Yin Yankee Review-Baltimore Magazine

Baltimore Magazine

-March,2004

How’d I ever miss it? The Yin Yankee Café has been sitting there smack in the middle of Annapolis’s Main Street since 1999, but nobody I know around Baltimore seemed to know much about it. This called for a thorough investigation by your trusty restaurant critic, who felt singularly out of the loop on this one. But hey, you can’t be on top of everything all the time. And so flush with the thrill of discovers, off we went –Señor M, our friends Susan and John, and me—to the delightful goofily named Yin Yankee.

The name is, indeed, a tip-off to the loopy spirit of the place. Its funky and a little worn around the edges, decorated something like a college student’s psychedelic pipe dream, with bright colors spatter-painted on the walls and big fish tanks everywhere. You’d never know you were in the heart of a culinary paradise, but the out-the-door line of eager customers might give you a hint. Yin Yankee doesn’t take reservations, but we’d entered our name on a waiting list when we’d called the night before, and it was a good thing too. Our host spotted our name at the top of the list, eyed the packed dining room and commanded, “Follow me. You’re in for a special treat!”

Like Henry Hill in that famous scene from Goodfellas, we were led on a wild walk through the bowels of the kitchen, out the back door, and up a flight of stairs to a purple rooftop room complete with blacklights and crowded with more tables full of diners. One table along the back wall beckoned. The pipe dream continued. . . .

“Wow,” I muttered thoughtfully as the four of us eyed each other and our colorful dayglo menus by the romantic wash of blacklight. John and Susan were amused but I could tell, a bit skeptical. Could this trippy little haven really serve decent food?

Well, yes, it could, and before long our dinner companions had turned into true believers. The primary steps toward conversion were simple but surefire: a bit of Yin (represented by a flask of cold “Hawk of the Heaven” sake) and bit of Yankee (a basket of crisp homemade veggie chips sprinkled with crumbled Gorgonzola). The latter are as wondrously addictive as they sound, and the former is one of a fine roster of top-flight sakes on offer.

By the time a selection from the “First Flavors” section of the menu arrived, we were all faithful followers. The flash-fired and chile-flecked calamari, the Delly Lao’s shrimp-and-scallion wontons, the gingered chicken potstickers—how could we choose a favorite among these winners? Well, if we must: The fat little shrimp and beggie beignets were spectacular, especially their accompanying habañero sauce, deep and mysterious with the fire of chile and the sweetness of honey and dried cherry.

Everything at Yin Yankee has that complexity of jazzy, bright, and deeply flavorful layers of taste. The “Main Flavors” (that’s Yin Yankee for “entrées”) lean heavily toward fish, fish treated to dazzling finishes like “John’s Norwegian salmon,” bronzed with a subtly smoky glaze of soy and miso and sided with garlic-infused spinach and shiitake mushrooms. Or my clever “crabchops,” Asian-styled crab cakes studded with chilis and served on sugarcane sticks.

Señor M’s and Susan’s dishes both featured rockfish, but the preparations were so different you’d never guess the star of both plates was the same. M’s was a delicate pan-roasted creature, bathed in chile-garlic broth shot through with rice noodles and basil. Susan’s was the wonder of the night---a whole fish wrapped in banana leaves and infused with red curry, which our sweet and expert young waitress carefully filleted tableside. The fish was moist, spicy, rich, and fabulous. Even the sides here are special and prepared with care---fragrant coconut rice, zippy Asian vegetable slaw, exotic dipping sauces like ancho-banana jam.

Mind you, if none of this suits your fancy, there’s a long list of sushi standards and creative maki, as well as noodle bowls to which hungry diners can add chicken, duck, or shrimp for a hearty meal. Oh yeah, and then there’s dessert---from very un-Asian offerings like Mont Blanc (composed mostly of white chocolate mousse), or more fusion-y concoctions like the “Crazy Banana,” with homemade coconut ice cream and mango coulis accompanying the eponymous grilled and honey-spattered fruit. Yum. Needless to say, as we made our way back down the stairs, across the yard, and through the busy kitchen at the end of the night, we’d all become dyed-in-the-wool Yin Yankee fans.

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