Restaurants compete with creative lamb dishes
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A 2025 Lamb Jam dish from Austin's El Naranjo. Photo: Courtesy of American Lamb Board
Editor's note: This story was written by University of Texas student Trinity Orosco for Axios Austin.
Six Austin restaurants have spent the month of April transforming lamb into crispy arancini, laab and tostadas for Lamb Jam's restaurant competition.
Why it matters: For Austin restaurants, events like Lamb Jam double as creative challenge and low-risk test in an industry where every menu change can hit the bottom line.
Driving the news: The American Lamb Board, an organization dedicated to increasing the demand for American lamb, brought Lamb Jam back to Austin this month as part of an eight-city national competition.
- The competition started in 2010 and expanded to Austin in 2015.
- Participating cities also include Atlanta, Boston, Charleston, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
Zoom in: At Holiday on 7th, head chef Peter Klein revisited a dish from last year: fried risotto balls stuffed with braised lamb arancini and fontina, served with anchovy-mint aioli.
- "Not everybody's into chewing on a lamb chop or eating a whole plate of meat," Klein tells Axios.
- "I think it's an approachable way to have something rich and unique, but still really homey and comforting tasting."
How it works: Chefs serve limited-time lamb dishes while diners vote for a winner, entering a chance to win tickets to an exclusive dinner hosted by the winning chef.
- The board supplies each participating chef with 75 pounds of lamb, helping restaurants stay profitable and encouraging menu experimentation.
- At the end of the month, one chef will be named a winner and take home a year's supply of American lamb.
- Winning chefs also host exclusive Lamb Jam dinners throughout the year, featuring a multicourse menu and wine pairings.
Between the lines: Lamb Jam is part of a broader push to make lamb a bigger player in American diets and to convince diners it's more than a special-occasion splurge.
- Only about 30% of lamb sold in the U.S. originates domestically, making Lamb Jam a tool to boost demand for American producers, according to Megan Wortman, executive director of the American Lamb Board.
- "Lamb is delicious and versatile and interesting," Wortman tells Axios. "I hope that it inspires [people] to try lamb."
Austin diners can head to these participating restaurants through the month of April to try their lamb creations:
- Lao'd Bar: Grilled lamb laab.
- Nixta Taqueria: Lamb tostada.
- La Barbecue: Charcoal‑grilled lamb kafta.
- Boni's Bar Next Door: Lamb meatballs.
- Ezov: Spiced lamb hummus.
- Holiday on 7th: Lamb arancini.