Chef Bryan Moscatello was named a Food & Wine Best New Chef nine years ago while he was working in Denver, then spent several years in Washington, D.C. But the point came when the place he had his eye on was Chicago. “I think the scene is so creative here,” he says. “I would come here on trips and check everything out— Paul Kahan’s restaurants, obviously, and I always liked how Lettuce would have one place at the top— I think Matthew Kirkley’s doing great stuff at L2O. There are so many great places.” Part of the attraction was the cost factor, which is hinted at in Storefront Company’s name: “D.C. is like New York in terms of rents and how much it costs to get started,” he says. “Chicago is where you can create the place you want to have. I just wanted to get out of the D.C. market and be part of what’s happening here.”
He’s actually been living here for about a year, working with Tenzing Wine & Spirits setting up their tasting room while getting Storefront Company together. It opened a couple of weeks ago, but remains a little under the radar media-wise amid so many other openings. But the neighborhood seems to have taken to it quickly— enjoying the chic black and white interior and the fairly reasonably-priced small plates with luxe touches like truffle and foie. For a neighborhood place, there’s serious ambition in the kitchen, which has a full baking program (from breads to mignardises), an in-house charcuterie program, and a serious cheese program, all of which are the kind of thing you’d expect more to find in a big hotel than a, well, storefront on North Avenue. Our man Huge Galdones took some pretty pictures of what’s coming out of the kitchen; check them out below.