Castro neighborhood brunch destination Kitchen Story, well known for its Millionaire's Bacon and bottomless mimosas, is closing its doors after 12 years, though its sister businesses will remain open and a new concept is promised at this location.

Kitchen Story, which opened to immediate popularity at 16th and Sanchez streets in 2013 as part of the mini-empire of restaurateur Hoyul Steven Choi, is serving its last deep-fried Millionaire's Bacon this weekend. The restaurant will close after Sunday, January 4, as announced in an Instagram post.

"We are deeply grateful to our guests who have supported, shared their mornings with us, and made this restaurant a part of their lives over the years," the posting reads. "Your love and encouragement have meant more to us than words can express."

But Choi, who has been in expansion mode for several years and has a second location of Kitchen Story in Oakland's Rockridge — in addition to his first restaurant, Sweet Maple, still open in Japantown, Blackwood in the Marina, and two locations of U:Dessert Story — may still be holding on to the space, as a "new concept" is promised in the announcement.

"While this chapter is coming to a close, it is not a goodbye. We look forward to welcoming you back soon with a new concept and a fresh beginning," the posting says.

Choi emigrated from South Korea in 1984 and originally had a sense of Americans' love of breakfast and brunch when he opened Taylor Street Coffee Shop in Union Square with his wife, Jiyeon, in 2002. He would later open Sweet Maple in 2010, followed by Kitchen Story three years later. Both restaurants featured his invention, Millionaire's Bacon, a dish of thick-cut slab bacon fried and doused in maple syrup and cayenne pepper.

The Chois have further expanded with Sweet Maple locations in Palo Alto, Walnut Creek, and Santa Monica, with bigger plans to expand to Texas and elsewhere in Southern California, however those plans have not yet materialized. As they told the SF Business Times in 2022, they also had plans for a restaurant called Noodle Story in the Sunset, however that has not yet opened.

While most of the menu at Kitchen Story skewed toward American breakfast, the Chois' other restaurants incorporate Asian dishes as well, like the bulgogi scramble at Sweet Maple, and ribeye omurice dishes that appear on both menus.

As Jiyeon Choi told the Business Times, "We are really the first Asian-themed brunch restaurant in the American traditional breakfast. People might have thought this was strange at first, but not anymore."