How to Get Into Maxwells Trading, Chicago’s Boundary-Breaking Standout

Resy: How many seats do you have?

Josh Tilden: The dining area has roughly 90 seats. The bar has 20 seats. And we just opened up a patio that has 32 seats. 

When do your reservations drop on Resy?

Currently, we’re at a 28-day window and they go online at midnight. 

If I’m on the Notify list, any chance I’ll get off of it?

On a daily basis, we go through and we consistently re-plot — either to open up more spots, or just maximize the amount of reservations that we can take. So I would be checking when our auto-confirmations go out, 24 hours in advance on the previous day. So at 5 p.m., pull it up to check, because inevitably, people do cancel. 

How many people are on your average Notify List, and what’s the likelihood of being called from it?

On Fridays and Saturdays, we will often see 500 to 700 people on the Notify List, and I don’t think a good amount of them will get off the list. We really don’t see a ton of cancellations because people are very excited to come and dine with us, and we try to minimize cancellations by structuring how we release reservations to the public. You’re more likely to get off the Notify List on a weekday. Wednesdays specifically are usually the easiest days to book a primetime table and get off the list. 

How quickly do reservations get booked and when is the best day to get one?

Friday and Saturday prime-time reservations get booked pretty much immediately. In general, if you can eat early or late, you’re going to have a much easier time finding a reservation than if you want to eat between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Because we get a big industry crowd on Tuesdays, Wednesdays are typically our slowest day. 

Are any of the seats in the restaurant held for walk-ins?

The bar is first-come, first-serve and we also opened up the patio, which is a good place to accommodate walk-ins. Eventually, we will be taking reservations on the patio.

Can guests order the full menu at the bar?

Yes! We designed the bar to be a bar that you would want to eat at. So we were very thoughtful about the width of the bar, so that it can accommodate not only a few different shared plates, but also a bottle of wine and maybe a bottle of sparkling water. So that, in conjunction with making the bar seats as comfortable as possible, leads to a great dining experience at the bar. 

Besides the Notify list, are there any other tricks to get a seat?

Come in! Maxwells is unique in the sense that there’s not any bars or restaurants near us, so we don’t see a ton of walk-in business. But if I have guests in the restaurant and they want to dine with us, we’re going to figure out a way to accommodate them.

Can you book larger groups and if so, how long in advance should I book a table?

We consider large party reservations to be between five and 10 people. Larger parties have to be contracted, and that’s a whole separate conversation. You can book through the app for parties up to 10 and we require a $40 per guest deposit for anything larger than five, because we can’t fill those slots if somebody cancels at the last minute. The deposit will go toward the bill. 

In your opinion, what’s the best seat in the house?

The bar! Particularly the west corner. The sight lines from that corner of the bar really captures a lot of the thoughtful design details. You also have a view of the open kitchen, which people always enjoy. So, yeah, I would say that would be my favorite spot for one or two others.

How would you describe the menu for a newbie?

I would say it’s a really good snapshot of not only my business partner Erling’s culinary background, but also our executive chef Chris Jung. The food is influenced by their upbringings — Erling is Chinese American and Chris is Korean American — but also their professional careers. 

Chris came to us as the executive chef at Momotaro and before that, he worked with us at Pacific Standard Time. Erling worked for so long with One Off Hospitality, not only at The Publican but also at Avec, and opened up Nico Osteria. So it’s contemporary American, meaning that it’s just like a little bit of everything thrown into the pot. Or you can use the term that I don’t like, which is fusion. But yeah, I can’t sit here and tell you that’s wrong. 

What do you think are a few dishes that a first-timer should definitely not miss?

Number one would be the whipped ricotta dish. It comes with griddled scallion bread, which is like a combination of a scallion pancake and an English muffin. It comes with our hot honey that we infuse in-house taken from the rooftops. 

I would also say the clay pot rice is a showstopper and also a great encapsulation of our concept. There are a lot of Asian techniques and ingredients in that dish, but it’s also very hard to define. Also, guests should always ask the server what they are most excited about that’s coming from a local farm. That will lead them to a phenomenal dish because we do change our menu a lot. 

Do you run a lot of seasonal specials?

The cadence so far has been that every two weeks, we change a dish or two. We try to avoid those massive menu changes just because that doesn’t put anybody in a position to succeed. So as we move into a different season, you might see that every week, a couple of dishes might change. Sometimes there are significant changes and sometimes it’s just switching the basket from strawberries to blueberries.

It’s a Saturday at 7 p.m. Can you set the scene?

We’re in the middle of our second push by then. There’s probably three or four parties that have just checked in whose tables are wrapping up. So we’re trying to get them set up at the bar with drinks. As managers and owners, we’re in constant communication with the front door to stay on top of what we need from a table perspective, but also to know what information we need to get to the kitchen, so they can adequately prepare for that second push. And it’s fun when it’s going as it should. Everybody’s in their own lane and in their zone. It’s kind of like a well choreographed dance.

You have big ambitions for your rooftop farm. Can you tell us more about it?  Are you guys utilizing ingredients now?

It’s still growing. But we’re starting to pull stuff off of the roof and feature it in dishes. We have a salmon dish right now, which is really our first dish featuring multiple ingredients from the roof. It has Japanese turnips, and these beautiful mustard greens that have almost a wasabi component to them. We’re also pulling honey off of the rooftop, which is featured heavily in both our cocktail list and on our savory menu. So it’s fun. 

Think of it as if you were to get a weekly crop box at a farmers market — you never know what you’re going to get and it’s up to you to figure out how to utilize it. Whatever they pull off the roof, our culinary and beverage teams put their heads together. We’re all still learning. And I think if we were to follow up on a conversation a year from now, I’m going to have way more concrete examples of how we work well together. 

What does the future hold for Maxwells Trading?

I think the most exciting thing will be learning how to optimize the relationship between the roof and our menu. I’m excited to see what the food menu and the cocktail list will look like when we are in the heart of the growing season. It’s a bit of a process in reverse. Usually, a chef will get an idea for a dish, then go get the ingredients. But this is like those cooking shows where they give you your ingredients and say, ‘make something with this.’  Right now we’re just starting and it’s really exciting.

Elanor Bock is a Chicago-born professional writer, dancer, and Renaissance woman. Follow her on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.