Osito

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Osito was a San Francisco restaurant that opened on October 15, 2021, created by chef Seth Stowaway and Jenn Yoo. It specialized in exclusively live-fire cooking over wood and became the Bay Area’s first entirely live-fire restaurant. The dining format featured a tasting menu with a different meat or seafood each night, served to about 22 guests at a long communal table while the food was cooked in view over the flames. The menu rotated with monthly themes like “Growing Up” and “Old World Techniques.” The cuisine was California with Latin American influences, inspired by Stowaway’s Texas roots and the Mission District neighborhood.

The space at 2875 18th Street in San Francisco was designed with dark wood and reclaimed redwood, and featured many plants. Osito planned to hire formerly incarcerated people and to rely on whole-animal butchery and local produce. It later added an à la carte option and a private dining room.

An adjacent cocktail bar, Liliana’s, operated next door until December 2023. It was replaced by The Bar at Osito in February 2024, but that bar closed the same month when Stowaway began focusing on a second business. The space later hosted a Bar Agricole pop-up in SOMA.

In April 2025, Stowaway started The Same Sun, a group meant to reduce operating costs for independent hospitality owners. In May 2025, it was announced that Osito had become financially unviable and would close after brunch on Mother’s Day, May 11, 2025. A farewell dinner series took place in June 2025 in the North Bay.

Osito earned a Michelin star in December 2022 and kept it until it closed. Critics described it as a rustic, lodge-like spot with elemental yet elevated food, praising the strong communal dining experience, though some felt the experience was more memorable than the dishes themselves.