After the announcement of the restaurant’s pending closure in October, Maria Simione, who opened the original restaurant back in 1973 and still owned the property, expressed her hopes for a “new chapter” and a search for another willing operator to continue to carry on the business. Co-owners Jonathan Carrillo and Brian Hernandez heard the call and soon knew they couldn’t let the business’ legacy end, they said. “I’ve been coming here since I was a kid, (and) my son loves to come here, too,” Hernandez said, adding that coming to Maria’s became a Tuesday routine for them. “This place has been dear to my heart.”