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The meal was not only one of the better ones I had this year, but a completely charming experience, a reflection of the personalities of the two people behind it—Bickelhaupt in the kitchen and Welsh serving. It was probably good for them that they had another year of practice post-Kickstarter, but now their restaurant, 42 Grams, is opening in January at 4662 N. Broadway (reservations are available through their website). I spoke with both of them about the journey to 42 Grams.

Welsh: It’s just under 1,400 square feet, and it used to be a fast-food fried chicken establishment. The former owners were in operation all of three and a half months, so it’s practically a brand-new space that just needed renovation, hence the very quick turnaround. The space itself, the layout is very open concept, where you walk in, you’re in full view of the kitchen, there’s a small, very intimate dining room where we’ll have a total of about 18 seats when we first open. There’s a chef’s counter where you can sit at the counter, see what’s happening, and interact with the chef, as well as a communal seating table. The kitchen is about equal in space to the dining room, so it’s very much the focal point of all the action.

So I’m looking forward to moving into a legitimate commercial kitchen. Number one, just the space, it’ll quadruple my square footage. It’s a restaurant, with specific stations, it’s not just going to be one other guy. Well, it’s not going to be a lot more—it’ll be a total of three chefs, including me. But it’s just a bigger stage, really. I hope it will be the same in terms of quality, and creativity, and challenging me as a cook.

And so we kind of took a step back and we said, we’re building an experience. It’s not you eat what you want and then you walk away. It’s experiential from start to finish. Originally people were saying, what kind of food is it? But it’s really more about what Jake and I collectively bring to the experience. It’s being greeted at the door by the chef’s wife. It’s being able to talk to the chefs, ask questions. There’s no veil between the diner and the kitchen.

Winter seems like it would be kind of a hard time to launch, in terms of the foods that are available.