For eight years, Dai Due Butcher Shop and Supper Club has served breakfast and lunch at local farmers markets and prix fixe dinners at eclectic venues around town. It has built a devout following for simple, expertly prepared fare made solely from local ingredients. Customers often race to the market stands on the weekend to buy limited availability charcuterie while the supper clubs sell out in mere minutes.
In just a few weeks, hungry fans can get their fill of Dai Due six days a week at its new permanent home at 2406 Manor Road. The butcher shop and restaurant is slated to open in mid-July and will having operating hours Tuesday-Sunday.
“It’s been like having a second child,” said owner/chef Jesse Griffiths. “I feel like we are ready now and we have the staff to do this the way we really want. It’s not the me and [wife] Tamara show anymore.”
In just a few weeks, hungry fans can get their fill of Dai Due six days a week at its new permanent home at 2406 Manor Road.
To prepare for the new digs, Dai Due has expanded its culinary team, adding key players to an already talented crew. Among the new faces are chefs Ren Garcia from Vespaio, Jason Dodge from Peche and Andrew MacArthur from Fino; Butcher Julia Poplawsky, Beverage Manager Justin Chamberlin and Front of House Manager Clinton Tedin, formerly of Lenoir.
Griffiths is looking forward to giving the team a place to show off their skills, as well as offering dishes and ingredients that didn’t work in the previous model. “We now have stability to support farms even more than we had before,” says Griffiths. “I don’t have a ton of use for radicchio at the farmers market, but now I do. The restaurant gives me increased buying power with the people we’ve worked with for so long.”
While moving the show indoors, the new space maintains the openness that customers love about the Dai Due experience. An open kitchen and what will surely be coveted counter seats will engage diners in the cooking show, not unlike the outdoor cooking at the farmers market and suppers. The kitchen will have a traditional range and oven, as well as custom-designed grills that allow the chefs to swap out the surfaces and adjust the height of the grill to the flame.
Architect Kevin Stewart has artfully incorporated local wood and building components to maximize the natural light and bring an outdoor feel into the new interiors. To continue the al fresco dining of the supper club, the restaurant includes a cozy patio with an outdoor kitchen, custom-built Caja China-style roasting box and communal table that seats 20. (This will also available for private parties.)
The restaurant will open with dinner service featuring a prix fixe menu in addition to a steak menu that lets diners pick their cut from the butcher case. On Friday nights, the prix fixe menu will feature seafood only, ensuring the chefs are working with the freshest fish. Dai Due will phase in breakfast and lunch service similar in style to the farmers market menus, offering a dozen or so simple dishes.
Not to be left out, the butcher shop also includes a large, open workspace. A butcher’s rail that runs almost the length of the space, what Griffiths calls the “animal highway,” will deliver meat from the sizeable 15-foot by 20-foot walk-in cooler to the front workspace where it will be transformed into traditional cuts and charcuterie. The team will also pickle and can in the retail space, adding new delights like local olives and miso to the offerings.
Dai Due’s new home may have been a long time coming, but it appears to be worth the delicious wait.
Dai Due is bringing its cult-like food to a new brick-and-mortar.
Mariela Camacho, Comadre Panaderia.
Courtesy photo