A&J Restaurant

Where Chinese breakfast (e: & brunch) is concerned, I think Cantonese dim sum can beat up Taiwanese breakfast any day. But with some convincing the food is starting to grow on me. In this area A&J is the place to go if you're craving many variations of fried dough and sweet soy milk, among other non breakfast dishes. You have to come in the weekend to enjoy the full breakfast menu. They have a location in VA as well, but I hear the MD one is superior. We came in for brunch and feasted happily. I think this trip just upgraded A&J to my cubby of favorites!

Fried dough stick w/ sweet soy bean milk

Too bad I recently developed an allergy to soy. But the temporary itchy throat is still worth it.

Sticky Rice Roll (Fan Tuan)

Something about this is so satisfying. It looks small but it's really dense; packed with sticky rice, dried pork, fried dough, and pickled vegetable.

Pot Stickers

If you like meaty dumplings, you'll like these pot stickers.

Seaweed and beansprouts in garlic, vinegar sauce

A really light and tasty side to go with the heavier dishes.

Steamed pork bun

I tried this for kicks and it was disappointing. The meat was disturbingly red, and not soupy at all.

Minced pork with egg over rice

I love this dish here. The meat is seasoned better than most places I've tried.

Fried pork chop over rice

Not over fried and dry like other ones I've had.

Sour cabbage with pork strips and bean thread noodle soup

Sour soup isn't for everyone, but I think it is fantastic!

Beef noodle soup

No thanks. The soup is so salty and the soy sauce flavor is really overpowering.

1319 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852 • 301.251.7878

Phil's BBQ

A friend highly recommended Phil's BBQ when I was planning my trip to San Diego. Unfortunately, I ended up spending little time in San Diego so there weren't many opportunities to visit Phil's. Finally, before heading to the airport to catch my flight back home, I made a last minute stop at Phil's and picked up a few sandwiches for my 10+ hour trip home. Darn layovers!!

El Toro Sandwich

Tender tri-tip steak with delicious BBQ sauce. The meat was probably some of the tender-est I've ever had in a sandwich!

BBQ Broham Sandwich

The waitress said this, along with the El Toro, are the most popular sandwiches at Phil's. The pulled pork in this sandwich was just ok for me... it was a little too dry for my taste.

Ribs!

Ok ok, I didn't actually get to eat this platter. Since I had to catch my flight, I ordered sandwiches so the food would be easier to take on the plane. But when one of the waiters walked by carrying this... I couldn't resist.

3750 Sports Arena Blvd, San Diego, CA • 619.226.6333 • http://www.philsbbq.net

Public House

So on my beach trip to San Diego, I found myself in a landlocked little town called Temecula. It actually was a pretty nice town and well, I didn't really go for the beach or San Diego, but for the company! A bunch of friends and I rented this nice house and just lounged around all week. On one of the days, we ventured into Old Town Temecula and explored the small shops and restaurants. Public House got rave reviews online and even some recommendations from my friend's coworkers so we decided to give it a try!

Sweetly Spicy Public House Fries

We ordered 2 versions of the Public House fries. Initially, this one seemed to be the tastier of the two with a bit of a spicy kick, but mostly sweet. But after eating a bunch, I think most of us preferred the 2nd version...

Salt & Vinegar Public House Fries

The classics are classic for a reason! They just hit the spot and you can't go wrong.

Ceviche

We weren't expecting ceviche like this. It seemed like the fish was mostly cooked and the sauce was weird. The presentation was also really weird, but interesting!

Mac n Cheese

My friend ordered this mac and cheese. The presentation was really unique! But the mac n cheese was too rich for my taste!

Mixed up mac n cheese

Looking more like normal mac n cheese

Burger...

The burgers were what we came for, but don't let this picture deceive you. I found the burger actually a little disappointing. Sure it was cooked to order (medium rare), but I found it way too dry. It wasn't juicy at all!

41971 Main St, Temecula, CA • 951.676.7305 • http://www.publichouse.tv

Timbuktu

For Father's Day and my mom's birthday (yup, they steal each other's thunder... but it's great for me!!), I let my parents pick where to go for dinner. Surprisingly, they chose Timbuktu after hearing from friends about the crab cakes! Previous dinner choices included Red Lobster and Long John Silver... so we're definitely branching out!

