A & J Restaurant, Rockville, Maryland

Dim Sum. 

When I hear these words, I drool inside, like Homer Simpson does when he thinks about bacon (mmmm, unexplained bacon...arglglrl...).  A & J restaurant serves northern Chinese food.  Don't make the mistake of coming here trying to order some Kung Pao or General Tso's protein--you're not going to find that here.  Here, they serve dim sum, but not from a cart.  When you walk in and get seated, the nice waitresses bring over two menus, one laminated and one made of paper, and a pen.  They will also ask if you'd like ice water.  I usually request ice water because I like ice water.  They will also bring a pot of Chinese tea.  When placing your order, just circle the items on the paper menu that you'd like.  Someone will come and collect your menu and pen, and will ask if you'd like the skinny noodles or the thick noodles if you order a noodle dish.  It's all about your personal preference regarding the noodles.  I ordered the Dan Dan Mian, a noodle dish served with a semi-spicy sesame and peanut sauce.  For this sauce, the skinny noodles go really well, but that's just my opinion.  I usually order these noodles when I come here, as they're one of my favorite noodle dishes overall.  Normally, Dan Dan that I've had in other establishments have been served cold.  Here at A & J, they're served hot.  And they are delicious.

Dan Dan Mian noodles, with the skinny noodles

My dining companion and I also ordered a seaweed salad with bean sprouts, and the cucumber salad, with hot chili oil and garlic.  The seaweed salad is refreshing and crunchy, a good foil to the searing heat from the cucumber salad.  I always have the cucumber salad when I eat here, and the heat level seems to be different every time I order it.  The last time I was here, the heat level was tolerable, and the salad was the perfect balance of crunchy sweetness and heat.  I ended up finishing most of it last time.  This time, which was two days ago (Wednesday), the heat was turned way up, and the salad was just heat, not enough sweet.  It's consistently inconsistent, yet I always order it, hoping the right version will show up at my table.



Cucumber salad, with hot chili oil and garlic.



Seaweed salad with bean sprouts, refreshing and light.

Next came the pan-fried pork pot stickers, eight of them shaped like thick cigars, steamed beef dumplings, steamed pork dumplings, and the scallion pancake.  This may sound like a large amount of food, but split between two people, makes for a perfect meal.  A & J makes really good dumplings.  The meat fillings are well-flavored, meaty and juicy.  The scallion pancake dough is hot and crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, flecked throughout with scallions pieces.  I like to dunk pieces of scallion pancake into soy sauce and vinegar on my plate.  Overall, A & J is an excellent place to have a great meal for little money.  My dining buddy spent around $29.00 for our more than satisfying meal.  By the way, A & J only accepts cash, so make sure you've got some beforehand.

A & J Restaurant
1319-C Rockville Pike (across from the VOB dealership)
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 251-7878