As a little girl, Maria Folio Skidmore was frequently by her grandmother Josefa Pena’s side. And that meant Maria would frequently find herself in the kitchen.

 

“My mom lives in Spain, and still does, and when my parents got married my grandma lived with us. I was her best friend,” said Maria. “She was always there and, when I was little, she started teaching me thing in the kitchen because back in the 1960s the thought was you were going to be a housewife.”

 

Maria took those lessons to heart. She has had a passion for food that included a college background in nutrition, owning the iconic Tuccillo’s Pizza in Clarksburg’s Rosebud Plaza, and working for the state as part of West Virginia Restaurant Management among other things that kept the passion going.

 

“That passion has always been there,” said Skidmore, who is a Notre Dame graduate living in the city since 1992.

 

Ironically, the passion started with Spanish food with her grandmother’s heritage. And while you will still find that in Skidmore’s cooking, most of it is Italian.

 

“Where I live, if you’re cooking, most of the time it’s Italian,” she said laughing. “Plus, I’m one quarter Italian.”

 

The combination, along with her grandmother, helped keep her love for cooking strong even when she quit working a few years ago. Then, she was approached by Hillbilly Hatchets to get back into the cooking thing.

 

“I did, and once I did, I realized how much I missed it,” said Skidmore.

 

Skidmore added the fire to cook again was already burning a little while before this. When her husband Keith passed in 2017, she used cooking and recipe development as her own form of therapy. 

 

It all led to the public food offerings in 2021 when Hillbilly Hatchets got started. While there were plenty of food offerings, the primary focus was the return of Tuccillo's Pizza, which Skidmore was thrilled to be doing once again. Little did she know this venture along with selling her meatball mix and dip mixes would open up a Pandora’s pantry of future food moves – one of which we’re going to talk about here shortly that should have the locals excited.

 

During all of this, the creation of Mama Maria’s came to the forefront, where you can get plenty of goods from Skidmore – the sole chef, owner, and operator. And where you will soon learn to get a whole lot more.

 

“I was selling meatballs, hot dog chili … and then around Christmas this year people started asking me to make hoagies and meatballs. Actually, a few families asked me to make frozen dinners for Christmas gifts,” said Skidmore. “I want to say I did that for over 100 people, and those were just my friends. To do more, I would need a commercial kitchen.”

 

Eventually, the requests came from more than friends. However, with no commercial kitchen, expanding was not possible to do things such as same day orders for a large group of individuals. That, however, is changing. And changing soon as a perfect food storm hit Bridgeport.

 

“I’ll soon be using Jason Poth’s commercial kitchen every Tuesday,” said Skidmore.

 

For those that do not know, Poth knows a thing or two about food. He operates the Edge of Town Farm Market, which sees plenty of business, particularly during the warm weather months.

 

“That’s the big news. Mama Maria’s will be doing dinners to go Tuesday evenings for pickup at the Edge of Town Farm Market,” she said, with the first event set for Feb. 20. “I’ll cook during the day from the orders received and then those ordering can pick it up on their way home that evening.”

 

Skidmore said she’ll have set menus, usually with two different selections. She will take orders until she said she will put up a “stop sign” on her Facebook page. You will also need to go to her Facebook page to see what to order and should have your orders in by 5 p.m. on the Sunday prior – and maybe earlier in the event she reaches her limit.

 

Among the items being offered will be hoagies, meatballs, lasagna, pastas such as rigatoni, and ziti. There will a special item called “Hell’s Chicken” that she describes as a Tuscany chicken that is spicy. There will also be pasta sauce for sale and, to keep true to her grandmother, Spanish paella will be offered as well.

 

Oh, and another bit of a food surprise. During the wintry weather weeks ahead, the Edge of Town Market will only be open on Saturday, said Skidmore. But, for those that come in there will be offerings of some of Skidmore’s offerings of the frozen variety to take home.

 

“It will be limited right now,” she said. “Once the warmer weather comes back to the area, I hope to increase what’s available.”

 

Visit Mama Mia’s Facebook page by clicking HERE. She said to visit and watch for the menu there and for the first day of cooking on February 20, be sure and call and place your order by 5 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 18.

 

Check around if you have not already sampled some of Maria Skidmore’s food offerings, or rather Mama Maria. What you will find out is most have been saying for years – Mamma Mia.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo shows a young Maria with her cousein Steve Shuman in the front of the picture in the kitchen surrounded by family, including her grandmother. Pictured, back row, from left, Great Aunt Elenor Marra, Cousin Cindy Shuman (can't see her face), Maria's mother, Aunt Mari Loli, her grandmother, Unknown male, and Donna Markley. Bottom photo shows Maria Skidmore, left, with best friend Donna Hrko doing some cooking. The rest of the photos show some of the stuff Maria Skidmore has been cooking in recent years.