2 weeks Ago
A Charleston restaurant whose owner worked in multiple Michelin star kitchens has served its last customers "for the foreseeable future." Bearcat , George Kovach's establishment at 25 Magnolia Road, held its last dinner service Dec. 7.
The chef cited rising costs and mediocre patronage as reasons for the closure, the latest in a city that's seen high restaurant turnover throughout 2024. "Opening an independent restaurant in 2024 is really hard these days," Kovach told The Post and Courier. "We were just unfortunately slow.
" Mount Pleasant taco restaurant suddenly closes less than 2 years after opening The West Ashley restaurant, whose opening was delayed by more than six months , was the long-awaited second act for Kovach and the Bearcat concept he launched as a pop-up during the pandemic. He brought to Charleston a long resume that includes stints in multiple Michelin-starred restaurants in Chicago, including pastry chef roles at Curtis Duffy’s Ever and the acclaimed brewpub Band of Bohemia. Bearcat’s brick-and-mortar incarnation offered an ever-changing menu drawing on Kovach's fine dining experience.
In an open kitchen, chefs were adorning smoked maitake mushrooms with porcini mushroom dust and placing scallops on fluffy parsnip puree dotted with droplets of paprika oil. Crab rice was graced with uni-laced hollandaise and cobia was poached in beef fat and dusted green with powdered nori when Bearcat was reviewed by The Post and Courier in April . Recently closed Charleston seafood restaurant was thousands behind on rent, new lawsuit alleges "We wanted to make fine dining accessible to more people," said Kovach, whose team of five chefs created 120 dishes during the 13 months the restaurant was open.
"We put so much time into it." The future of the Avondale restaurant space that previously housed Al Di La is uncertain. Kovach and his partners plan to reevaluate the Charleston market, and the chef did not rule out debuting a different concept.
For now, though, the restaurant space between Highfalutin Coffee Roasters and Mellow Mushroom will once again be empty. A new restaurant will open inside the former Butcher and Bee space in Charleston.
