Email signup

Now a RAMMY winner, Annandale’s A&J Restaurant has fed a generation of local dim sum fans

Elaine Tang, co-owner of Annandale’s A&J Restaurant, admits she was surprised when her restaurant won a RAMMY for “Best Brunch of the Year” last weekend.

“We were kinda shocked when we won the award,” Tang told FFXnow. “We’ve been in this area for many years, so we have a lot of repeat customers. And I think they love this style of food.”

The Taiwanese-Northern Chinese dim sum restaurant, which has locations in Rockville, Maryland, and on Markham Street in Annandale, was the only eatery with ties to Fairfax County to win a RAMMY this year. All in all, five restaurants with county ties were nominated.

Since 1982, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington (RAMW) has handed out awards (RAMMYs) to D.C. area restaurants for various categories at their annual awards gala.

This year’s rendition took place on Sunday (July 24), when A&J Restaurant took home the “Best Brunch” award.

The breakfast menu is only available on weekends and consists of traditional northern Chinese and Taiwanese morning fare like sticky rice rolls, morning biscuits, flaky scallion pastry, and salty soybean milk. The rest of the menu — items like pan-fried pork dumplings, homemade noodles, and crisp cabbage — is also available during the weekend brunch.

The family-owned restaurant began in Taiwan in the 1970s, when Tang’s uncle opened a restaurant in the capital city of Taipei. Then, the family took it to Los Angeles before expanding to the D.C. area in the 1990s.

Today, Tang heads up both the Rockville restaurant, which opened in 1996, and the Annandale location, which began serving in 2000.

This isn’t the first local accolade that A&J has received. The restaurant is often listed by Washingtonian Magazine and The Washington Post as one of the top dim sum restaurants in the area.

Tang says it took some time for the community to find A&J, but once they did, it has become a favorite.

“It was first mostly Asian people, but gradually more Western people discovered us,” she said. “They like our food and now keep coming back.”

She says it can be pretty hard to find restaurants serving this type of breakfast in the area and is happy to be not only one of the few, but also one of the best.

Tang’s niece Elaine, who helps run the Los Angeles restaurant, concurs that the team was “quite surprised” with the win.

“It is nice to see the Restaurant Association widen their scope and look to restaurants such as ours to be included in this year’s nominees,” Elaine wrote in an email to FFXnow. “We have been working hard for decades now to make a good and consistent product that people continue to come back for.”

As was the case for many local restaurants, A&J was hit hard by the pandemic, but they have survived so far and are now doing “okay,” Tang says.

There are no current plans to expand A&J in Fairfax County. The mission is, simply, to keep doing what they’ve been doing for the last 26 years in Annandale.

“We welcome everyone to our restaurant to try and see if they’ll like it,” Tang said. “I’m sure they will really like it.”

Recent Stories

FFXnow Daily Debrief for Sep 29, 2023

Good Friday evening! Today we published 8 articles that were read a total of 10957 times on FFXnow alone, so far. 📈 Top stories The following are the most-read articles…

A 17-year veteran of the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue Department has been arrested for allegedly stealing drugs stored at two stations for her personal use, police announced today (Friday)….

A total of six new Capital Bikeshare stations may soon arrive around the Innovation Center Metro station. The Fairfax County Department of Transportation will host a meeting this coming Wednesday…

Tysons Corner Center can move forward with new plans for its next phase of development. After a public hearing on Tuesday (Sept. 26), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved…

Public invited: “Fur-th Birthday” brunch celebration for Woofie’s of South Riding-Aldie, Sunday, October 8 at The Lazy Dog Restaurant & Bar

Woofie’s of South Riding-Aldie, providing premium mobile pet services throughout Aldie, Middleburg, South Riding is celebrating its fourth anniversary with expansion to Centreville and Chantilly and its fourth Woofie’s pet grooming van. The franchise, owned and operated by Loudoun County residents, husband/wife team Sebaot Gebre and Teferi Dejene, has grown by 900% since its first full year in business.

Services include:
• Mobile pet spa grooming
• Dog walking
• Pet sitting
• In-home or overnight pet sitting
• Customizable services

Read More

Submit your own Community Post here.

If you have been thinking about buying your first home or haven’t owned one in the last three years, THIS IS FOR YOU!

In the DMV area, it can be difficult to save the downpayment necessary for you to get into your own home. We have a solution. The Funder’s Summit!

We have assembled a summit with different municipalities to tell you how to access their funds for your home purchase.

Read More

Submit your own Community Post here.

STEM Fest

We invite you to join us at STEAMOLOGY’s annual FREE STEM Fest for elementary and middle school students, taking place on Saturday, October 14th at South County High School, 8501 Silverbrook Rd, Lorton, VA 22079.

STEM Fest is an exciting

Arlington Metaphysical Chapel Presents Metaphest, October 14-15, 2023

Workshops on: ~ Meditation ~ Intro to Tarot: The Aces and Major Arcana

~ Ageless Aging ~ Past Life Regression ~ Animal Communication and Healing

~ Psychometry ~ Spiritual Healing ~ Self Soul Love ~ Consciously Clearing Clutter ~ Awareness/Mindfulness/Consciousness.

×

Subscribe to our mailing list