4316 Markham St
Annandale, VA 22003
(703) 813-8181
A&J Restaurant is a fantastic find tucked away in the midst of Annandale. Alas, the photo I took with my phone is somewhat sub-par. What I was attempting to showcase was the seven awards A&J has won from the Washington Post regarding being a “best bargain/value restaurant.”
True to the title, you will be hard pressed to find anything on A&J’s menu above $5.95. However, just because the food is ‘cheap’ doesn’t mean that is not fantastic. The menu items are fairly authentic (which is why the clientèle is mostly Asian) and everything is prepared to order.
Standard operating procedure is to order several small dishes and dine ‘family style.’ Today’s selection included a few of my favorites: dan dan noodle, beef tendon w/ thin noodles, steamed beef dumplings, smoked chicken, & fried bread stick (NOT the kind of breadstick you’d get from the Olive Garden).
Today we arrived around 1:15, so there wasn’t much of a wait (5 – 10 minutes). Had we arrived close to 11 or noon, wed have probably been behind about 7 or 8 groups. Still, the place was full, and as is sometimes the case a few of our dishes arrived luke warm. My Dan Dan was one of those dishes, but it was still pretty good. Portion size is surprisingly filling given the price, and although the spicy peanut sauce doesn’t initially bring a lot of heat, by the end of the bowl you’ll be reaching for whatever liquid is closest. You have your choice of thin or wide noodles, and I almost always go for the wide.
The smoked chicken was interesting. Again, it arrived a little cooler than I would have preferred, but it was flavorful even when removing the fat lined skin. Be careful of small bones, and plan on garnishing with soy or hot sauce. The smoky flavor is subtle yet noticeable but doesn’t do enough to eat the chicken by itself (unless you like your food plain).
Beef tendon soup inst something I particularly like, at least not the beef tendon part. The broth is quite delicious, and isn’t too salty. Its clearly made from scratch. The tendons are good for what they are, someone who really loves them thinks they are fantastic.
That leaves me with the bread stick and the steamed beef dumplings. The dumplings take the longest to arrive at the table (about 20 minutes) and are great. Priced at $2.95, the four dumplings you receive are steamed to perfection — the beef ball inside is tasty and piping hot. The wrappers are some of the best I have ever had. The bread stick is incredibly flaky and deep fried. Dipped in the broth of the beef tendon soup, they make for a delicious carb in a rice-less meal.
To sum things up, given you arrive at just the right time, and don’t mind half your meal being luke warm (plus a relatively UN-friendly wait staff), A&J is an extremely cheap, incredibly tasty way to spend a Saturday afternoon.
