Yen "The Traveler" D.'s Profile

Came here on a quiet morning and was hit with nostalgia for Paris.  Minimalist white furniture and little flowers on each small table.  Relaxed with a cafe au lait and the BEST PAIN AU CHOCOLAT I'VE HAD THIS SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC.  Divine.  Crispy and buttery with not-too-sweet dark chocolate inside.  Yum.  Picked up pistachio and vanilla macarons on my way out.

Liked it so much that I came back for lunch with boy!  My Croque-Madame was great, love the sauce they put on it.  He got a crepe salee, I think the Parisian Brie, which was also quite tasty.  I wish there was a little bit more salad with our meals, but that's the only thing I would change.

As we left, bit into the macarons.  Lovely.  That particular texture is so glorious.  I think the vanilla one was better than the pistachio, by which I mean it was fluffier.

Pretty straightforward: order at the counter, they give you a number and coffee cup if you want, sit down and the food comes out surprisingly promptly.

Thoughtful service, swank atmosphere, a long wine list, and the second dish of our five-course tasting menu.  These are the good things about wink.

It was my last night in town and we thought we'd try a nice relaxing dinner.  We opted not to do the accompanying wine tasting with the menu, and the server was great at helping us choose a bottle of wine, correctly saying that a light-bodied red would complement everything.  The actual bottle was okay.

The first sign that things were going wrong was the amuse-bouche.  I adore amuse-bouches; they're a great way for a chef to experiment and tease our taste buds.  This was a poached pear suspended in a Riesling gelee, which could have been great if the texture hadn't been so hard and rubbery, and if the flavors came out more.  And if it was more edible.  Instead it was just sort of... eh.   Like the rest of the meal, which included overly fishy hamachi sashimi (calm down with the bonito flakes!) and a plain, fatty, overdone piece of duck reminiscent of bad Chinese food, complete with a disappointing vegetable side similar to undercooked Napa cabbage.  Never thought I'd say this, but there was a dish that was actually TOO BACONY(!).  NY Strip steak (boy liked it, I didn't) and a plain potato with a bacon sauce that tasted like I'd started licking a pan of bacon grease.  Gross.  

I want to just not write about the Texas cheese plate.  It made me sad.  In particular, all of the cheeses came from one dairy, and why would you get a blue, a chevre, a manchego-like something, and a cheddar from one dariy?  Why?

On a positive note, I would return to Wink just to eat that sublime seared scallop with grilled broccoli and bacon.  I don't know what they did to that broccoli, but it was incredible (versus the near-inedible rest of meal).  I can't recommend it enough.

My answer to just about every time the server asked how we liked the dishes: "eh.  okay."  And for a restaurant that aims for greatness in a town full of great (and cheaper) restaurants, okay is not enough.

Hip startup-y place (they use an ipad and square in lieu of a normal cash register thing) with AWESOME ice cream and daring flavors.  Adult ice cream of deliciousness.  Could use chairs.

Also love them because the ice creams aren't too sweet (we aren't all little kids).  Ended up with the cilantro lime and grapefruit ginger.  I've had lots of ginger ice creams, but the grapefruit gave it a delightful little zing and offset the spice perfectly.  I was super torn between getting those and getting the sweet carrot+tarragon and eggnog (with bourbon in it!), but as luck would have it boy got those!  Yay!

Sweet carrot was fantastic at expressing the mild sweetness of the veggie without tasting like baby food (which, incidentally, is not that terrible.  What, you haven't tried baby food?  I'd find it weird to feed my child something I *hadn't* tasted), and the tarragon was a nice savory touch.  Not so into the beet with mint, it was just super... beety.  It's cool if you're into that sort of thing though.  Beets are alright in my book.

If you couldn't tell, the server let us try just about every flavor and were extremely friendly.  Oh, also the salty caramel isn't too sweet, which is my big beef with the flavor usually (Berthillon and Molly Moon's being the worst at that), so I'd recommend it too.

By the end of mine my tongue was going a little freezer-numb, which was weird and disconcerting.  I suspect it was the grapefruit, but I'm a bit sensitive to those things.

Love this quaint, so very Austin coffeeshop/wine bar/lounge.  

Mostly go here during the day to do some work in the comfy couches in a peaceful hip environment with decent coffee/tea.  RIDICULOUSLY GOOD ICED TEA I don't know why it was so stupidly tasty and very tea-y.  Didn't add any sugar, which I usually do, nor lemon.  

Also a fantastic outdoor patio area, which is great most nights for a glass of wine and a crossword puzzle.  Decent wine selection, and the bartender let us taste the wines (which was good because we hated the first one we tried!).

