At Table
Wintzell's Oyster House
By M.B.T. Gastronome
My first visit to Wintzell’s Oyster House on Dauphin Street was in 1974 as a visitor to Mobile. Needless to say, it was a unique experience and I spent most of the time reading the signs. My second visit was in 2003 and I have been back several times since, usually for lunch. I prefer lunch rather than dinner at Wintzell’s because I consider the dinner menu to be over-priced. For today’s lunch, I started with a cup of gumbo and then had the #3 lunch special (shrimp, oysters, fish).
The gumbo
was quite
good. Rich
and thick, it
had a
pleasant
gumbo taste.
I do,
however,
prefer the
gumbo at
The French
Loaf (#1) and
Blue Gill (#2). A cup of Wintzell’s gumbo is a proper beginning for a lunch time meal.
The fried shrimp, oyster and fish basket was good also and would probably taste especially good to someone from the interior of the state who is not accustomed to really good seafood. The shrimp were a nice size and fried very well. The oysters were okay, but fried a little too hard. The fish was fried just right. This was a good lunch meal but could have been improved with the addition of a little seasoning to the batter.
While the seafood items were tasty, the hush puppies were not. They had a rubbery texture and were quite chewy. I did not enjoy them. These hushpuppies could possibly have been dribbled out the door as souvenirs.
Sides selected for this lunch were cole slaw and redskin potatoes. The slaw was good. The potatoes were bland. A simple suggestion would be to boil the potatoes in crab boil.
Is Wintzell’s a good lunch destination? Yes. Will I return? Yes. I usually manage to get there at least twice a year.
By the way, I don’t read the signs anymore. That's a neat gimmick for the tourists but for locals quickly takes a backseat to the food itself.
(Editor's note: Our pseudonymous gourmand visits area dining establishments and reports on the experience. Wherever food is served, our peripatetic critic is likely to arrive with an appetite and depart with an opinion. He dines at his own expense; remains anonymous to all; reports only on those restaurants he frequents in the regular course of life, primarily reasonably priced places. However, he does splurge on occasion. Bon Appetit!)
