Chef Brad Kilgore closed Alter in Wynwood during the pandemic, and now it’s gone for good
With the announcement of a new restaurant coming to the former Alter space, one of Miami’s most-celebrated recent young chefs has gone from four Miami restaurants to zero.
Chef Bradley Kilgore, who was nominated for four James Beard awards in consecutive years from 2016-2019, has closed Alter, the Wynwood restaurant that first brought national attention to the former art gallery and warehouse district as a dining destination. In its place will be Jatto, a new Peruvian restaurant by the executive chef/owner of Brickell’s popular B Bistro and Bakery, Henry Hané, set to open by late October.
The end came quietly and unceremoniously. All of Kilgore’s restaurants — Alter, Ember and Kaido in the Design District, Brava by Kilgore in the Arsht Center — closed in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. They never reopened.
“Brad’s artistry in the kitchen matched the artistry on our stages. We very much enjoyed the partnership and applaud his continued successes,” said Arsht Center spokeswoman Suzette Espinosa Fuentes.
For a short stretch this summer, Ember’s kitchen served as host to Old Gregg’s Pizza pop up by a former El Bagel pastry chef. Alter tried to reopen its outdoor bar for a short time. By this spring, the upstairs-downstairs Ember and Kaido became ZZ’s Sushi Bar, one of several new restaurants by New York City’s Major Food Group.
“The financial stress from all the happenings of this year made the outlook of reopening those young businesses extremely difficult,” Kilgore wrote the Miami Herald in February regarding Ember and Kaido.
One bright spot remains Mad Lab Creamery, the Design District ice cream shop his wife, Soraya Kilgore — former pastry chef at Alter — opened in February of 2019.
Alter became a sudden, whitehot success when it opened in
Wynwood in 2015 and was named the Miami Herald Restaurant of the Year. The James Beard Foundation named it a finalist for Best New Restaurant in the country. Esquire named it Best New Restaurant in 2017.
Kilgore’s food there was delicate, elegant, the flavors nuanced. His presentations were elaborate and earnest and among the first of a high-cuisine style to gain traction in Miami. His most famous dish, Soft Egg, combined a poached egg with truffle pearls and scallop and Gruyere foam. Food & Wine magazine lauded it when it named him one of its Best New Chefs of 2016.
Carlos Frías: 305-376-4624, @Carlos_Frías