Michelin-starred San Francisco restaurant Osito is closing

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 a piece. 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 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.”