_Who We are
Underscore Hospitality is borne from the idea that the hospitality industry can be a place of professional stability and home for career minded individuals. We believe firmly that the key to success is the care and support that we offer our team members, as they will be the ones cooking our food and serving our guests.
_our Restaurants
Maxwells Trading - located in Chicago’s Kinzie Industrial Corridor. We opened Maxwells so we would have our ideal place to unwind, eat, drink and listen to music with our family and friends. Our name pays homage to Erling’s oldest son Maxwell and to the trade of goods and ideas taking place between our store, our guests and our co-conspirators.
1514 W Fulton - stay tuned
_Food
Our food philosophy is based in the belief that our raw ingredients, and those wonderful people who produce them, deserve the same care and support that our team members enjoy.
We scour the globe - most aggressively near our midwestern home, but not ignoring points further away - to find the best damn tasting and most responsibly produced ingredients we can get our hands on. From that point on, our job is easy; let the ingredients do the talking.
_Consulting
Our sister company - Ripe Fruit - is a hospitality consulting and culinary event production agency that offers:
Culinary & concept development
Operations, systems & training
Business & financial strategy
Brand positioning & marketing strategy
Culinary-driven events, activations & programming
EXECUTIVE CHEF & PARTNER
ERLING WU-BOWER
While Erling excels creatively in the kitchen, his baseline passion is for those that work with him and the community that it takes to run a hospitality enterprise. Erling’s leadership in the kitchen has established him as a four-time James Beard Foundation “Best Chef: Great Lakes” Award Finalist.
After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a degree In Philosophy, Erling began his career and spent more than a decade rising through the ranks of the One Off Hospitality Group in leadership positions at avec, The Publican and Publican Quality Meats.
In 2017, Erling founded Underscore Hospitality, alongside longtime colleague Josh Tilden. Underscore Hospitality proceeded to open Pacific Standard Time in 2018 and The Laurel Room in 2019. Underscore’s latest venture - Maxwells Trading - opened its doors in late 2023.
CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER & PARTNER
Joshua Tilden
Even in a creative industry like the restaurant business, Josh represents a rare professional blend: an intense curiosity driving him to understand and innovate operational systems, and a knack for mentoring and inspiring the people he works with every day. Josh got his start in the hospitality industry working at the venerable jazz club Churchill Grounds while enrolled at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His Restaurant Experience, which now spans more than two decades, includes an eight-year tenure with Lettuce Entertain You before joining the One Off Hospitality Group as the Purchasing Manager for Nico Osteria on its opening team. Josh was then quickly promoted to the Director of Strategic Operations for all of One Off, contributing to significant financial and infrastructure growth for the company.
In 2017 Josh’s experience and ambition led him to create a new group - Underscore Hospitality - with business partner and close collaborator Executive Chef Erling Wu-Bower.