Canton Delight, Woodfield Road in Gaithersburg

[hmmboy]

I have lived in DC for over 25 years and still had not had a good egg roll. I'm not talking spring roll.. I'm talking of the egg rolls of my youth. The ones I devoured at the 2 Cantonese restaurants in Monticello, NY, where I grew up, and the countless Cantonese haunts my dad would take me to in NY's Chinatown. The ones they would sell on the Chow Chow Cup food trucks that would visit the Catskills bungalow colonies during the 60s and early 70s. Fat, crisp egg rolls filled with veggies and sometimes pork and/or shrimp. My search is over. Today I drove to Gaithersburg to pick up some teak lumber at a cool place called Exotic Lumber on Woodfield Rd. Driving home and feeling hungry I spotted the "Cantonese Delight" in a strip mall (18550 Woodfield Rd). I pulled in and as I parked I was encouraged as 3 guys walked out with take out orders, including a Montgomery County cop. But I knew I was really on to something good when I walked in to a dining room completely filled at 2:45 on a Monday afternoon. I asked for a take out menu and the owner told me that for $6.50 I could do the take out buffet. A quick glance at the buffet and I spotted those egg rolls, so I agreed. I stuffed my styrofoam box with 2 crispy yummy egg rolls, a crispy, plump, delicious fried chicken wing, some perfectly cookied (and not overly greasy) veggie fried rice and some tender beef and broccoli. EVERYTHING was absolutely fabulous. Though I live 25-30 minutes away, I will consider going back to try some of the Cantonese specialties on the menu, particularly the shrimp in lobster sauce, another dish I've yet to find a decent version of in the greater DC area. Has anyone been?

[Montgomery Maid]

Canton Delight is one of my guilty pleasures--and it's on the way home from the Metro.

The dinner buffet is $7. IF (big if) you can hit the place as they are putting out just-fried chicken wings or string beans, it is pretty good. They do a huge dinner business as well, so the food turns over fast.

I have also had a surprisingly flavorful beef chow fun from the menu.

It's not haute, but it hits the spot for the price.

[DanielK]

From 1992 through 2001, I lived just a mile up the road from that shopping center. That place must have changed hands 5 times in the 9 years I was there, and it was never anything worth visiting a second time.

Glad to hear something decent has finally settled there.

[Montgomery Maid]

Like I said, it is what it is. Sometimes a girl has to have fried chicken, you know?

I also get carry out from the Silver Spoon, which is in the same shopping plaza. They used to have good chicken wings, but they are now sad, oil soaked little things.

[DanielK]

La Canela, the Peruvian joint, is half a mile south on Woodfield, and is excellent (they moved in I think just as we were moving out). The chinese place that was in the same shopping center back then was ok.

Ay Jalisco, around the corner on Snouffer School, is pretty good Salvadorean, though they used to be better when they were Los Chorros #2. Acajutla, on Woodfield, is also decent, though I still give the nod to Ay Jalisco.

[porcupine]

La Canela, the Peruvian joint, is half a mile south on Woodfield, and is excellent (they moved in I think just as we were moving out). ..

Ay Jalisco, around the corner on Snouffer School,

You mean perhaps The Nibbler? I thought La Canela was on 355 near Chestnut Street. Or have I forgotten Gaitherpatch that much?

[DanielK]

You mean perhaps The Nibbler? I thought La Canela was on 355 near Chestnut Street. Or have I forgotten Gaitherpatch that much?

Whoops - you're right. La Flor de la Canela (the newer branch, just called La Canela is in the new Rockville Town Square) is in Old Towne Gaithersburg. The one out by Woodfield is indeed The Nibbler.

[Sthitch]

Fat, crisp egg rolls filled with veggies and sometimes pork and/or shrimp.

One of my best memories of egg rolls was at a small Chinese restaurant on High Street in Montrose, Scotland (a small port city on the east coast, in Angus) called the Summer Palace. Like the ones that you describe these were fat, and crispy, but what I really loved is that instead of being packed with cabbage the primary filling was mung bean sprouts. It is still the standard by which I judge all egg rolls, and I still have not found one that comes close. Unfortunately, the Summer Palace has been closed for a number of years, so a revisit is out of the question.

By chance are these egg rolls packed with cabbage or maybe oh maybe you have found somewhere that has resurrected the use of bean sprouts?

[hmmboy]

One of my best memories of egg rolls was at a small Chinese restaurant on High Street in Montrose, Scotland (a small port city on the east coast, in Angus) called the Summer Palace. Like the ones that you describe these were fat, and crispy, but what I really loved is that instead of being packed with cabbage the primary filling was mung bean sprouts. It is still the standard by which I judge all egg rolls, and I still have not found one that comes close. Unfortunately, the Summer Palace has been closed for a number of years, so a revisit is out of the question.

By chance are these egg rolls packed with cabbage or maybe oh maybe you have found somewhere that has resurrected the use of bean sprouts?

Its primarily cabbage, but they were really delicious

[hm212]

The dinner buffet is $7. IF (big if) you can hit the place as they are putting out just-fried chicken wings or string beans, it is pretty good. They do a huge dinner business as well, so the food turns over fast.

It's not haute, but it hits the spot for the price.

3.75 for kids under 9. - Egg Rolls, Chicken Wings, chicken and cashews topped with rice.

My kids were very happy - Dinner for 3 under $20 including tip.