The Vietnamese people I know, like my barbers, always tell me to eat at Canton Cafe when I'm in that shopping plaza. They tell me that Vietnamese food between here (Springfield) and Seven Corners is slim pickings, and they think that Canton Cafe is the best Chinese in the area.

For proper Cantonese, I prefer Sampan Cafe a bit further east on Franconia Road. Or at least my Guangzhou-born in-laws do.

Would love to hear more about Sampan. It was a landmark for years, then disappeared for a while, replaced by a non-descript Vietnamese place. Now it's back again. What happened and what's different or the same about this incarnation?

It's in the same little plaza as Mediterranean Gourmet Market, which is the best Middle Eastern fare this side of Lebanese Butcher.

Do they sell halal meat there?

Return trip to Canton Cafe last night -- with the added benefit of a $100 stroll through Trader Joe's next door.

Had the fried soft-shell crab, which was a little on the "fishy" side, but still quite flavorful and nicely crunchy. Can't say it was the best dish I've tried there. Next time it's going to be the anchovies with spicy salt, or one of the delectable ducks hanging in the back. Girlfriend had the seafood combo, with a generous pile of shrimp and scallops and Chinese broccoli in a slightly spicy white sauce. Not bad at all.

I always order off the 2-page Chef's Recommendation menu. You won't find any of the traditional suburban 'Chinese' dishes on that menu. But as a sop to the locals, you can get General Tso on the rest of the menu....

For Chinese in Springfield, this is the place.

Return trip again tonight, and this place is growing on me. The clientele demographic is clearly tilted towards Chinese-Americans, which is a good sign, but on a Saturday night I expected the place to be more than about a third full. Maybe it's the economy.

The food continues to impress. Girlfriend and I had the chrysanthemum tea to start, along with seafood and bean curd soup for 2. For about $6, the soup easily filled four bowls, and was loaded with seafood, tofu and egg white. I asked the waitress up front to make sure I got Chinese spicy, not American spicy food, and she brought me a small bowl of mixed chilis in oil. These were quite hot, but a sparing half teaspoon into the soup was just perfect.

For the main course, Girlfriend had the Combination Seafood with Chinese Broccoli, which was loaded with squid, shrimp, large scallops and probably giant clam, and the broccoli was cooked perfectly. That dish clocked in at about $13.50 and was worth every penny. My main course was phenomenal -- Beef Tenderloin with Black Pepper was it's name, but it was genuine Peking man-food. About 7-8 quarter inch slices of cooked to perfection beef tenderloin, slightly crunchy on the outside and drop-dead tender on the inside, swimming in a deliciously spicy brown sauce and smothered in sauteed onions. To die for may be the best description of this dish. For about $16, it literally clobbers any $40 steak I've had at Morton's or Ruth's Chris or Bobby Van's or Capital Grille. Not even close. And you can't dab that hot chili oil on it at those places like you can here.

Looking around the menu, there are over a hundred dishes and ingredients such as duck tongue, duck webs, conch, frog, sea cucumber, duck blood, dry squid, pig skin and a whole section of congee dishes. That's one heck of an ambitious kitchen.

I forgot to post that I went to Canton Cafe recently. While there I had what might just be the best dish I've ever had at a Chinese restaurant. It was c21 on the Recommended, I think, Marinated Pork and (adjective) Vegetables in Casserole. So, so, so, so good. The pork was fatty belly that was cooked to perfection aka melt-in-your-mouth. Heck, one piece was just fat...I liked that. I have been having dreams of this dish...

Of course, I'm of the feeling that anything in Casserole is what you order if at a Chinese restaurant.

(BTW, the other great dish? A braised grass carp I had back in Colorado. Does anyone one know if you can get good grass carp here in DC/MD/VA?)

This place has some serious Chinese food. I've been twice so far and I've been impressed. One standout was described on the Chef's Specials as "tofu shrimp stuff with white crab sauce". These are minced shrimp and soft tofu balls, deep-fried to a golden brown, served with chinese broccoli and the light sauce with shredded crab meat and egg white in it. It's awesome stuff. We've also had the beef chow foon, served dry (without the black bean sauce), which was spot-on as well.

