How to debug a LINQ Statement

Yes it is indeed possible to pause execution midway through a linq query.

Convert your linq to query style using lambda expressions and insert a Select statement that returns itself somewhere after the point in the linq that you want to debug. Some sample code will make it clearer -

        var query = dataset.Tables[0].AsEnumerable()
            .Where (i=> i.Field<string>("Project").Contains("070932.01"))
 //         .Select(i =>
 //         {return i;}
 //           )
            .Select (i=>i.Field<string>("City"));

Then uncomment the commented lines. Make sure the {return i;} is on its own line and insert a debug point there. You can put this select at any point in your long, complicated linq query.

I'm not sure if it's possible to debug from VS, but I find LINQPad to be quite useful. It'll let you dump the results of each part of the LINQ query.