"Twenty-Dollar Tuesday" at A&J, Rockville

[cucas87]

Not much to add. Thank you to Gnatharobed, Hillvalley and everyone at A&J and here at Donrockwell who made last night's dinner such a good night. I have wanted to go to A&J for a long time but never made it until last night, and I know I ate much better (and more) because of the event. What a feast.

[Heather]

Holy cow, Dean. Scott said it was a lot of food, but I had no idea you ordered 30 dishes! He still had room for ice cream when he got home, so it couldn't have been too much. The bean curd in spicy sauce sounds like something we need to order the next time we go.

He also enjoyed chatting with you and Kay. I am sorry I missed this one.

[crackers]

First of all, a huge "Thank You" to gnatharobed and the wonderful people at A&J for hosting us this evening. The staff was so very welcoming and the food... Wow! Great food at a great price.

Everything I ate was delicious. Favorites at our table included the Wonton Soup, Kao Fu (Vegetarian Delight w/Gluten, Dry Bean Curd & Mushrooms), Ma La Er Si (Sliced Pork Ears w/Hot & Spiced Seasoning) and all the assorted dumplings. And the Dou Sha Su Bing (Red Bean Paste Pastry) was the perfect finish to the evening.

I'll second all of that! gnatharobed, her parents, their staff, all were so very gracious and great at explaining what we were getting. It was a busy night for them - the place was full, yet the noise level was suprisingly muted and service never lagged. To help us out, they started each of the three tables of eight with a set menu of "fan favorites," and then each table was encouraged by gnatharobed to expand on those dishes by ordering additional dishes as they wanted to.

Each table had a set menu of:

1101. Spicy Beef Noodle Soup (Szechuan Style)

2101. Wonton Soup Shanghai Style

4101. Scallion Pancake

4105. Pan Fried Pork Dumplings (8)

4109. Thousand Layer Pancake

4201. Steamed Vegetarian Dumpling (4)

4202. Steamed Pork Buns (4)

5203. Cucumber Salad in Hot Garlic Sauce

5206. Bean Curd Rolls with Assorted Mushrooms

5207. Bean Curd Skin with Mustard Greens and Soy Beans

5208. Vegetarian Delight with Gluten, Dry Bean Curd and Mushrooms

5209. Shredded Bean Curd with Celery and Carrot Salad

6301. Red Bean Paste Pastry with pine nuts

Our table also ordered:

1104. Shredded Pork & Mustard Green Noodle Soup

3102. Chinese Style Fried Chicken on Rice with a Bowl of Broth

5101. Smoked Chicken

5205. Sliced Pork Ears with Hot & Spiced Seasoning

Pork ears were new to me, and I really enjoyed the seasoning - something citrusy and something spicy on the thinly shredded lengths of striated meat. I also thought the wonton soup was the best I've ever had in this region. The dumplings are made in-house and they aren't the usual triangles with a small bit of rubbery pork paste in them. These were more like siu mai, ten plump dumplings with very juicy and complex filling, in a rich chicken broth. And the Pan Fried Pork Dumplings (along with all the other dumplings) were also a highlight for me. Thanks again to hillvalley, gnatharobed and her family and the staff. This was a great $20 Sunday! [and lucky for everybody, my camera was idle ]

[gnatharobed]

Thanks to everyone for coming out to Rockville! For all you Virginia folks now you know what to order at the Annandale branch. The staff at A&J had a great time hosting such an enthusistic group. They told me they'd never seen so many non-Chinese eating pig ears before! They were very impressed.

[Escoffier]

They told me they'd never seen so many non-Chinese eating pig ears before! They were very impressed.

See a pair of Scotts:

[Sundae in the Park]

What's this dish called? Looks yummy.

Thanks.

[deangold]

What's this dish called? Looks yummy.

Thanks.

Won Tons in hot and sour sauce. The hand is mine!

[Sundae in the Park]

Won Tons in hot and sour sauce. The hand is mine!

Thanks, Dean. Are they hot like Chef Chang's baby won tons in chili oil, or more tangy?

[Escoffier]

With a lot of help from Grover, we've added names and menu numbers of all the food we ate to the pictures you can find here.

