James Beard-nominated chef leaves Seattle for Bainbridge Island, citing poor business environment

A James Beard-award-nominated chef, Brendan McGill, has closed his final two Seattle restaurants and is leaving the city over a poor business environment.

After operating in the city for more than a decade, McGill shuttered Café Hitchcock and Oyster Cellar on May 31 as he eyes a move back to Bainbridge Island, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

“When I look back through the last couple of years of what we’ve been through, it feels a little bleak,” McGill told The Puget Sound Business Journal. “But when I look at the whole arc of it, I feel really pleased with what we put forth.”

15-year Seattle run ends as McGill turns his focus to Bainbridge Island

As the owner of Hitchcock Restaurant Group, McGill will continue to operate three restaurants and a new wholesale company on Bainbridge Island. The three restaurants will include Café Hitchcock, Bruciato, and Kingfisher.

McGill noted that Seattle is no longer a “no-brainer” for doing business, but said he is not on board with the idea that Seattle is on the decline.

“I’m not sure that my love for [Seattle] and my long history of being here can justify unsound business decisions at this point,” he said. “The smarter business move would be to open in a place whose business environment is rolling, like Bellevue or even Tacoma.”

McGill mentioned a few other favorable markets for expansion outside Seattle, such as Spokane, Boise, and Edmonds, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

In 2010, McGill opened his first restaurant in the Puget Sound area on Bainbridge Island, and four years later expanded to Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood with the opening of Hitchcock Deli. In 2014, McGill was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for the Best Chef Northwest category.

Shortly after, he opened Café Hitchcock in 2016 at the Exchange Building in downtown Seattle, and later opened and closed three of his other concepts.

McGill’s pizzeria and bar, Bar Taglio, opened in 2019 and later closed before it was turned into the Oyster Cellar in 2024. Café Hitchcock Express was another of McGill’s café concepts that opened in 2018 but shuttered during the pandemic.

‘The flow has changed’: McGill on downtown Seattle’s shifting foot traffic

McGill noted that foot traffic downtown has not been what it was in prior years, with many neighboring retailers choosing to depart supporting his view. Across from the Exchange Building, several retailers have left the Coleman Building in the last six years, including Starbucks, UPS, the Contour nightclub, Fadó Irish Pub, and Quiznos.

McGill’s restaurants are the latest to exit the 97-year-old Exchange Building, which lost its anchor tenant, Slalom, in late 2023. McGill said the once-strong flow of people downtown has shifted, with other parts of Seattle now better positioned for success.

“Some places, like near the waterfront or Seattle Convention Center, are probably better positioned now than before,” McGill told The Puget Sound Business Journal. “The old thing of people strolling First Avenue to Pioneer Square when you visit Seattle, that flow has changed. There are winners and losers with the way things got shuffled.”

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