A&J Restaurant - Northern Dim Sum to Comfort and Satisfy

For most dim sum weekends, my family and I find ourselves at New Fortune in Gaithersburg. New Fortune serves "Cantonese" dim sum, which is what people often think of when they think of dim sum. But, on some weekends, especially during the cold days of winter, we venture in a different direction and seek out "Northern" dim sum. Our favorite place for Northern dim sum (at least for the past several years) is A&J Restaurant in Rockville, Maryland.

A&J has been a fixture of Washingtonian magazine's recommended "Cheap Eats" for years and with good reason. Think of piping hot dumplings, steaming bowls of soup noodles, and flaky "pastries" filled with all sorts of savory concoctions. A heavier variety of dim sum than the often steamed options of Cantonese dim sum (although, perhaps that's just a reflection of what we order at A&J!), it was always comforting and always satisfying.

Ever since I was little, I have loved scallion "pancakes"... but my favorite was not the scallion pancakes, but instead, the deliciously flaky scallion pastries that are somehow both light and dense at the same time. The flaky crust wraps around the scallion filling and is often sealed with a layer of sesame seeds. For years though we had been unable to find these scallion pastries at dim sum; instead, many restaurants started moving towards the ever popular scallion pancakes. Don't get me wrong, these pancakes are fantastic as well (especially heated up as leftovers the next day!), but they were never quite what I remembered from my childhood. And then, perhaps a year ago, we found that A&J had mini scallion pastries on their smaller "breakfast" menu (the small menu that accompanies their main menu) -- so now, everytime we go, we get TWO orders. One order to eat there and one order to take home. Yum.

My dad's favorite thing to order at A&J are the xiao long bao, or steamed dumplings. Although these xiao long bao often are not as juicy as xiao long bao from our favorite Crystal Jade Restaurant, my dad still cannot resist them when we are there. He often wants to order FOUR orders (=16 xiao long bao!) for four of us on top of everything else we love there... we can usually talk him down to three orders though :)




Perhaps one of the main reasons why we love A&J are the wide variety of noodles available. For every noodle dish, you can get thick or thin noodles, both appealing for their own reasons! I believe these noodles are handmade on site, and the texture of the noodles show it. Our current favorite noodle options are: (1) za jiang mien -- noodles with salty ground pork, shredded cucumbers, and bean sprouts (a favorite of mine since I was little!) (above), (2) the spicy beef soup noodles (below), and (3) soup noodles accompanied by deep fried pork or chicken (I prefer the skinny noodles with this!).

Finally, there are... "sandwiches" available. Ok, perhaps sandwiches isn't the right way to describe these treats, but imagine instead of "bread" you have a thousand layer flat pastry that folds at the center and inside is shredded pork...or beef... I love these for leftovers as well for days after.

And then the "hamburger" (beef xien bing). An exceedingly juicy beef "patty" (I recommend lots of napkins, a bowl to catch excess juice, and caution to be used because the steam that escapes is VERY HOT!) encased in potsticker dough, panfried so the two sides are crispy. These are best fresh and straight off the pan, so eat these at the restaurant! (Mr. J eating one of these below)


If you couldn't tell, I love Northern dim sum...and its many leftovers. We often order much too much for four people, justtt to be able to take some home to enjoy during the week to come! And, if you can't make it to Rockville, A&J also has a location in Annandale, Virginia. I recommend arriving on the earlier (or later) side because around 11:30 to 12:30, the small restaurant is packed.

A&J Restaurant

1319-C Rockville Pike

Rockville, MD 20852

(301) 251-7878

Meli Patisserie & Bistro - desserts as delicious as honey...

It have been nearly five years now since I've lived in Baltimore (how time has flown...) and the food landscape there has changed considerably. Oh, I had my favorite places that I frequented and Baltimore definitely had its food highlights. But the options are more plentiful now, or at least that's what it seems like. Luckily, now that one of my best friends has moved back to Baltimore, I've been picking up some new favorite haunts.

