This renowned chef is bringing chicken fried steak to the former WesBurger

One day after the Mission’s kitschiest burger joint served its final tots, we know what’s set to replace it: a diner specializing in chicken-fried steak.

Seth Stowaway, who recently closed his Michelin-starred live-fire restaurant Osito after a three-and-a-half-year run, tells The Standard he’ll be taking over the former WesBurger ’N’ More space to open a tribute to his Texas roots, tentatively called Chicken Fried Palace.

He’d been mulling the concept over for several years, trying to find the right space for a casual, family-friendly restaurant. WesBurger’s closure felt like the neighborhood was losing something, so Stowaway jumped at the opportunity. 

Chicken-fried steak, he emphasizes, is not the same thing as fried chicken. Rather, it’s a tenderized cube steak dredged in spiced flour, deep-fried, then nearly drowned in a salty, peppery, white gravy — a quintessential Southern comfort food. “It comes from German settlers bringing their schnitzel to cattle country,” he says, “combined with my love of all things diner.”

You can “chicken-fry” any number of things, so Stowaway is looking to colleagues for culinary inspiration. For example, there will be a chicken-fried Reuben sandwich in homage to a chef named Adam Lawrence who helped out at Osito in its early days. Pies and milkshakes will fill out the menu, and, assuming the liquor license comes through, the bar program will involve a slushy machine and boozy shakes.

The paperwork has yet to be signed, but Stowaway says he’s ready to announce the project. He has  brought on a chef from Memphis named Cole Jeanes, who describes himself as a “steward of the buttermilk biscuit” — a classic side for chicken-fried steak. The opening is tentatively scheduled for this fall — or, as Stowaway puts it, “SF summer.”

It’s been a year of change for Stowaway. Shortly before Osito wound down, he closed its casual, next-door companion, the Bar at Osito. He also launched The Same Sun, a hospitality collective meant to give single-restaurant operators the same clout as larger restaurant groups by pooling resources.

He hopes Chicken Fried Palace will be the spiritual successor to WesBurger, whose stylish, midcentury-inspired interior was a Mission icon throughout its nine-year run. Stowaway plans to add to the existing atmosphere, swapping out some of the wood paneling for pink wallpaper with gold glitter. “Dollywood meets ’90s hip-hop,” is how he describes it. “A place where you can have fun.”