This is a story about an affordable place to eat. It’s also a story about two people helping each other and caring for one another. Ultimately, this is a story about the humanity in all of us.
I was getting my car repaired recently at M&C Auto Repair in Roselle, and I saw a Mexican restaurant across the parking lot, Maria’s Deli and Restaurant. I went in and spotted the proprietor, a friendly woman with short, graying hair and a modest smile.
“I’m Maria Sevilla,” she said with enthusiasm, “You’re getting your car fixed next door? That’s my grandfather. Pietro.”
I grinned and nodded. She continued, “You don’t believe me? He’s my grandfather.”
I nodded again assuring her that I believed her, but Sevilla stepped around the counter and took me by the arm to the garage next door. She yelled for the owner, an older Italian fellow who had helped me earlier.
“Tell him you’re my grandfather,” Sevilla demanded. I tried to say that I believed her, but she raised her arm for me to hush.
The garage shop owner folded his oily rag in his back pocket then said, “I am her grandfather.”
Maria’s Deli and Restaurant in Roselle, New Jersey. Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025.Karim Shamsi-Basha
Twenty-five years ago, Maria Sevilla, 47, immigrated from Mexico to New Jersey with her two children. Like most immigrants, she was looking for a better life for her family. She saw a sign for an apartment for rent in Roselle, and she asked the Italian mechanic who owned the building if the apartment was available. He told her he didn’t want little kids in his apartment. She ended up staying with a friend, but a month later, that mechanic called and offered her the apartment.
Neither one knew they would end up like family.
“At first, I didn’t want little kids running everywhere,” Pietro Catalano, 79, said. “But then I thought I better let her stay here. She was the age of my granddaughter, and I wanted those kids safe. I wanted to help her take care of them.”
Six years ago, Catalano ended up selling Sevilla the little building next to his garage, and she opened her deli there. And the bond between the two only strengthened.
Pietro Catalano considers Maria Sevilla as his grandaughter. Roselle, New Jersey. Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025.Karim Shamsi-Basha
“My kids have always called him grandpa, since they were little,” Sevilla said. “We look after each other. If Maria needs something, (She’s talking about herself in the third person), Maria comes to grandfather. If grandfather needs something, grandfather comes to Maria.”
Catalano immigrated to New Jersey from Palermo, Italy, in 1965. He said things were tough back then in his country.
“There were no jobs in Italy,” Catalano said while he tightened the bolts on a car up on the lift. “I came to America and was able to make a living for my family. I love it here. I work hard, but I love it.”
I could relate being being an immigrant myself (I traveled here from Damascus, Syria at the age of 18). All of us come to this country with the dream of making a better life. Sure, the road sometimes is full of obstacles, but with hard work and perseverance, most obstacles can be overcome.
At the age of 79, it seemed that Catalano always had that perseverance flickering in his eyes, much like the grease under his fingernails.
He nodded at me again and said, “You can do anything you want in this country, as long as you work for it.”
Sevilla, who was standing next to Catalano, lightly elbowed him while saying, “He never learned to like Mexican food though.”
Catalano nodded with a mischievous expression. “Maria might be family, but I cannot stand Mexican food!”
A delicious veggie burrito at Maria’s Deli and Restaurant in Roselle, New Jersey. Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2025.Karim Shamsi-Basha
Maria’s Deli and Restaurant serves up delicious food. The humble place is busy inside with food and drinks and bags of chips every where, but in the air and mixed with the scent of cilantro and chillies, that familiar essence of family hung, that essence of home.
I tried a veggie burrito ($7.99) loaded with peppers, queso, beans, rice, tomatillos, potatoes and other decadent ingredients. It was flavorful and rich, and it could have fed three people.
You can get a Turkey Reuben panini for ($7.99), Maria’s pancakes for ($7.99), or Maria’s shrimp wrap for ($9.99). Breakfast includes authentic Mexican dishes like Chilaquiles, ($7.99) with fried chips, beans, onions, avocado, sour cream, two fried eggs and salsa. Or you can indulge in the picaditas, ($9.99) with chicken, steak or longaniza (Mexican sausage similar to chorizo).
If you still have room, you should try the Mexican hot dog ($6.99) with tomatoes, onions, jalapeños and a special sauce.
My car was ready, and I drove away thinking of how humanity shows up in the most unpredictable places. In the rear mirror, I could see the Mexican cook and her Italian grandfather, the mechanic, head back into his garage, his arm over her shoulder.
Karim Shamsi-Basha may be reached at kshamsi-basha@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter & Instagram.
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Dining and Cooking