In May, three splashy new food businesses that Miami chef Brad Kilgore opened in San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid Center abruptly closed after the iconic skyscraper was sold to a new owner. Now, Kilgore is preparing to open a new restaurant just blocks away.
Kilgore’s newest project, a seafood restaurant named the Bonacker, is slated to open in early 2027 at 568 Sacramento St., where the once-buzzing Leo’s Oyster Bar closed in July after its lease ended and its owner filed for bankruptcy. The Bonacker will mark Kilgore’s comeback to downtown, where in late 2024 and early 2025 he had opened Italian Japaneserestaurant Ama by Brad Kilgore, casual all-day spot Café Sebastian and frozen desserts shop MadLab Kakigori, his first businesses in San Francisco.
Kilgore, a James Beard-nominated chef best known for his four, now-closed restaurants in Miami, said he is happy to open a new restaurant in the same neighborhood. Shortly after his San Francisco businesses shut down, he said he received several lease offers, including for the Leo’s space. Kilgore was drawn to the location due to the proximity to his former restaurants. He had also been wanting to open a seafood restaurant. “We had some conversations (about possible locations) but this was the only one that was in our serious consideration,” he said…