ATXReview

photo credit: Nitya Jain

Dai Due image
9.0

Dai Due

AmericanTexan

CherrywoodEast Austin

$$$$Perfect For:Impressing Out of TownersDate NightBrunch
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If you’ve ever been in a group text with a bunch of people from different parts of the US, you’ll know that it always becomes abundantly clear who in the group is from Texas. They’ll jump in at any opportunity to mention something about the state—its weather extremes, its food (Texas Barbecue, anyone?), or even its gas stations. Dai Due is that friend. It’s a restaurant in Cherrywood that has fully committed to its Texas identity, without playing into any of the accompanying stereotypes. By offering a daily changing menu made entirely from local meats, produce, grains, and drinks, Dai Due just might be the most “Texan” restaurant in Austin. 

Dai Due image

photo credit: Nitya Jain

Dai Due image

photo credit: Nitya Jain

Dai Due image

photo credit: Nitya Jain

Dai Due image
Dai Due image
Dai Due image

Dai Due has been around Austin in some form or another since 2006. First as an underground supper club, later as a farmers market vendor, and eventually as a butcher shop and restaurant. And that entire history feels like it’s immediately visible from the moment you walk into Dai Due’s doors on Manor Road. There’s a big glass display where you can grab ground meats, chorizos, and sausages, right across from shelves of house-made pickles, jams, and spice blends. Walk a little farther and you’ll make your way to the dining area, a cozy room packed full of blue leather booths and small tables, decorated with antelope skulls and hanging edison bulbs that feel like they were plucked off the pinterest board of every New American restaurant that opened in the 2010s. But instead of feeling like a formulaic paint-by-numbers design experience, at Dai Due it feels less like a curated hipster experience, and more like the space was decorated with a bunch of things that were found lying around on an old Texas ranch. And it’s all accompanied by a southern comfort level of service and hospitality to match. 

Dai Due image

photo credit: Nitya Jain

There’s a decent chance that the antelope skull you just walked past played a part in someone’s meal not long ago, likely in the form of a dry-aged tartare. It’s one of the semi-staple menu items, but the preparation changes often enough to keep things interesting for repeat visits. There’s a small menu of a la carte grill items—usually some mix of pork chops, dry-aged wagyu ribeyes, and antelope filets—all cooked over an open fire, and a few entrees if you want something just a little more composed than a chop on a plate. Vegetables show up from time to time, but often cooked in tallow or lard so that even the healthy parts of your meal feel like part of the same meat-heavy experience. But since all of the produce here comes from nearby farms, that also means it’s subject to the unpredictable seasons in Central Texas. Want to try some local asparagus? You’d better grab a reservation for the few short weeks it’s available. 

Even if the supper club days are gone, a meal here feels like showing up at your talented chef-hunter-forager friend’s house, where they offer to whip up some dinner from whatever they were able to find, bake, or gather that day. Pop in on a random Wednesday night to grab a pork chop at the bar, or reserve one of the big tables on the charming patio during brunch and take down the full menu. It’s a distinctly Texan restaurant made for a modern Austin audience. Even though Dai Due might not chime in quite as often as your friend in the group text about where they’re from, it doesn’t really need to remind you. 

Food Rundown

Dai Due image

photo credit: Nitya Jain

Dry-Aged Nilgai Antelope Tartare

We’ve ordered the antelope tartare a few times over the years, and almost every time has been a different experience. In the past we’ve received a bowl of minced, dry-aged antelope meat swimming in a shallow pool of tangy broth, but more recently we’ve received it served over some excellent house-baked bread, with herbs and crispy bits of fried onion to balance out the gamey flavor. If you’re a fan of wild game or tartare (or even better, both), get this.

Dai Due image

photo credit: Nitya Jain

Wild Boar Confit

Dishes like the wild boar confit are shining examples of how the people at Dai Due can build a wonderfully composed dish just as well as they can cook a perfect pork chop. The boar meat is shredded, then reformed into what we’re going to call a “meat cube,” and served in a sweet and spicy chile bone broth. It’s savory and rich, with just the right amount of fresh herbs and veggies on top to balance out every bite.

Dai Due image

photo credit: Nitya Jain

Dry-Aged Wagyu Double Cheeseburger

The patties are made from dry-aged wagyu beef, and ground with Dai Due bacon. The buns are made in-house, and the fries are cooked in beef tallow. On paper this sounds like the perfect burger. In practice, the (double) patties occasionally feel a bit overworked and tough. It’s a solid burger, but with so many great things to try here, we’d probably skip this on future visits.

Dai Due image

photo credit: Nitya Jain

Pork Chop

When they say that the grill items are served a la carte, that’s not an exaggeration. Order a pork chop and you’ll get a plain white plate with a grilled chop right in the middle. If you’re looking for sauces, sides, or even garnishes, look somewhere else. But if you want one of the best pork chops in town, head to Dai Due. The chops are marinated with local honey (plus a few other spices), which results in a dark, semi-sweet caramelized crust around the whole thing, and they almost always arrive cooked to a perfect medium.

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FOOD RUNDOWN

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