Uncle Chippie’s Old Fashioned Burger Shop
Mama and I decided to take a trip to Red Hook yesterday to see what kind of trouble we could stir up. We had a great sunny, but freezing cold day with no kids and the world was our oyster. Or at least, our burger.
While looking for someplace to have some lunch and keep warm, we were driving down Route 9 to see what was what since we hadn’t been to Red Hook in quite sometime and didn’t know our lay of the land. We drove past several places to eat…Dunkin’ Donuts, a Bagel Shop, a scary looking little diner. Nothing was getting us excited. Until I spotted this in a parking lot -
- Chippie’s Limo
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Chippie's Limo Horns
Are You Hungry?
So obviously, this was the place we had to try. I’m a sucker for marketing and get enjoyment out of
seeing what people will do to get attention to their business. Sometimes it works, sometimes it fails
miserably. In this case, Uncle Chippie’s is a winner.
Uncle Chippie's Sign
We walked into the well lit and retro styled diner around 11:30 am. 50’s music was playing in the restaurant and the wonderful aroma of beef and french fries filled the air. A friendly woman came out of the kitchen and stepped behind the counter, greeting us with a cheerful hello. We told her we had never been to Uncle Chippie’s before and asked how long they had been there. Two years, she had told us, and welcomed us to Uncle Chippie’s. Uncle Chippie, in the meantime, could be seen prepping the food and warming the grills through the window behind the counter that led to the kitchen. There were all kinds of cute retro styled signs with a multitude of different burger entrees, side dishes, beverages, and of course, Chippie’s Special Sauce. After considering what to try, we figured a good place to start was the Daily Special… a 1/4 pound burger with fries and a drink for $4.99. Mama had a coffee and I went for the Fresh Brewed Iced Tea. I realized after we paid that I had forgot to ask for cheese, but didn’t want to bother, so we said it was fine, we would just have it sans cheese.
We placed our order and took a seat at the red and white vinyl booth by the front window.
Uncle Chippie's Menu
Uncle Chippie's Diner
As we sat and chatted and commented on the decor, people began filing in. A mother with her young son, a
middle aged man in coveralls picking up a large order of food for co-workers, two younger men on their lunch break. A good sign of a good place to eat is regular customers coming in on a regular basis, and Uncle
Chippie’s seems to have their share. We listened to the 50’s music and when our burgers arrived, our waitress commented that they went ahead and put cheese on the burger for us. After a 10 minute wait and the sounds and smells of sizzling meat and baskets being lowered into the deep fryers in the kitchen, we were presented with our Uncle Chippie hand formed burger and hand cut fries. She motioned to a plastic bottle of pinkish stuff which she said was Chippie’s Special Sauce and to go ahead and try it. We took her advice and went for it…. Chippie’s Special Sauce on the burger and on the side to dip our fries in too.
The sauce is a slightly zesty ranch dressing type of dressing with tangy mexican flavored spices throughout.
It was a nice change from ketchup and complimented the chopped onions, pickle, mustard and ketchup that comes standard on the burger. It was also yummy on the perfectly crisped hand cut french fries.
Chippie's Special Sauce
The $4.99 Special - 1.4 pound burger and fries
Chippie's Fries
Chippie's Napkins
Chippie's Special Sauce on Burger
So if you are in Red Hook and looking for a great place to eat for not a lot of dough, treat yourself to a bite at Uncle Chippie’s ! You can find them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=56724232050 . Tell them I sent ya!
