A Sunday festival of Fremont-based restaurant exploration took us to Roxy's Deli for brunch and El Camino for dinner.

At Roxy's Deli I had matzoh ball soup and a corned-beef sandwich.

The soup was reasonable: a light chicken stock with minor herbing and a fluffy matzoh ball that had a wheat-like appearance to its consituent materials. It was a pleasant light soup, but not overwhelmingly authentic in taste for those who are deeply steeped in historical matzoh ball familial sampling and/or New York tastings.

The corned beef sandwich was hearty and a good size. We analyzed the beef extensively, in fact, and have developed a new theory as to what exactly is so different between the Corned Beef of the World (CBOTW) and the Corned Beef of New York (CBONY). Here is a sketch of the Principle of New York Corned Beef Preparation (PONYCBP):

• the tiny individual meat chunklets in CBONY are more well-defined, separated, and individually assessable. This seems likely to be due to a high fat content.
  
• the coloration of CBONY is a deep, rich red. Our hypothesis is that the meat is fried, marinated, soaked, or otherwise immersed in some other kind of fat (e.g. chicken fat, or "schmaltz").
  
• without having to order specially, roughly 3x the expected, necessary, or normally consumable quantity of corned beef is placed on the sandwich.
• The Jewish rye bread is particularly excellent.
  

Unfortunately, none of the four items in the above were to be found at Roxy's, but the sandwich was reasonable nevertheless. A flavorful deli mustard was applied, and the corned beef was heated on a grill. From remote observation, the breakfast dishes (corned beef hash, omelettes, etc.) looked excellent and I'll be giving those a whirl the very next time I go.

We also tried a Lox and Bagel -- the lox was light and fresh, the bagels weren't overly-cheesed, and good quality purple onions were also thrown into the mix. There were capers but not as many as one would like, so we'll be asking for bonus capers on our return.

I summed the restaurant experience up as: a diner experience with Jewish overtones.

And, on to El Camino! My second meal there was far more memorable than the previous one, and the drink sampling is surely a key component. We had a House Margarita (strong, flavorful, light salt on the rim) and a Raspberry Twist (essentially a raspberry sorbet in a glass with mint). Both were tasty and delightful while still knocking the imbiber for an imbibed liquorific loop.

The posole, unlike many posoles that have gone before, was not greasy or red in color. Composed at least in part of chicken, pork, a rich chicken broth, hominy, and green tomatillo sauce, it was one of the highlights of the meal and I will think of it wistfully from time to time until such time as I taste it again. It was served with flour-dusted flour tortillas steaming hot and with some amount of salt pre-applied in a tasteful and thoughtful manner.

The mussels appetizer was served in a hearty cream, chile, and herb sauce with toasted buttery flatbread on the side. We thoroughly enjoyed the mussels, again the orange varietal, and there were several extraordinarily plump instances to be found. This will sound negative, but it's not intended as such: for those who remember playing with cap guns in their youth (cheap metal toy guns that apply pressure to red paper strips containing small amounts of some kind of gunpowder-like substance), as we wrapped up the dish, I found something in the broth tasted faintly like the way the caps used to smell. But in a good way!

The chicken enchilada is memorable for two reasons: (1) the mole is extra chocolatey, and (2) it is served with a side of collard greens with a vinegar-esque sauce. The enchilada contents are comprised of tender chicken morsels. We are going to eat it again and again.

Here's what I want to order the next time I go to El Camino:

• another raspberry twist
• the duck special that I've seen twice but not yet ordered
• the posole
• some kind of dessert
  

Word is that the pulled pork sandwich also looks appealing, and may be on the short list.

Asian Wok and Grill

One of my favorite Chinese dishes is Hong Kong Style Crispy Chow Mein. Properly done, the noodles are thin egg noodles that are fried into a wide, flat, crispy birds-nest hunk. A sauced preparation is poured on top (I'd normally select beef, though most anything can be found inclusive of chicken, seafood, and house combos). The most memorable restaurants at which I've eaten this:

• Hong Kong Flower Lounge (San Francisco and Palo Alto, CA), sadly, I believe this restaurant is no more.
  
• Jasmine (Las Vegas, in the Bellagio), and really everything here is quite excellent.
  
• Noble Court (Bellevue, WA), in my humble opinion the single best Chinese restaurant in the Seattle area.
  

My girlfriend recently discovered that Asian Wok and Grill, near Fremont Ave. and 34th St., serves this dish, and so my quality of life has dramatically improved.

Since no entry would be complete without a carnitas reference, let me suggest that the intrepid reader check out El Puerco Lloron, recommended to me by my co-worker Cam, and a worthy purveyor of fine pork and other meat-based dishes. Eat now or be hungry! I found their beans and tortillas to be particularly tasty -- I believe they make their own tortillas, much like Rosita's in Greenlake. It's also in a fun location, right in the middle of the Pike Place Market area, near the waterfront, some furniture shops, and the Seattle Steam Factory (no, really, that's what the side of the building says).