XL Dining Guide 2003 - Top Ten Restaurants

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Austin's Top Ten Restaurants

Photo by Shelley Wood For AA-S

If you're really hungry, Wink may get pricey. Dishes like the glazed sweetbreads and okra come in small portions.

Wink
1014 N. Lamar Blvd.
(512) 482-8868
Wine: 42 by the glass ($4-$14.75), 66 by the bottle ($15-$250)
Rating:

No. 8: Wink

Wink is one of the few restaurants that opened in the Austin area in the past five years with a divergent approach that was well-conceived and deftly executed from the day it was launched.

That's why the small restaurant behind Whole Earth on Lamar Boulevard draws a capacity crowd most nights.

Chef-owners Stewart Scruggs and Mark Paul reduced portion size considerably to meet health-conscious trends and to encourage multicourse dining.

While cynics might think it's all about profit margin, Wink's daily shopping for ingredients (or using direct shipping to purchase some of the best in the country) and high level of staffing would seem to discount that view.

Nevertheless, the restaurant's philosophy appears to leave few diners with an ambivalent attitude; people either love it or hate it.

From my standpoint, it's producing food so good it's tough to argue with.

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