Uncle Yip's
Live crabs, Chinatown-style cooking: Experience both at this Fairfield eatery
JULIE FITZGERALD | CIN WEEKLY
I wanted to try Uncle Yip's after another restaurant owner, who happens to be from China, told me about it. It's the place he said he visits when he's in the mood for authentic Chinese cooking: fresh seafood, saucy rice dishes, sticky sweet desserts. I couldn't wait to try it.
Without knowing much about the menu beforehand, two friends and I went to check the place out for dinner. When we arrived we were a little overwhelmed at the large selection. Uncle Yip's offers nearly every type of Chinese cuisine, from dim sum to lo mein to fried rice, as well as the house specialty: anything cooked rock salt-style.
THE AMBIANCE
Located in the mostly vacant Woodridge Plaza strip mall off Ohio 4 (just up the road from Showcase Cinemas), Uncle Yip's specializes in "Chinatown-style" cooking - similar to what you'd find in New York City. Owner Judy Yip says many of her customers stop by on their own way to Jungle Jim's.
The main dining room is a free-for-all collection of tables. The decor is minimal aside from the violet colored walls. The real attraction is in the back where several large tanks contain live crabs and lobsters. It's definitely worth a look between courses.
CHOWING DOWN
We decided to sample some things we had never tried, so we started with the dim sum menu. These are small portions of appetizer-like dishes such as spring rolls, dumplings, pork buns and more, all for $2 each. We ordered three dim sum items and also added an appetizer of rock salt tofu ($4.25). All were good, but the salty, super crispy tofu was our favorite.
CHOOSING AN ENTREE
Since portions are large, we shared the several entrees we ordered. After taking a look at the live crabs (flown in the day before from Seattle), the first item we chose was Dungeness crab with rock salt ($14.95). The plate contains a large crab fried with rock salt and served whole.
We also tried the lobster with ginger and green onion ($21.95) as well as an order of scallops and shrimp stir fried with garlic sauce ($12.95). We added on a vegetarian dish - Chinese eggplant with garlic sauce ($6.95).
While the eggplant was good and the lobster and crab meat were delicious, soft and buttery, the shrimp and scallop dish with the slightly spicy garlic sauce was the highlight. It offered more complex flavors, and it also came with baby corn.
We finished our meal by splitting an order of sweet sesame balls ($2.50) and left feeling satisfied with the whole experience.
