Austin, TX
Austin locavore restaurant named one of best in USA TODAY’s 2025 Restaurants of the Year
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.
Dai Due named a USA TODAY best restaurant of 2025: Video
Take a look inside Dai Due in Austin, Texas, named to USA TODAY’s 2025 Restaurants of the Year list.
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 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
You might ask, “Why is there an Ikon Pass Stoke Event in Austin, Texas?”
Fact: There are more skiers and snowboarders in Texas than in Colorado. According to a 2017 Snowsports Industry Association study, Texas is home to roughly 800,000 skiers and riders, compared to Colorado’s 500,000. That impressive number puts Texas third in the nation for total ski and snowboard participants, behind only California and New York. Texans alone make up about 6% of all U.S. ski and snowboarders. And the proof is on the slopes: Ski areas in Colorado and New Mexico report that a staggering 70% of their out-of-state visitors hail from the Lone Star State. Yes—the legend of Texans being everywhere on the mountain is absolutely true.
Fact: Every Texan who skis is a destination skier. With no local ski resorts that are a quick Cottonwood Canyon in Salt Lake City or short interstate drive away, Texans go big: they travel, stay longer, and spend more at Ikon Pass Destinations. As Kristin Rust, Vice President of Communications for Alterra Mountain Company, puts it, “Texas is a huge market, and Austin has a great number of pass holders.” With Ikon Pass offering such a wide network of resorts, and Texas home to so many skiers, Austin is a natural place for a Stoke Event.
This year’s Ikon Pass Stoke Event took place at Loro, the wildly popular South Lamar hangout blending Asian smokehouse flavors with laid-back Austin vibes. The gathering drew a lively crowd of local Ikon Pass holders. Guests enjoyed a spread of standout dishes—Oak-Grilled Edamame, Wonton Chips and Dip, Arugula & Melon Salad, and Oak-Smoked Brisket—paired with beer, wine, soft drinks, and Austin-meets-après cocktails like an Old Fashioned and, of course, the non-traditional slope-side margarita, a playful nod to Jimmy Buffett and the city where Margaritaville was written.
Attendance was strong, and the outdoor, under-the-oaks setting added an easy, welcoming feel. The energy was high as skiers swapped plans for upcoming trips to Ikon Pass destinations including SkiBig3 in Banff, Jackson Hole, Killington, the six Utah resorts on the pass, and the perennial “home resorts” for Texans—those in Colorado and New Mexico. Members of Austin Skiers, the city’s long-standing ski and travel club, were out in force and buzzing about club trips to the Ikon Pass resorts of Snowmass, Mt. Bachelor, SkiBig3, and Steamboat.
A major hit of the night was the CMH Heli-Skiing virtual-reality experience, a full 3D immersion complete with helicopter-ride visuals of the Canadian Rockies and a run down untouched powder with a small ski group. Riders found themselves carving turns, watching skiers float past, and looking up, down, and across the alpine terrain—an astonishingly vivid taste of what a heli-ski trip feels like. The CMH station stayed packed all evening.
The night wrapped up with a spirited swag giveaway, where lucky attendees scored prizes including Yeti mugs, a coveted Shot-Ski, and an Ikon Pass. What a great way to top off a fantastic night!
In the end, the Ikon Pass Stoke Event proved to be a fantastic celebration of Austin’s vibrant ski community—a chance to meet fellow snow lovers, swap stories, and get excited about the season ahead. For one night, Austin truly became a “Ski Town.”
AUSTIN, Texas (KVIA) — Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced that Southwest Airlines will establish a new pilot and flight attendant crew base in Austin.
Abbott joined the Austin mayor at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to make the announcement today.
The expansion to Austin will lay the groundwork for future operational growth in Texas. It is expected to generate 2,000 jobs in Austin by mid-2027. In addition to the pilots and flight attendants, Austin will now also be home to managerial and support staff. The new crew base will have an average salary of $180,000 a year, the Governor’s Office says.
The state is extending a $14 million Texas Enterprise Fund to the airline, as well as a $375,000 Veteran Created Job Bonus.
“Southwest Airlines was born and raised in Texas and has been a core element of the economic growth we have seen in our state,” said Governor Abbott. “We are excited to announce that today Southwest Airlines will add over 2,000 high paying jobs right here in Texas. We are the home of economic opportunity for our fellow Texans more than any other state in the United States, and we know a key reason for that is because of everything Southwest Airlines provides. We are proud to partner with everybody connected with Southwest as well as the City of Austin on such a huge announcement for our state.”
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin firefighters battled their second major fire Thursday afternoon, responding to an abandoned East Austin auto shop engulfed in flames.
Crews responded to 3100 Manor Road around 4 p.m., AFD said.
No injuries were reported and no one was inside the building.
ALSO | 40+ residents displaced in North Austin third-alarm apartment fire, no injuries reported
The incident was called in as a first alarm. The building is a total loss, according to officials.
CBS Austin has a crew on the way to the scene.
BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT
Earlier in the afternoon, firefighters extinguished a three-alarm fire in north Austin.
Community rescues grieving North Dakota widow — by harvesting their late pal’s 1,400 acres of crops
Is Ohio State football playing today? What’s next for Buckeyes in playoff schedule | Sporting News
Oklahoma WWII veteran, POW headed home for burial after 82 years
How Oregon’s Defense Ranks Compared To James Madison
Man in critical condition after argument turns to shooting in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
Inside Minnesota’s $1B fraud: fake offices, phony firms and a scandal hiding in plain sight
Residents emerge in DR Congo’s tense Uvira after M23 rebel takeover
What to know about Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release from immigration custody
Republican House leader signals plan to begin contempt proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton
Three years on, former MEP Kaili remains in limbo still awaiting trial
-
Alaska7 days agoHowling Mat-Su winds leave thousands without power
-
Texas1 week agoTexas Tech football vs BYU live updates, start time, TV channel for Big 12 title
-
Ohio1 week agoWho do the Ohio State Buckeyes hire as the next offensive coordinator?
-
Washington4 days agoLIVE UPDATES: Mudslide, road closures across Western Washington
-
Iowa6 days agoMatt Campbell reportedly bringing longtime Iowa State staffer to Penn State as 1st hire
-
Miami, FL6 days agoUrban Meyer, Brady Quinn get in heated exchange during Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami CFP discussion
-
Cleveland, OH6 days agoMan shot, killed at downtown Cleveland nightclub: EMS
-
World6 days ago
Chiefs’ offensive line woes deepen as Wanya Morris exits with knee injury against Texans
