Brad Kilgore, a former Food & Wine Best New Chef in America, is the culinary director and partner of Kilgore Culinary Group (KCG). The company oversees a growing portfolio of restaurants rooted in his signature Itameshi style, including the newly opened ama, Cafe Sebastian, and Mad Lab Kakigori at San Francisco’s Transamerica Pyramid. Since the pandemic, Kilgore has partnered with several major real estate developments. The KCG portfolio also includes Oise Ristorante in Fort Myers, The Raleigh in South Beach, Verge at Miami’s motorsports-focused Concours Club, and CIMA, a wood-fired steakhouse in Honduras.
Born and raised in Kansas City, Kilgore moved to Chicago and worked in the three-MICHELIN-star kitchens of Grant Achatz at Alinea and Laurent Gras at L2O. He later relocated to Miami, where he opened his first restaurant, Alter, in 2015. The restaurant earned multiple honors, including Eater Miami’s Restaurant of the Year, and helped establish Kilgore as a rising national talent.
With KCG, Kilgore approaches each project with the belief that restaurants can help shape the identity of a larger property. Although the company was founded in 2022, his technical precision and creative range have positioned him to lead several major developments in the coming years. Upcoming projects include new concepts at OCN Resort on the Oaxacan coast, highlighting regional seafood and live-fire cooking, followed by overseeing all food and beverage programming for the Rosewood Residences in Hillsboro Beach, Florida, slated for 2027.
