Dai Due chef-owner Jesse Griffiths. (Credit: Ralph Barrera AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
Each year Bon Appétit magazine names its list of Top 10 Best New Restaurants in America. That process starts with the naming of 50 finalists, and two new East Austin restaurants have been named to the short list.
Locavores Dai Due on Manor Road and Gardner on East Sixth Street both earned the distinction. The magazine singled out Dai Due for its sourcing and the unique placement of the butcher shop at the front of the restaurant. The food the writers loved: biscuits and gravy with venison breakfast sausage, grilled giant beef rib with potato and sauerkraut dumplings, and roast half chicken.
The veggie-forward and sleek Gardner won praise for its ode to Scandinavian cuisine and its happy hour. The dishes that got name-checked: rye English muffin with sprouted-grain butter; cucumber with zucchini, potato, and Norweigan brown cheese; ribeye with potato, cheddar, and grains of paradise.
Congrats to both spots. Bon Appétit’s list of the 10 best new restaurants in America drops August 18. For the complete list of the 50 finalists, which includes two Dallas restaurants, click here.
Read my 2014 review of Dai Due here.
Read my 2014 review of Gardner here.
And, stay tuned for October, when I release my Best Restaurants in Austin list.
