A seemingly successful restaurant with Michelin-level accolades, chef Seth Stowaway's Osito, will be closing after this weekend, due to the high rent on the space, Stowaway says.

The sudden announcement, which Stowaway has not yet put on social media or on the restaurant's website but which he made to SF Standard reporter Sara Deseran, comes at an anxious moment for Bay Area restaurants broadly, with other acclaimed and seemingly successful restaurants calling it quits for similar economic reasons. In the case of Michelin-starred Aphotic, which closed late last year, chef-owner Peter Helmsley minced no words in calling out the dismal environs his restaurant existed in, on Folsom Street near the Moscone Center, as well as a general decline in people's willingness to spend money on expensive, multi-course dining experiences.

"We’ve definitely seen a downtick in a more happy-go-lucky, free-wheeling kind of clientele," Helmsley said at the time.

By contrast, Stowaway tells the Standard that his three-and-a-half-year-old restaurant was often "very busy," but it was still becoming infeasible to spend $15,000 per month on rent. And, he says, negotiations with the landlord did not get anywhere, and they aren't budging on the price.

Stowaway also suggests that fine dining never really "came back" in full force after the pandemic, and he was forced to offer abbreviated, less expensive menus alongside his $295-per-person prix fixe.

An adjacent bar space, which has cycled through several concepts including the final incarnation of Bar Agricole (RIP), remains not in use.

Now, we could see this story suddenly turn around if, given the closure announcement, the landlord comes back to the table. Otherwise, Stowaway suggests he will continue to be a chef, but elsewhere.

Osito is now set to close after service on Mother's Day, this Sunday.

Photo courtesy of Osito