Maryland Crab Soup

I love Maryland Crab Soup and this soup had ridiculously large chunks of crab meat in it! But I didn't enjoyed the soup flavor as much as other versions I've had in the past.

Crab Cake

Chunks of crab! Not too much breading! Pretty good crab cake... definitely better than Market Lunch's. But perhaps because I was a little crabcaked out, I didn't think it was as awesome as I remembered.

Pro tip: The menu has a crab cake sandwich and a crab cake platter that is available as either a single or double with 2 sides. The crab cakes themselves are the same size regardless of which entree you order. So if you go by yourself and think you'll only have enough tummy space for a crab cake and a side, the sandwich is your best bet. If you go as a party of two, splitting a double entree instead of ordering 2 singles can save you $7!

1726 Dorsey Road, Hanover, MD • 410.796.0733 • http://www.timbukturestaurant.com/

Carmen's Italian Ice & Cafe

A zoomed in picture of my delicious blue italian ice

Some people might call this flavor "Blue Raspberry". But raspberries aren't blue. And don't taste like this. No, this flavor is special and distinct. It's that sweet artificial candy flavor found "naturally" in blue.

earlier this week, piggy posted about carmen's, claiming that the best three flavors were cherry, mango and strawberry lemon. uhhh... what about BLUE!?!?

pro tip: blue doesn't go well with the chocolate gelati. i've tried.

1115 Nelson St, Rockville MD • 301.545.1154 • http://www.carmensrockville.com/

Carmen's Italian Ice & Cafe

it really doesn't get much better than carmen's on a hot summer day. it's like Rita's but with better flavors. and guess what? you can buy $30 worth of ice for $15 on living social today! Thanks Crystal for the heads up. I just bought mine :)

Small Gelatis: half cherry half mango & strawberry lemonade with vanilla custard

i always ask for mine with no custard on the bottom for a bigger ice ratio. These are 3 of the best flavors, but I love cherry most cuz it has cherry bits!

small berry cherry gelati

pretty good for trying something new, but sweeter than cherry and no bits.

1115 Nelson St, Rockville MD • 301.545.1154 • http://www.carmensrockville.com/

Happy Birthday Isaac (& Obama)

In honor of Prez Obama's 50th, Z-Burger offered a burger and milk shake for .50cents each today. 45 min on line and $7.62 later, we got 2 cheeseburgers, 2 shakes, fries, & onion rings. Thanks Obama and slick deals!

For how busy and tired these workers must have been all day, I was impressed by how friendly & efficient they were. Kudos.

Cheeseburger (mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickles, fried onion, sauteed mushroom, jalepeno)

ack I forgot to leave off the mayo. Nonetheless, it was a better version of a five guys burger. More burger, better bun, less greasy. Then again, I think five guys is overrated.

Half fries Half Onion Ring order

Fries were ok. I picked at the translucent oily ones. Onion ring batter was too thick. You could tell just looking at it.

Chocolate Oreo & Peach Mango Milkshake

Chocolate Oreo was good, no real surprises there. Our extra nice server recommended Peach Mango but it was too artificial. blech.

4321 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC • 202.966.1999 • www.zburger.com

Lighthouse Tofu

I've been to the Lighthouse in Annandale a few times and I just found out there is one right in Rockville. My sister was craving something meaty so it was perfect for a visit. Overall, VA lighthouse (VA Korean food in general) wins.

walrus monster

you are who you hangout with? i hope not! :P

Korean Seafood Pancake

It's been a long time since I had one of these, and I can't remember if they're supposed to be chewy. Well if it isn't supposed to be, I enjoyed the chewiness anyway.

Kimchi Beef Tofu Pot

normally I order my soondubu with clams and/or other seafood, but this was a pleasant change up. I would order this again.

Bugolgi

Bulgogi is just okay to me especially when you can get Korean short ribs for 10x the deliciousness. But it was my sister's choice and for Bulgogi it wasn't bad.

Kimchi side dish

This is by far the worst kimchi I've ever had. It was tremendously fishy and gooey. The kimchi along with the underwhelming side dishes alone make me not eager to return.

12710 Twinbrook Pkwy, Rockville, MD • 301.881.1178