Austin's Tastiest Newcomers: From Michelin Stars to Smoky Swagger

Food Scene Austin

Austin’s Next Bite: Why the Capital City Keeps Setting the Table for What’s Next

Call it a two-step between grit and gloss: Austin’s dining scene is dancing into late 2025 with precision and swagger. Craft Omakase, which opened in December 2023, now wears a Michelin Star and tops Texas Monthly’s Best New Restaurants of 2025; its 22-course procession reads like edible jazz—Hokkaido scallop whispering sweetness, A5 wagyu melting on contact, vinegar-rinsed rice snapping to attention. According to Texas Monthly, Craft Omakase is the state’s standout newcomer this year, proof that Austin’s appetite for high craft is very real.

Yet the city’s soul still smokes over live fire. Dai Due, helmed by chef Jesse Griffiths, earned a Michelin Green Star for sustainability and continues to celebrate feral hog, Gulf bycatch, and Hill Country herbs with a frontier resourcefulness that feels quintessentially Austin. CultureMap Austin highlights Dai Due alongside Emmer & Rye and Barley Swine—chef Bryce Gilmore’s long-running ode to farm-to-table finesse, now buoyed by his River Field Farm—underscoring how sustainability isn’t a trend here; it’s a house rule.

Fresh arrivals keep the pulse quick. The Infatuation’s August Hit List spotlights Bread Boat, a Georgian bakery turning khachapuri into cheese-lava spectacles, and Old Alley Hot Pot, where peppercorn-sparked broths meet Texas beef in a communal simmer. Over on East Sixth, Pasta|Bar Austin from the Scratch Restaurants team advances a tasting-menu love letter to pasta with Texas inflections—think aged beef ragù with ancho warmth and Hill Country tomatoes—cited by Austin City Guide as a top experience this month.

Festivals feed Austin’s momentum. The Austin Food & Wine Festival returns November 7–9, 2025, at Auditorium Shores, with hands-on grilling led by chef Tim Love, fire-pit sessions with pitmasters, and tastings that stretch from Central Texas smoke to global spirits, per the festival’s official site and Visit Austin. And for a more boots-on-ground graze, the 2025 Austin Foodie Fest hits Republic Square on October 18 with local trucks, live music, and all-ages energy, as listed by Eventbrite.

What ties it all together is terroir with twang: mesquite and post oak perfuming barbecue, heritage grains shaping house-made pastas and breads, Gulf seafood reimagined with Japanese precision, and immigrant kitchens—Georgian, Greek, Mexican, Japanese—braiding their flavors into the city’s fabric. Listeners will taste a scene that champions craft without snobbery, swagger without waste. In Austin, innovation doesn’t replace tradition; it cooks right beside it, over open flame, under neon, and across a chef’s counter that keeps getting better with every course..


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Austin's next bite. Why the capital city keeps setting the
table for what's next. Call it a two step between
grit and gloss. Austin's dining scene is dancing into late
twenty twenty five with precision and swagger. Kraft Oma Case,
which opened in December twenty twenty three, now wears a
Michelin Star and tops Texas Monthly's Best New Restaurants of

(00:20):
twenty twenty five. Its twenty two course percession reads like
edible jazz, Hokkaido's scallop whispering sweetness, a five wag you,
melting on contact vinegar, rinsed rice snapping to attention. According
to Texas Monthly, Craft Oma Case as the state's standout
newcomer this year, proof that Austin's appetite for high craft

(00:41):
is very real, yet the city's souls still smokes over
Live Fire, Die Do. Helmed by chef Jesse Griffiths, earned
a Michelin Green Star for sustainability and continues to celebrate
feral hog, golf bycatch and hill country herbs with a
frontier resourcefulness that feels quintessential. Austin Culture map Austin highlights

(01:02):
dide alongside emmer and rye and barley swine. Chef Bryce
Gilmour's long running ode to farm to table finesse, now
buoyed by his river Field Farm, underscoring how sustainability isn't
a trend here, it's a house rule. Fresh arrivals keep
the pulse quick. The Infatuation's August hit list spotlights Breadboat,

(01:23):
a Georgian bakery turning Katchapuri into cheese lava spectacles, and
Old Alley Hotpot, where peppercorn sparked broths meet Texas beef
in a communal simmer over on East Sixth Pasta Bar
Austin from the Scratch Restaurants team advances a tasting hytheen
menu love Letter to Pasta with Texas inflections, thank Aged

(01:43):
Beef regu with Anchel warmth and Hill Country tomatoes, cited
by Austin City Guide as a top experience this month.
Festivals feed Austin's momentum. The Austin Food and Wine Festival
returns November seventh to ninth, twenty twenty five at Las
Auditorium Shores, with hands on grilling led by chef Tim Love,

(02:04):
fire pit sessions with pit masters and tastings that stretch
from Central Texas smoke to global spirits. Further festival's official
site and visit Austin and for a more boots on
ground graze. The twenty twenty five Austin Foodyfest hits Republic
Square on October eighteenth, with local trucks, live music, and
all ages energy as listed by event Bright. What ties

(02:28):
it all together is tarowar with twang, mesquite and post oak,
perfuming barbecue, heritage grains shaping housemade pastas and breads, Gulf
seafood reimagined with Japanese precision, and immigrant kitchens Georgian, Greek, Mexican,
Japanese braiding their flavors into the city's fabric. Listeners will

(02:49):
taste a scene that champions craft without snobbery, swagger without waste.
In Austin, innovation doesn't replace tradition. It cooks right beside it,
over open flame, under neon, and across a chef's counter
that keeps getting better with every course.