Our friend M was visiting us during one of our cold spells (somehow, she always seems to come up when it is especially cold! I'm convinced it is because she wants an excuse to wear her boots and sweaters since she has no use for them while she lives in Florida). We decided to meet up with M's friend B for dinner ... and happily, it turned out to be Restaurant Week in Baltimore. B picked out our dining spot: MELI. And what a good choice it turned out to be for our one night there.

I've been to Meli's sister restaurant, Kali's Court, but Meli was new to me. Located in the heart of Fells Point, attached to the Admiral Fells Inn, and nearly across the street from the Natty Boh shop (which reminds me I still want to get that Natty Boh shirt, but I digress...), Meli was a perfect escape from the cold. We were tucked into our own alcove, surrounded by curtains, almost our own little dining room. I loved the "honeycomb" theme throughout the restaurant ("meli" being Greek for "honey" after all!).

Our waiter was cheerful, attentive, and unpretentious. He rattled off the specials and was quick to point out that all the items on the menu were fair game for restaurant week (how happy were we to hear that?). The options all sounded equally tantalizing, so we decided to get a variety of dishes to taste test each other's meals.

Some of our selections:

• Grilled tomato salad with mache, fleur de sel, balsamic honey, halloumi cheese (fresh tomatoes, even sweeter after being grilled, and massive portions)
  
• Lobster macaroni and cheese (how could one resist?)
• Duck confit
  
• Amaretto cheesecake with berry coulis, fresh berries, and homemade whipped cream (our absolute favorite of the desserts! Simply creamy and indulgent.)


• Chocolate Framboise: layers of chocolate mousse, raspberry puree, and chocolate case encased in ganache


• Chocolate almond tart: chocolate almond mousse inside a tart shell covered in dark chocolate

On a sidenote, I just noticed that Meli offers mimolette as one of their cheeses in the "cheese tasting." I LOVE mimolette and have rarely found it at restaurants in the area.

I enjoyed my night at Meli -- I don't think that I would really need three courses all to myself next time (quite impressed by the sizeable portions!), but was happy to have sampled such a wide variety of their menu. Although, I must say, looking back, I couldn't recall what any of us had for our entrees. I must have had a food blackout at that point and had to have my memory jogged by M. Appetizers were much clearer in my head...desserts were VERY clear. Indicative of what parts of the meal I enjoyed the most?

Meli Patisserie & Bistro
1636 Thames Street
Baltimore, MD 21231
(410) 534-MELI

Date night with my favorite person at Black's Bar and Kitchen

(Apologies for the blurry pictures! -- the special appetizer suckling pork with sauteed mushrooms and topped with a fried egg)

After a stressful past several weeks, Mr. J thought that date night was much in order for a little relaxation, good food, and fun times. He had the perfect place in mind, which he discovered on L's suggestion -- Black's Bar and Kitchen.

Ironically, Black's is owned by the same group that owns a restaurant that has been on my "to eat" list for some time - BlackSalt (also in their group are Addie's Restaurant (Rockville) and Black Market Bistro (Garrett Park)). I had heard rave reviews about BlackSalt, a seafood restaurant in the Palisades, but Black's Bar and Kitchen was (at that time) unknown to me.

So we saddled up and drove out to Bethesda... next door to Black's is a huge parking garage (hurrah! free parking, and loads of it!) so we quickly darted out of the cold from the parking garage to the restaurant.

Immediately after stepping into Black's, we felt warmed -- although fairly large, the restaurant itself felt cozy and inviting, with dimmed lighting, beautiful wood paneled walls, and cushy booths. We sat in one of the booths in the bar section, with an excellent view of the open kitchen. The bar section offers both the regular menu and an additional menu of smaller bites -- I love a wide selection (despite my indecisiveness...), so I welcomed the chance to pick from a larger array of choices!

Our waitress was bubbly and friendly - she rattled off their specials, each one sounding more tasty than the last. I admit, it took me quite awhile to decide what to get. Black's menu came across as very farm fresh -- loads of seasonal produce, local fish and meat options (in fact, I just noticed this, Black's is self-described as "blending organic ingredients and regional flavors with a light and fresh flair" -- sounds like an accurate description to me!). Over time, these are the types of restaurants that I've become increasingly attracted to -- ones that serve not overly fancy food, but food that is made of fresh ingredients with techniques that allow those flavors to come through and just generally good, satisfying food.

