Looking at the menu of Maria, one of the latest Italian spots to open in Southern Westchester, I paused. The usual suspects didn’t make up most of the New Rochelle restaurant’s menu. My eyes were drawn to the cauliflower-kale fritters, acorn squash risotto served in a honey-glazed squash bowl, and salmon with jasmine rice. I’d never even heard of concia.

Chef/co-owner Giovanni Cucullo who also owns Pop’s Espresso Bar (a tribute to his father) on the same block of Huguenot Street, is paying tribute to his mother, Maria, with this newest endeavor. “Maria was the chef of the family,” Cucullo says. “She’s been gone 20 years, but she’s amazing. She’s the reason we do what we do.”