Chef Michael Scelfo Opening a Taqueria in Cambridge

photo courtesy of Michael Scelfo

It’s been a big year for chef Michael Scelfo. His Cambridge restaurant, Alden & Harlow, was not only named “Best New Restaurant” by both Boston magazine and the Improper Bostonian, he was also given Andrew Knowlton’s coveted nod of approval in the pages of Bon Appetit. Now Scelfo is going in a much different direction.

In early 2015, the chef will turn away from secret burgers and chicken fried rabbit to focus on another passion: tacos. Scelfo’s second restaurant concept, tentatively called Naco (which means irreverent in Spanish), will be a taqueria in the former Lotte Market space at 297 Massachusetts Avenue near MIT.

“While this is a departure from the kind of cooking we do at Alden & Harlow, it’s an opportunity for me to dive into another passion of mine and really have fun with it,” Scelfo says via a press release.

Michael Scelfo will be joined by business partners Alex Tannenbaum and Brian Lesser in his latest venture.

297 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge; You can follow Naco’s progress on Twitter at @NacoCentral and on Instagram at @NacoCentral.