A popular Austin locavore restaurant has been named one of the best in the country. Here’s what you need to know before you go.

Have you ever wondered what aoudad tastes like? Probably not. You’ve probably never heard of it. But if you want to savor the invasive species that has taken hold in the Hill Country and West Texas, pushing many native bighorn sheep from their land, head to Dai Due. Because nobody else in Texas (and maybe this hemisphere, according to chef-owner Jesse Griffiths) is serving it. 

You might find the animal formed into juicy meatballs on Dai Due’s dinner menu or made into a brunch sausage served on flatbread with chile yogurt, marinated cucumbers, chile morita sauce and wood sorrel za’atar. Like the aoudad, everything on that housemade flatbread comes from Texas. It’s the Daie Due way. 

The restaurant’s commitment to local sourcing and the exceptional dishes created by a kitchen overseen by executive chef Janie Ramirez have made Dai Due one of the best restaurants in Texas for a decade. Now, Dai Due’s made national news. 

According to USA TODAY’s 2025 Restaurants of the Year list, the Austin favorite is one of the top 44 places to eat in America. 

“It’s an exceptional honor considering how high the standards have been set here in Austin. I’m grateful that the hard work of our entire team is being recognized in such an incredible way, which wouldn’t be possible without the producers that have supported us over the years,” Dai Due chef-owner Jesse Griffiths told the American-Statesman. 

What’s the best restaurant near you? Check out USA TODAY’s 2025 Restaurants of the Year.

Inside the list: How USA TODAY chose its Restaurants of the Year for 2025

What makes Dai Due stand out 

Griffiths and Mayfield started their business as a supper club that served 80 people at events three times a month. Inspired by trips to Europe and the burgeoning local foods movement in America championed by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in California, Dai Due committed to serving only products from the surrounding area. 

“It was hard but I absolutely loved it. It was compelling. It was all happening in parallel to the local foods movement and farmers markets and people having this reckoning around where their food came from. It was really exciting,” Griffiths said. 

But after moving to different locations each week, hauling their tables and chairs in and out of storage each week, and working 20-hour days that often started with early morning visits to farmers markets, the duo realized it was time to open a restaurant. 

Encountering the jarred beef tallow and sauerkraut, the cartons of farm fresh eggs and vintage stoneware crocks as you enter the market side of Dai Due, you could be forgiven for thinking you had just walked into the idealized version of your Texas grandparents’ ranch home. But they probably didn’t have a massive handcrafted metal grill suspended over handsome wood-flamed, button-backed booths, and a tap wall with Texas wines and beer. 

All of the proteins, produce, beverages and homemade accouterments have roots in the Lone Star State, from the smoked porterhouse hog served with apple butter to the tallow-roasted mushrooms you can drape over crusty sourdough spread with whipped cherry lard. And Dai Due takes specific pride in serving invasive species like wild boar and nilgai, which was originally brought to the King Ranch in South Texas from India in the 1920s. 

Dai Due has spent $6 million with Texas farmers and ranchers and another $1 million with Texas wineries in the decade since it opened. 

“That’s everything right there. That’s super meaningful,” Griffiths said. “I take immense pride in it — keeping your neighbors that are doing things the right way in business.”

The restaurant’s leadership in sustainability earned Dai Due a Green Star from the Michelin Guide in 2024, making it one of only 32 restaurants in America to garner such a distinction, but the restaurant deserves as much credit for how the food tastes coming out of the kitchen as it does for how the product got to the kitchen in the first place. 

What to order at Dai Due 

Pork chop. The best pork chop in Austin makes a great argument that open-flame grilling is the greatest way to cook meat. The oak grill infuses the brined chop with a touch of smoke, and the flame sears the black pepper and caramelizes the honey for a slightly sweet and tingly finish.

Wild boar. Whether served as a sausage, in a flauta or a torta ahogada, wild boar always has a place on the menu at this restaurant that is dedicated to the sustainable sourcing of this invasive species. 

Pastrami sandwich. Rippled folds of pastrami bulge from the edges of grill-marked, house-baked bread, slathered with the earthy tang of beet Thousand Island.

See the full menu.  

Details: Dai Due, 2406 Manor Road, Austin, TX; 512-524-0688; daidue.com

See last year’s list Check out USA TODAY’s 2024 Restaurants of the Year.