Hey, I think we figured Wink out!
Yeah, you might think that after the so-so experience we had at Wink back in April, we wouldn't be back anytime soon. But we're strange like that, I guess, and after a long long day of shopping and gym-going (I'm still sore), we decided to take a jaunt over to Wink for dinner.
Wink's wine bar, that is.
Turns out, you can order everything on Wink's menu at their wine bar, including the tasting menu - plus there's a list of tasty bar apps!
Plus, you can't forget about their awesome wine list, with lots and lots available by the glass. We started with a couple glasses of their lighter whites (an albarino and a garnacha blanca) and begged for some olives ($3), mostly to keep me from eating the napkins.
Our first choices came out quickly. First was the chicken liver pate, topped with a slick of oil. OK, more than a slick... I guess this qualifies as a puddle.
We looked at it, Husbear said "we should pour some of this off," and like four minutes later we were sopping up the last bits of oily, savory, rich pate with the provided gherkins. Level of sopping difficulty: 9.4. Level of tastiness somewheres around there too.
Just as we were finishing up the pate, our order of house cured salmon ($10) arrived with little garnishy sides of capers, gherkins/cornichons, tart house-pickled red onions, creme fraiche, and very very toasty dark bread.
(Have I mentioned that it's pretty dark in the wine bar, too?) I'd just like to reiterate here that I love love love cured things. Just about all of them. Cured salmon is one of my favorites, and I enjoyed this version, which was nice and mild. Vino Vino does a really good cured salmon as well.. what's up with this deliciousness all of a sudden showing up all over town? Eh?
Putting everything together on a piece of bread was just about too much. We soon switched to trying our different combinations. I liked everything together without the bread. Which was a bit hard and toasty.
Our last two dishes came out a little earlier than we'd wanted. Our fault, since we hadn't exactly told the kitchen that we were trying to course. So, we scrambled to order a couple of glasses of red. I asked for the bartender's recommendation and got the most amazing tempranillo of my LIFE, I kid you not, Vina Sastre. It was $10 a glass and worth every last cent. Mr. Man ordered a cab franc, which he pronounced extra-delicious as well. And we tore into our food.
Yeah, it's little brie sliders ($12) with truffled mac and cheese ($11). Fancy, diminutive Americana. The burgers were twice as delicious as the one I had at Mighty Fine. Before we dug into the mac & cheese, one of the chefs appeared from the back and told us that this had been a collaborative effort, down to arguments about the cheeses to use and which pasta shape would work out best.
Both dishes were really, really good. And rich. I suppose that's to be expected when you're ordering burgers and macaroni and cheese?
Yes, service was still slow. Yes, there was still a bit of attitude. However, the ambience over in the bar was much more to our liking than in the restaurant, and it's certainly nice to have the option. Plus, no reservations!
Wink is still at 1014 north Lamar in Austin and is open monday through saturday. 512.482.8868.
can't say that it looks that tasty but your blog has a good feel to it
Posted by: Kudzu Fire | Friday, 27 June 2008 at 19:06
I miss (good) FOOD at restaurants. And choice. You could never get this type of stuff in Germany, and if you could, you'd pay a kazillion euros and it still wouldn't be good.
Sigh.
Posted by: Mia | Friday, 04 July 2008 at 01:31
Probably the lighting, Kudzu Fire. Thank you.
Mia, I totally sympathize... we had a touch of that in Florence, too. Maybe you can take some solace in the wide variety of delicious beers and cured meats?
Posted by: Boots in the Oven | Friday, 04 July 2008 at 15:00