Although Zoot moved to a somewhat lifeless limestone suite deep in the pretty woods near Westlake, it still continues to outperform its long-established date-night sibling Wink. If you can, sit in the partly open-air dining room with its hypnotic water fountain, where streams of early-evening light best evoke the building’s Spanish-colonial influences. Inside, the low ceiling, taupe walls, and sometimes-direct lighting fares less romantically.

On a good night, the five-course chef’s tasting menu warrants a solid A. The kitchen’s not big into tricks, but its execution is surprising, often revealing the best potential from even mundane combinations. Ingredients are chosen and employed with care—shrimp are sweet and clams properly clammy—but, for the most part, dishes are composed to work as a unit, not to be picked at piecemeal. We’ve had wonderful quail, veal sweetbreads, and duck confit here, at multiple visits.

The equally careful wine list provides an abundance of options at all price points; food-friendly wines like Grüner Veltliner, unoaked white Burgundy, and berry-pebbly Beaujolais come in at less than $10 a glass. While other Austin upmarket restaurants seem to either lazily underperform or spastically throw together trendy ingredients that sucker-punch their guests, Zoot continues to quietly hold the middle ground, year after year.