After mentally deciding to come back, we decided to get the following: (1) crispy squid with creole tartar sauce, (2) the appetizer special - slices of suckling pig on a bed of sauteed mushrooms topped with a fried egg, (3) yellowfin tuna quarter pounder with frisee, vine ripe tomatoes, tangy dijon and house made chips (for Mr. J ... delicious! I think I plan to get this next time), and (4) wood grilled Chesapeake Bay bluefish with black truffle pierogies, soft herb sauce, and red cabbage sauerkraut (below).

Talk about an explosion of flavors. I am obsessed with the black truffle pierogies (panfried on one side) (above, on the right) and the tuna quarter pounder (below).

The calamari (below) was very tender and fresh (not chewy like you often find at restaurants) with a bit of kick (paprika? cayenne?). I wasn't bowled over by the bluefish (although the skin was so crispy, which I love), but could have eaten the sides it came with again and again.

By the time we embarked on dessert options, the restaurant was filled with other people that apparently had the same idea to escape out of the cold to this retreat. We hardly thought we could eat dessert, but after hearing Mr. J talk about the pumpkin mousse they had last time and also watching dessert after dessert pass by us, I couldn't resist (and I always did say I had a separate compartment for desserts...). My frontrunners were the spoken of pumpkin mousse with caramel ice cream, butterscotch creme brulee with vanilla madeleines (I love butterscotch and madeleines!), or the bourbon pecan tart with maple ice cream (perfect for the upcoming holiday!). We fell for the pumpkin mousse and it was the right choice... it was almost like a pumpkin panna cotta, not too heavy, quite light, and filled with pumpkin-y goodness (all atop a graham cracker).

All in all, a wonderful night -- good company, stomach warming satisfying food, friendly service, and enjoyable surroundings.

[One fun fact that I discovered on Black's website -- when renovated in 2006, all materials were recycled and reclaimed... and the entire restaurant is powered by wind energy]

Shuck, Slurp, Gulp - Maryland Oyster Festival

For the past 42 years, St. Mary's County has been home to the Maryland Oyster Festival where the "national oyster shucking" champion is crowned, hundreds (thousands?) of these tasty bivalves are gulped, and the national oyster cook-off draws in crowds.

We ventured out to Leonardtown this year to try it out! We've been to the delicious Fells Point Oyster Festival in past years, but never to the Maryland Oyster Festival. Loaded up with caffeine, we drove the two hours there - it was a beautiful day for a fall festival. When we arrived, the festival was already in full swing. We beelined to the food - it was lunchtime and we were starving. But where to begin...? Stands upon stands of food were set up ... from the curious (crab stuffed pretzels!) to the divine (grilled oysters with garlic and butter), from the body warming (hot apple cider) to the...again body warming (the Guinness truck with the beer spouts). Food paradise. By the end of our lunch rush, we had tried: deep fried oysters (very tasty), oyster stew (a little bit too watery), oyster sandwich (mmm fried oysters on a roll!), and my favorite, the grilled oysters with garlic and butter.

The oyster festival has a little bit for everyone. Not a fan of oysters? No problem -- the oyster festival is a mix of a food festival and a fun county fair. There are carnival rides (not recommended after eating oysters), local crafts, and live music.

I was sadly full before I could indulge in all the treats I wanted. The crab stuffed pretzels, the funnel cake, the barbeque beef sandwich, and crab soup will have to wait til next year.

OH! And before I forget, the WINE TASTING. I hadn't expected a wine tasting booth at the Oyster Festival but the Solomon Island Winery was set up with about 12 different wines to taste! For only $3, you could sample 6 wines. We sampled both the "island mist" wines (fruity) and the premium wines... We really only intended to sample, but came home with two bottles for future tastings! I loved their Blueberry Pinot Noir and my oyster loving companion fell for their Green Apple Riesling. Yes, yes, they are quite sweet, but perfect for a summer's day.