In Fremont, North of the center of the universe, off the main thoroughfares and away from the shops and Thai places sits an unassuming Chinese restaurant. This restaurant goes by the name of Asian Wok & Grill and has very little in the way of signage to announce its presence.

Located above the old Red Apple grocery store, Asian Wok & Grill gets very little in the way of foot traffic. As a matter of fact I have yet to visit them when they’ve had more than three or four tables seated. This is a shame as the food, while not all authentic Chinese dishes, has a good blend of Americanized Far East classics and traditional Southern Chinese cuisine. It was due in part to the #33, Wontons with Hot Chili Oil ($5.95), that I ordered that I came to know this.

My waiter was very interested in how I learned about the dish. “To be honest”, I told him, “I hadn’t heard of it before but it was the hot chili oil that caught my eye.” It is explained to me by my server that this particular dish is a local favorite in Southern China. And I can see why this is. Little meatballs of firm, mild-flavored pork are wrapped in wonton wrappers and steamed. After steaming they are tossed in a delicate broth that has been spiked with prickly hot chili oil. The sauce itself is what makes this dish standout. It’s a savory, somewhat salty broth that lulls you into a false sense that the heat is nothing more than a paper tiger. How wrong it is to believe that. The hot chili oil kicks in a few seconds after it hits your mouth bringing sweat to the brow and a tingle to the lips. While not the spiciest food I’ve ever had, the Wontons with Hot Chili Oil I would only recommend to those people who can handle a fair amount of heat in their food.

On the other end of the spectrum was the #71, Tiger Prawn, Scallop, Cashew Nut and Mixed Vegetable ($10.95). While the wontons had kick, this dish was very mild almost to the point of being bland. The prawns were large, plump and plentiful. Cooked just until their pink started showing they were layered at the top of a large mound of green beans, water chestnuts and scallops. I was a little disappointed in the scallops as the seemed overdone and watery. The vegetables were done well, the green beans standing out most in my mind. The Chinese take on cooking beans, flash sauté in a hot wok to blister the outer skins, is one of my favorites. It was something of a shame that these had to be relegated to the bottom of the pile while too much emphasis, I think, was placed on water chestnuts. All of these ingredients are very mild on their own and were coated in an equally weak oyster sauce. The only real flavor came from the generous sprinkling of cashew nuts across the surface of the dish.

With a menu consisting of over one hundred items Asian Wok & Grill is sure to have something that everyone can enjoy be it spicy or mild, traditional or Americanized. While there may be other Chinese restaurants that have greater range and more authentic dishes, it’s nice to know that there is an Asian outpost, within walking distance for Fremont residents, that isn’t Thai.