Having this next to Trader Joe's is a good thing, so we don't go to Trader's while hungry.

do they do dim sum by cart or order off a menu?

I do not know... Their real, Chinese menu is so good, I've never thought about even trying their dim sum. I mean, they have casseroles! And braised duck! Mmm...

Off the menu and from what I've seen, it looks good (now if I only had time during lunch to try it)

I like this place a lot, and it has become my go-to Chinese restaurant in the Springfield area. However, down Franconia Road is Sampan, as I noted above, which compares favorably in its reincarnation. My problem with Sampan is that it's in the same plaza as Mediterranean Gourmet Market, and if my moniker is any indication, I'm not likely to pass up the best Middle Eastern food in northern Virginia when I'm in the vicinity.

After eating airport food all day yesterday, I was ready to chow down today. The plan was to go to Canton Cafe, order a couple of dim dishes off the menu, get a plate of stir-fried veggies and maybe a meat dish. The plan didn't work because Canton Cafe had dim sum carts (3 to be exact, 2 steamed and 1 not).

The first cart that came by had: (1) pork spareribs, (2) beef spareribs, (3) pork shu mai, (4) shrimp shu mai, (5) har gow (shrimp dumpling), (6) tripe, (7) steamed chives dumpling, (8) bean curd wrapped roll, (9) shark fin dumpling, (10) sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves stuffed with chicken, sausage, etc., and (11) chicken feet. There may be more stuff on that cart.

I never saw the content of the second steamed cart probably becuase I had already ordered 4 items off the first cart, and they brought me a plate of pan fried turnip cakes.

On the non-heated cart were various desserts (I didn't pay much attention), and flakey taro dumpling.

Of the items I ordered, the pork shu mai was too dense and meaty. I expected the same with the shark fin dumpling but it was much lighter. The turnip cakes were wonderful, as were the chicken feet (they're the best I've had recently, with lots of black beans, garlic, pepper, etc.). The sticky rice was good too. The seasoning in every dish was how I would expect them. Generally there is no need to use soy sauce.

I arrived shortly after 11. There was another Chinese family there and shortly before I left, another Chinese family arrived. This place can be an alternative to schlepping to MD (although it's a schlep for me from Tysons) but they need to have more dim sum customers first. Presumably with more people, they will have more variety.

After eating airport food all day yesterday, I was ready to chow down today. The plan was to go to Canton Cafe, order a couple of dim sum dishes off the menu, get a plate of stir-fried veggies and maybe a meat dish. The plan didn't work because Canton Cafe had dim sum carts (3 to be exact, 2 steamed and 1 not).

The first cart that came by had: (1) pork spareribs, (2) beef spareribs, (3) pork shu mai, (4) shrimp shu mai, (5) har gow (shrimp dumpling), (6) tripe, (7) steamed chives dumpling, (8) bean curd wrapped roll, (9) shark fin dumpling, (10) sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves stuffed with chicken, sausage, etc., and (11) chicken feet. There may be more stuff on that cart.

I never saw the content of the second steamed cart probably because I had already ordered 4 items off the first cart, and they brought me a plate of pan fried turnip cakes.

On the non-heated cart were various desserts (I didn't pay much attention), and flakey taro dumpling.

Of the items I ordered, the pork shu mai was too dense and meaty. I expected the same with the shark fin dumpling but it was much lighter. The turnip cakes were wonderful, as were the chicken feet (they're the best I've had recently, with lots of black beans, garlic, pepper, etc.). The sticky rice was good too. The seasoning in every dish was how I would expect them. Generally there is no need to use soy sauce.

I arrived shortly after 11. There was another Chinese family there and shortly before I left, another Chinese family arrived. This place can be an alternative to schlepping to MD (although it's a schlep for me from Tysons) but they need to have more dim sum customers first. Presumably with more people, they will have more variety.