Austin Chefs Play DJ

Austin chefs reveal the music that gets them cooking, from Otis Redding to Wu-Tang Clan

Editor's note: In this first installment of a multipart series, CultureMap reached out to chefs around town to find out what they listen to while they toil away in the kitchen. In this series, you will find out who hates The Beatles, who has met Jay-Z and who plays Wu-Tang to mellow out.

It's no secret that music and cooking often go hand-in-hand. Cooking is an art that creates constant noise: The sizzle of steak frying in a cast-iron pan; the subtle, consistent tapping of a chef's knife on a worn cutting board; bubbles dancing around in a pot of boiling water; and, of course, the catchy, chef-created playlists blaring in the background.

CultureMap asked chefs around the city to share what music they prefer to play in their kitchens and in their dining rooms, what songs get them pumped up and what bands they just can't stand. Below, you will find a playlist of a few of the chefs' favorite songs so you can rock out in your own kitchen.

JUSTINE GILCREASE, Justine's Brasserie

CultureMap: What genre of music do you listen to while you cook?

Justine Gilcrease: We have a turntable and listen to everything from Charles Mingus to the soundtrack of the Prokofiev opera Peter and the Wolf to Francoise Hardy. Casey Wilcox, our head chef, and all the cooks in the kitchen at the restaurant listen to everything from Public Enemy to NPR News.

CM: Who are your top five favorite artists or bands?

JG: John Lee Hooker, Lightnin' Hopkins, Albert Collins, Neil Young and Lou Reed. But these are just the top five today, and it doesn’t even amount to the cream of the top; there's too many to isolate it to just five.

CM: What type of music can't you stomach?

JG: The filmmaker Jim Jarmusch said in an interview that he likes the top 5 percent of material in any and every genre of music. There's not a single type he doesn't like. We love that idea and are open to every single thing.

JESSICA MAHER, Lenoir

CultureMap: What genre of music do you listen to while you cook?

Jessica Maher: I listen to almost everything you can think of. The stations I find myself frequenting the most are probably Polyphonic Spree, Gorillaz, Hall & Oates, Ryan Adams, Otis Redding and Neko Case. It's all over the place.

CM: Who are your top five favorite artists or bands?

JM: That's too tough to answer because I feel like I'm always finding new music to love. Here are five, but it's just not enough choices: Ryan Adams, the Mavericks, Jenny Lewis, White Stripes and Sam Cooke.

CM: What is your go-to song while you cook?

JM: That's tough. For awhile I really loved Gnarls Barkley's version of Gone Daddy Gone.

CM: What type of music, artists or songs do you play for your diners?

JM: We play our musical taste for the dining room too, but we try to keep it upbeat. If it gets too moody, I feel like it seeps into everyone's mood. If it gets too raucous, the tiny room can feel very claustrophobic. I've had to change it up a lot over time to find the right balance.

CM: What type of music can't you stomach?

JM: There isn't a specific genre of music that I would rule out, but anything too frenetic, like metal or punk, seriously agitates me. I know that works for some people because it has such a driving beat, but I feel like a boppy song can do the same thing for me without making me tense up.

TATSU AIKAWA AND TAKUYA MATSUMOTO, Ramen Tatsu-Ya

CultureMap: What genre of music do you listen to while you cook?

Takuya Matsumoto: Wu-Tang Clan!

Tatsu Aikawa: If everything is on schedule, jazz or anything mellow is playing. If we're behind and rushing, Misfits and the first and third Metallica albums are blasting.

CM: Is this type of music different than the type of music you listen to when you're not cooking?

TM: Wu-Tang Clan forever!

TA: While I'm creating recipes or brainstorming ideas, I prefer silence. When not at work, I listen to everything.

CM: Who are your top five favorite artists or bands?

TM: RZA, GZA, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Inspectah Deck and Raekwon the Chef.

CM: What is your go-to song while you cook?

TA: "Bring da Ruckus" by Wu-Tang Clan.

TM: Too many to name.

Otis Redding is a favorite at Lenoir.

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Respect the Game

Austin's Dai Due named a 2025 Restaurant of the Year by USA Today

Dai Due/Instagram

This wild boar loin with local honey, figs, mint, and veggies is a great example of the kind of balance Dai Due offers.

An Austin restaurant that goes all-in on sustainable ingredient sourcing has caught the attention of USA Today. Dai Due was the only Austin restaurant on the publication's Restaurants of the Year list for 2025, and it was one of two restaurants in Texas; the other was Jimenez y Friends Barbecue y Taqueria in Lubbock.

Instead of penning new blurbs for each of the restaurants, USA Today sourced quotes by local reviews. For Dai Due, it used words by the popular critic Matthew Odam, as published in the Austin American-Statesman. He gave plenty of credit to the folks at the helm, owners Jesse Griffiths and Tamara Mayfield, and longtime executive chef Janie Ramirez.

"All of the proteins, produce, beverages and homemade accoutrements have roots in the Lone Star State, from the smoked porterhouse hog served with apple butter to the tallow-roasted mushrooms you can drape over crusty sourdough spread with whipped cherry lard," Odam wrote. "No restaurant says 'Texas' with the same confidence as Dai Due, which executive chef Janie Ramirez, a year-one employee, has steered for more than a half-dozen years on the course set by Griffiths and Mayfield."

Griffiths is the most public face for Dai Due, and he really puts his best, camouflaged foot forward, hunting and butchering wild game and teaching others how to respect the food system. In 2024 year he releasedThe Turkey Book: A Chef's Journal of Hunting and Cooking America's Bird, at once an "approachable" cookbook (or so it promises), a textbook, and a photography collection.

Dai Due also received special honors in 2024 from the Michelin Guide, which named it a Bib Gourmand (denoting high-quality food at an affordable cost) and issued it a Green Star for leadership in "sustainable gastronomy." Emmer and Rye, also in Austin, was the only other Green Star recipient at the inaugural Texas event.

In 2023, Dai Due won in the Best Burger category at CultureMap's Tastemaker Awards. Chef Griffiths also has an assortment of other accolades including a James Beard book award for The Hog Book: A Chef's Guide to Hunting, Butchering and Cooking Wild Pigs.

This is the second year USA Today has published its Restaurants of the Year list. Austin again had one representative for the inaugural year: the newly brick-and-mortar Mum Foods Smokehouse and Delicatessen. Like Dai Due, Mum Foods also got its start at farmers markets, although the brand has less of a public ethos — it seems to have been selected simply because of its great food.

Dai Due isn't at the farmers market anymore, but foodies who would like to learn more face-to-face with a team member can meet Chef Ramirez at the Food Guide Festival taking place April 25 at Boggy Creek Farm. She'll be grilling steaks with farm partners Stacy and Robert Nantaz of Nantz Land & Cattle.

The restaurant is located at 2406 Manor Rd. Operating hours for dinner are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 5-10 pm and Sundays from 5-9 pm; brunch is Fridays through Sundays from 10 am to 3 pm.

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Austin Chefs Play DJ

Austin chefs reveal the music that gets them cooking, from Otis Redding to Wu-Tang Clan

Otis Redding is a favorite at Lenoir.

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Respect the Game

Austin's Dai Due named a 2025 Restaurant of the Year by USA Today