Local restaurateur Dan Austin has announced the upcoming closure of his Morgan Junction restaurant Peel and Press. The last day is Oct. 27.

The restaurant and Austin earned an extraordinary reputation as being supportive of the entire restaurant community, coming to the aid of many during the pandemic and since opening 2014 has gone on to be co-owner of The Bridge and The Point in Burien as well as the Flight Path Tavern in Beverly Park. Austin whose background includes time with Starbucks, Red Robin and Papa Johns, shared the announcement via social media.

"This post is written with a sense of accomplishment and a touch of sadness. I am sure you have all heard owning a restaurant is hard. Well, let me tell you owning 4 is tough. Peel and Press was my first journey into restaurant ownership after a lifetime of working for other people in the industry. Opening my own restaurant was one of the scariest and exciting things I have ever done. I love it. I absolutely love the controlled chaos, the dynamic environment but most of all, I love the people. Customers and employees have become my second family. I have watch families grow and have experienced loss in these 10 years, but I wouldn’t trade those relationships for anything. Ok, I would trade it for one thing, more time with my family.

I opened this place with a 5-month-old daughter and a wife already pregnant with another baby on the way (she hadn’t told me yet). I have missed out on a lot of time with my wife and kids, and it is time change that. I have had a few goals in life and opening restaurants was one of them. So was being at a point in life that I could coach my kids’ teams and always be there for their performances. This is a choice I am making to accomplish that goal in life as well. With all this said, Peel and Press will close at the end of service on October 27th. It will be a celebration! Not only will it be our last day of service, but it is also our 10-year anniversary!!!

I am proud of the restaurants ability to support the community. We have been a gathering spot for celebrations. We have been a spot for grieving. We have been a place that focused on a core principle. “We have no right to make money from a community that we don’t give back to.” We focused on supporting the West Seattle Food Bank, local schools and many other local organizations. We rallied a group of other owners to help produce over 4,000 free meals for first responder and hospitality employees who were laid off at the start of the pandemic. Remember when Washington State Unemployment was defrauded, and their response was to not accept legitimate claims for months? We weren’t going to stand by and watch our fellow industry friends struggle to provide meals for themselves or their children. We evened joined up with my friend Brian and we organized unemployed restaurant workers with children with a network of Secret Elves that helped fulfill children’s wish lists during the holidays. When a lot of restaurants shutdown, we fought for our survival and for our community. I couldn’t be prouder of my staff, fellow owners and customers who stepped up and joined our mission to take care of our community while staring down a very uncertain and bleak future for ourselves.

What am I going to do? Glad you asked! I am not going far, that’s for sure. Seven years ago, I opened Flight Path in Burien. We are fun neighborhood bar that also has an amazing stage for live music and comedy. I also had the opportunity to join the ownership team at The Bridge in West Seattle and The Point in Burien in 2022. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to work with my fellow owners Rita and Dean. Honestly, buying into The Bridge is one of the reasons the sale of P&P is possible in my heart. I will still live and work in the neighborhood. I will still have a chance to see you all at The Bridge and around the grocery store.

To wrap this all up, come down and see us. Grab your favorite dish a few more times. Watch out for some returning staff favorites doing a few guest shifts between now and close. I know Chris, Alex and Leah are all making a return for some shifts to get a chance to say goodbye. What is happening to Peel & Press? I know but I can’t tell you yet. I have worked to get an amazing owner in here and to bring something into West Seattle that I personally think we have needed more of for far too long. I will let them make the announcement, but I personally couldn’t be more excited!"

-Dan