Wink

Day: 151

High Temp: 60F

My birthday was last Sunday (if you were not one of the legions who wished me a happy happy over Facebook, let it be. I know you love me.) I turned 29. My last year in my 30's, and my last as a "single" lady.

Many years ago, when I first started celebrating my birthdays in Chicago with the Foxes, we started a tradition: Birthday girl chooses the location of celebration dinner, friends pay. This led to many amazing and memorable dinners in Chicago, including one evening when 4 of us managed to eat and drink over $500 worth of the goods from MK. This tradition also introduced me to one of my favorite restaurants in the known (to Lindsey) world, Green Zebra. I can't recall whose pick that was... Camilla?

Anyhow, Tom and I now carry on that tradition, and last Saturday night we had our first Austin birthday dinner at Wink. As well known to Austin foodies as any of the Tramonto restaurants are known to Chicago food lovers, Wink is a mecca to the slow-food enthusiasts in the city, and owned/operated by two truly gifted chefs.

We had an amazing meal, a nice bottle of wine, and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly. And to top that all off, we were greeted by first name by a really nice host, there were menus specially printed for us that said "Happy Birthday Lindsey" AND our waiter had the chefs in back sign my copy of the menu. One of the best, most special restaurant experiences I have ever had, anywhere!

For the curious, here is what I ate:

First Course

Seared Foie Gras with apple upside down cake and local honey

Main Course

Roasted duck breast served atop toasted bulgar, winter greens and shiitake mushrooms

Dessert (shared by Tom and I)

The Wink Trio: Lemon Meringue "egg" (a crispy meringue orb filled with amazing lemon curd)

Mini Creme Brule

El Rey Cake (Dense Chocolate cake served with port cherry sauce)

Everything was to die for! And we ate every bite. I hope each one of you will come visit me soon so that I have many reasons to go back!