Cape Cod" and enjoy another quality Digireads.com publication.

COD Black Ops - Screenshots $6.99 COD Black Ops - Screenshots - Poster

Historic Cape Cod $39.99 Historic Cape Cod - Art Print

Cape Cod Map $34.99 Cape Cod Map - Giclee Print

Lobster Festival Cape Cod $19.99 Lobster Festival Cape Cod - Masterprint

Cape Cod Holiday $7.99 Cape Cod Holiday - Art Print

Cape Cod, Massachusetts, View of Cape Cod Sand Dunes $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts, View of Cape Cod Sand Dunes - Premium Poster

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - An Old Cape Cod Lane View $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts - An Old Cape Cod Lane View - Premium Poster

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - View of the Oldest Windmill on Cape Cod $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts - View of the Oldest Windmill on Cape Cod - Premium Poster

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - View of an Old Cape Cod Home $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts - View of an Old Cape Cod Home - Premium Poster

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - View of Cape Cod Sand Dunes $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts - View of Cape Cod Sand Dunes - Premium Poster

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - Cartoon Points of Interest on Cape Cod $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts - Cartoon Points of Interest on Cape Cod - Premium Poster

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - View of an Old Cape Cod Lane $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts - View of an Old Cape Cod Lane - Premium Poster

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - Tourists' Auto Map of Cape Cod $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts - Tourists' Auto Map of Cape Cod - Premium Poster

Cape Cod, Massachusetts - Detailed Auto Map of Cape Cod $19.99 Cape Cod, Massachusetts - Detailed Auto Map of Cape Cod - Premium Poster

Scott's Emulsion of Cod Oil $59.99 Scott's Emulsion of Cod Oil - Wall Decal

Auction on Cape Cod, Mass. $34.99 Auction on Cape Cod, Mass. - Giclee Print