“We started at farmers markets about three years ago with our arancini-stuffed risotto balls—which is our specialty,” says Daniela Vitale, who runs Sfera in Avondale with her partner, Steven Jarczyk. “My family is from Sicily, and I spent every summer there from the age of sixteen to twenty-five.

Starting at farmers markets [in Logan Square, Wicker Park and Portage Park] was a very good experience, because we could figure out what people liked and then a lot of people who supported us at the markets started ordering from us at the ghost kitchen. We moved to the ghost kitchen, in part, because COVID forced us to.”