[legant]

What's this dish called? Looks yummy.

Thanks.

Uhm... good?

[infohunter]

Okay have to add my thoughts on the event. First off gnatharobed... you are awesome. Did you ever get anything to eat that evening? Everytime I looked around you seemed to be up and about checking on all of us. Secondly I need to say again that your parents, family, and the staff at A&J were just terrific. The flow of food was wonderful. Well timed. I was concerned we would get everything at once. Everyone was so attentive.

Now in reading all the posts I don't think anyone mentioned drinks, although there is a pic of the honeydew bubble drink in the photo album that was posted.

At our table we not only had bubble drinks but Gary had a plum drink which if I remember correctly he thought tasted similar to a bbq sauce. Gary will have to comment on his thoughts. All I know is that he finished it off so it couldn't have been too bad.

As for me I had coffee bubble drink. Think iced coffee with milk that then has tapioca pearls at the bottom. You sip and get some of the pearls which have a slightly chewy consistancy. Quite yummy. Two of the other folks at our table got just a milk based bubble drink as they didn't want the fruit ones or get the coffee due to caffeine. I believed they were enjoying them but wasn't really paying attention. Sorry I forgot your names ;( It's hard to pay attention with a drink in one hand and a pastry in the other. Although it is a great problem to have.

Finally I want to say that I'm sorry I didn't meet everyone. With A&J's so busy it didn't seem the right thing to do to go from the last table to the first just to say hello. I was the weird one in the hat So please consider this a virtual hello!

I've eaten at A&J's in the past (both locations) and because everything is so tasty and inexpensive the hubby and I always seem to have leftovers. That was the only problem with this event. I had no leftovers to bring home with me. Guess I should have done an order to go....

[deangold]

Won Tons in hot and sour sauce. The hand is mine!

I was never a fan of the wontons at Chef Chiang's. The are pretty vinegary and a little spicy. The pasta is dominant and nicely chewy with there being just a hint of meat filling.

[legant]

But seriously, good food, good times. The veggie delight may well have been the highlight for me, although those potstickers were pretty excellent (and the spicy cucumber was a nice start).

I just realized: some of the truly remarkable dishes were vegetarian. The kind of vegetarian food you gobble down and relish and only later realize -- much later -- it wasn't meat. Especially:

5206. Bean Curd Rolls with Assorted Mushrooms

5207. Bean Curd Skin with Mustard Greens and Soy Beans

5208. Vegetarian Delight with Gluten, Dry Bean Curd and Mushrooms

(That gluten was damn good! I'm ready to go to Yes! just to find some.)

[epicurus]

A&J brought back memories of the cuisine we experienced in northern China in the 1980s, especially such dishes as the spicy cucumber. The aptly named Veggie Delight was a pleasant and unprecedented experience, although one would have to question the vegan commitment of any vegetarian who would be delighted by that ersatz beef.

Either we didn’t ask, or the house menu does not include, the whole—and I mean whole—fish (carp?!) that is ordinarily the centerpiece of “fine dining” from Beijing to Xi-an. Served on heavily garlanded platters (and ordinarily the most expensive item on the menu), these floral fish dishes are enough to bring Chinese chefs out of their kitchens in search of congratulations on their culinary skill. Also, happily missing from the table was the syrupy orange drink and cola that are ubiquitous to even the most select northern Chinese restaurants.

To say we were gastronomically impressed is an understatement. The only thing that was superior to the food was the hospitality of our friendly hostesses. We’ll eagerly volunteer for a foray to Annandale to verify that Virginia’s A&J is meeting the high standards set by their Rockville cousin.

This was our first DonRockwell.com experience, thanks to mktye. We enjoyed the company as much as the food, and look forward to future epicurian associations.

[grover]

Either we didn’t ask, or the house menu does not include, the whole—and I mean whole—fish (carp?!) that is ordinarily the centerpiece of “fine dining” from Beijing to Xi-an.

A&J is a Dim Sum place. Dim Sum means literally "a point in the heart" so we can interpret it as eating less or light. That's why the serving plates are small. Therefore, having a whole fish won't be a dot in the heart.