San Francisco’s only Michelin-starred restaurant with a fire at its heart will go dark Sunday. Chef and owner Seth Stowaway confirmed Tuesday that Osito is closing.
Though he said the restaurant was often “very busy,” the $15,000 a month rent wasn’t economically feasible any longer. “Our landlord just wasn’t interested in making it work. They feel that the space is worth what it’s worth,” Stowaway said.
Osito became a hit amid the pandemic. The three-and-a-half-year-old restaurant, which gives Big Sur vibes with its dark wood-paneled walls, earned its single Michelin star in December 2022, just a year after it opened on the corner of 18th and Florida streets in the Mission.
The ambitious menu, with dishes cooked entirely over an open flame, represented the culmination of Stowaway’s 15 years of experience. After cooking at Michelin-starred Mister Jiu’s and serving as executive chef for Bar Agricole Group, he opened Osito — it means “little bear,” also his nickname — to cook food inspired by his childhood in Texas and life in the Mission. The kitchen has leaned heavily on seasonal produce sourced directly from local farmers and practiced whole animal butchery.
When it debuted, Osito offered a single tasting menu to no more than 52 diners per night, who sat at a massive communal table in the center of the warm, wood-wrapped dining room, adorned with live plants. Tickets, offered for two seatings per night, cost $295 apiece. As the years went by, the restaurant shifted away from that vision. Stowaway added both an abbreviated four-course tasting menu and à la carte options. The adjacent cocktail bar, originally called Lilliana, pivoted as well, rebranding in early 2024 as The Bar at Osito before becoming a pop-up for Bar Agricole after its closure in SoMa.
Though Osito opened after the height of Covid, Stowaway’s business plan was conceived in 2019. The intention was to have a small dining room and to keep tables filled for a second turn late into the night. “I kept thinking, OK, late-night dining will come back,” he said. “And when that didn’t start to happen, we changed things and added more seats.”
Most recently, Stowaway launched The Same Sun, a hospitality collective for independent business owners to pool resources and reduce operating costs. In April, the chef, who has been sober for 14 years after battling a drug addiction, said he hopes The Same Sun will function as an incubator for would-be restaurant owners who can learn from the business mistakes he has made.
The closure of Osito doesn’t mean Stowaway is done with the industry, he said Tuesday: “I can’t see doing anything else with my life. I love it.”
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The last service will be Mother’s Day brunch this Sunday. The menu will include grilled pork loin with creamed collard greens; johnny cakes with roasted cherries and fermented honey; smoked corn cake with strawberries; and a soft scramble with English peas and beurre blanc. “We’re doing so much cool stuff,” said Stowaway, ever the optimist.
Unlike chefs who have bitterly cast blame on the city for their closures, his memories will be prideful. “Truly, Osito is one of the best restaurants” in San Francisco, he said, laughing. “I didn’t always think that, but now I do.”