Chef Jesse Griffiths {Dai Due}
Regional food reigns supreme at chef Jesse Griffiths’ Dai Due. The Michelin Bib Gourmand and Green Star award winning butchery focuses on crafting dishes around what is geographically available: organic local produce and, most importantly, wild game and fish. The result is a menu representative of the unique provenance of Texas. Chef Jesse promotes sustainability not only at Dai Due but also through his two books: Afield: A Chef’s Guide to Preparing and Cooking Wild Game and Fish and The Hog Book: A Chef’s Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Pigs. Both were nominated for a James Beard Media Award in the single subject category, and the latter snagged the honor.
Q: What’s a local restaurant that’s doing something truly unique?
JG: Lao’d Bar. It’s really fun and has incredibly good food. Their Lao sausage and crispy rice just can’t be replicated.
Q: What’s a hidden gem in East Austin that more people should know about?
JG: Cuantos Tacos. They have superlative tacos that are made with extreme care and are consistently delicious. They’re always perfect.
Q: What’s the one dish in East Austin everyone should try at least once?
JG: Hoover’s butter beans
Q: What’s an underrated restaurant in East Austin that deserves more attention?
JG: Quality Seafood. The service, the oysters, the peel-and-eats, the cheap wine, the real Austin crowd, and the pricing make it a total gem.
Q: Is there a dish from a certain restaurant that evokes strong emotions of nostalgia for you?
JG: The burger at Silver Medal is so perfectly simple and well-made. It reminds me that you can be floored by bar food.
Q: What’s one thing about Austin’s food scene that people don’t talk about enough? Or that you wished more people knew?
JG: I always feel like everyone is in it together. There’s a wonderful sense of community here.
Q: What is the thing you eat most at your own restaurant?
JG: pork chops, green salad, and fries
Q: What is the thing you cook most at home?
JG: We have a lot of wild boar chorizo on hand at all times so it’s chorizo and egg tacos.
Q: Do you make your own items from scratch? If so, share about the importance of this process to a dish?
JG: I am constantly pickling, fermenting, and preserving foods. Currently, I’m making (at home) miso, botanical gin just from stuff in my back yard, sauerkraut, kimchi and pickled horseradish. In the summer, I’ll go nuts with peppers and tomatoes from the garden.
Q: Where do you find inspiration/what keeps you motivated to continue creating?
JG: Cookbooks, mostly. I love new cookbooks. Also growing things in the garden or foraging is pretty inspiring, not to mention hunting and fishing. These things keep me wanting to honor the ingredients constantly.
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