The other night I saw some people playing ping-pong in the back.  A small local band was playing inside.  The swing wasn't taken out front, but we decided on the porch instead.  Even though bustling Lamar is right in front of Opa, it still has a serene vibe.  Yay!

Tip: $5 minimum credit card charge.

So great, with or without the free tour.  You can wander the senate and house chambers and the governor's visiting room place, but the best view is the main dome, looking up to the lone star and down to the seal.  There's also portraits of all the governors, and there's some fun trivia that you can learn if you take the tour (first female governor, check).

Also hosts the Texas Book fair, and turns out there's even more underground.  Big yet still intimate auditorium held us for a great author Q&A, and there's plenty of benches everywhere to recup and sync watches (or whatever you do when visiting places with people).

The grounds are absolutely delightful and serene and gigantic.  Visitor's center has random texas history exhibits, which aren't necessary for enjoying a walk around the beautiful area.  Plus it's close to downtown.

The first time I came to Austin I thought the bats were high-flying fireflies.  Because that makes sense.  Because, you know, Texas.

Been here a few times so far, and everyone (including boy) seems totally in love with the place.  Granted, pretty tasty frittatas and a very cute ambiance, but on my first time we had ridiculously poor service.  I felt both neglected and annoying.  I don't *think* (I hope) I'm not too annoying, but the server seemed to take my existence and wish to order food as a personal affront to him.  Took a very long time to order, to get our food, to get the check, to do anything.

Boy assured me that was a one-off experience, though, and we went again later.  I like the tartines alright, the tuna one was OK but I recommend getting any more exotic-sounding one.  The roast beef and the prosciutto ones were pretty great.  Blintzes were filled with ricotta and blueberries and were good, but heavy and we couldn't finish them.

I'll try it again, I promise, and I'll check out this fabled back patio and maybe it'll get another star.  I sort of feel peer pressured to like this place after the reviews.

I like the location, hidden sort of down the road from Franklin's and across from a little sammich food trailer.

Super fun trivia on Wednesday nights around 8-10 pm, with an enthusiastic announcer and a good mix of questions.  Tasty beer selection, we got both Thirsty Planets they had- the thirsty goat and the buckethead IPA.  Yum.

Yes, fish and chips.  Best I've had this side of the pond, but also not totally traditional.  Served with fries and vinegar and salt, but also ketchup, tartar sauce, and forgettable coleslaw.  Big ol hunks of a flaky and succulent white fish, lightly battered and fried.  Fun atmosphere.  Live music started after trivia was over.

One of my favorite questions last night: name the north-south streets of Austin between the rivers, running from east to west.  It was the tiebreaker question.  Yay Austin!

I'm here RIGHT NOW.  I guess this is when I would do one of those fancy "check-in" things.  Okay so let me describe the scene in front of me, and maybe you will understand why this place is so great (I've been here almost every morning this week).

I'm at one of the long tables in the back with benches and tall chairs and lots of outlets.  There's a few people here, a larger number of laptoppers at the bar area, behind which are maybe a hundred or so bottles of wine.  Arcade Fire is playing from somewhere, maybe the ceiling covered in old coffee sacks.  Some guys are having a meeting at the comfortable chairs/loveseat in front of me.  Happy friendly baristas are busy making another stupidly good latte or cappuccino with a perfect little milk foam leaf design on top.  A couple is sitting at one of the tables with funky modern-looking white chairs eating breakfast tacos.

In the mornings when work starts there's a bunch of suit-types here having meetings and coffee, then as the morning goes on we get fewer buttoned shirts and more polos and jeans.

Oh but the wifi randomly cuts out for a little bit sometimes.  That is sucky.  It's always back up within a minute though. Show owner comment »

I don't know about you but I really love visiting grocery stores when I travel.  My first time in Austin, this was one of the first places we went.  The bulk section is incredible and we got fresh ground almond butter (HOLY SHIT).  There's tons of prepared food, obvi, and other goodies, but what really sold me was the huge walk-in beer refrigerator.  Make your own six-pack with all sorts of local brews?  Why thank you, I guess I will!

Honestly my now-boyfriend got huge points for taking me here.  Also it was during ACL so there was a band playing in the store.  Because that makes sense, Austin.  Love it.  

Big ol' parking lot below the store.

Austin.  BookPeople.  BookPeople.  Austin.

Basically the same in my head: full of quirky and friendly people, unique and independent, and I'm sort of in love with it.  

Love love the shelving and organization system, and all the staff recommendations, and all the random crap you can buy besides books, and everything about this store.

Yes.