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Secrets Uncovered

Sit down with East Austin’s Top chefs as they reveal their faves Words Abby L. Johnson | Photos Baptiste Despois & Ashley Haguewood “Good food is very often, even most often, simple food,” opined the late Anthony Bourdain in his beloved memoir, Kitchen Confidential. The leaders of East Austin’s culinary scene know this all too...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature LifeStyle

Chef Brian Batch {Bird Bird Biscuit}

Practiced hands, a serene mind, and a palate highly attuned to the nuance of a seemingly simple staple in Southern cuisine birthed the blue-ribbon biscuits that hold Bird Bird Biscuit together. The fast casual eatery led by chef Brian Batch is now itself a celebrated staple in the Austin food scene. Chef Brian prides himself...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature

Chef Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel {Birdie’s}

Not every neighborhood in East Austin can claim walkability to a Michelin recommended restaurant, but Rosewood residents of the 12th Street block know that an exceptionally crafted seasonal meal is just a breezy stroll away. Chef Tracy Malechek-Ezekiel runs a scrappy kitchen at Birdie’s, the counter-service eatery that, in just under five years of operation,...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature

Chef Kazu Fukumoto {Fukumoto}

Chef Kazu cut his teeth in the thick of the dish pit, working his way up to head sushi chef of Austin restaurant Musashino Sushi Dokoro. He led the charge there for a decade before launching Fukumoto, a sushi and yakitori destination modeled after Japan’s izakayas. The casual pubs, comparable to a modern tapas bar,...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature

Chef Fermin Nunez {Suerte, Bar Toti, & Este}

Perhaps one of the most well-known faces of Texas cuisine for his appearance in Netflix’s Taco Chronicles, chef Fermin Nunez brings the flavors and traditions of his native Mexico to a ravenous American public at two Michelin Guide recommended restaurants. The sister concepts, Suerte which focuses on contemporary Mexican cuisine and house-made masa and Este...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature LifeStyle

Chef Sonya Coté {Store House Market & Eatery}

Sustainable agriculture advocate chef Sonya Coté connects people with their environment through vibrant plates plucked straight from the land. After the pandemic-induced closure of Eden East, the restaurant she opened on Springdale Farm in 2013, Sonya didn’t allow her concept to wither away. Today, she runs Store House Market & Eatery in Bastrop. Though a...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature

Chef Kareem El-Ghayesh {KG BBQ}

Pit master and chef Kareem El-Ghayesh, or KG for short, took a leap in 2016 and relocated to Austin from Egypt, bringing the flavors of his culinary mother-tongue with him. The synthesis of Egyptian and Middle Eastern flavors with Texas barbecue is stupendous. Chef KG opened KG BBQ, his inaugural food truck, in the parking...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature

Chef Je Wallerstein {Fabrik}

Global influences and attention to sustainable practices mark the menu at Fabrik, the white-tablecloth marvel of Austin’s ever-expanding plant-based scene. Bostonian chef Je Wallerstein pulls from Nordic, Japanese, and Italian traditions that together culminate in kaleidoscopic seasonal prix-fixe menus. The Northeasterner traded her snow boots for cowboy boots in 2020 when she relocated to Austin...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature

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...
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2025 Top Chefs Issue Feature

Jon Muq

Home is Where The Music is Words Abby L. Johnson | Photos Baptiste Despois As a universal sunshine-infused pop artists, Ugandan songwriter Jon Muq writes for everyone, drawing on his experiences growing up in Africa and constructing a new home for himself in Austin, Texas. When 24-year-old Jon first moved to Austin in March 2018, the...
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2025 Music Issue Feature Music
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