Jesse Griffiths
Luck, Texas Grant: $5,000
A chef, hunter, artisan butcher, cookbook author, teacher, restaurateur, and one of Austin's original and most-respected locavores, Jesse Griffiths embodies the forefront of the hunting-cooking movement. He has gained national praise for his strictly local butcher shop, his supper clubs, and his series of practical hunting schools – all the first of their kind.
As chef and owner of Dai Due Butcher Shop, his business focuses on traditional, local, and sustainable approaches to food in the Central Texas region. He works with — and only serves — locally-sourced produce, meat, and dairy. At both his butcher shop and supper club, Griffiths has sparked an ongoing conversation with diners about sustainable food, by serving lesser-known cuts of meat, bountiful in-season produce, and regional fish and game.
Griffiths received Austin's Local Hero award in 2010, was nominated as Food & Wine's People's Best New Chef in 2011, and his restaurant was named among Bon Appétit magazine's Best New Restaurants in 2015. Bon Appétit editor Andrew Knowlton said of Dai Due, "The cooking was honest and resourceful — just like its red-bearded hunter-gatherer chef, Jesse Griffiths."