This post draws to an end the first phase of my meal reports from Los Angeles in June. A couple of days later we embarked on a week-long driving trip up the coast to San Francisco and back again. There was a little more eating out in Los Angeles before we finally returned to Minnesota but those will show up in chronological order in a couple of weeks. Here now is an account of a return to another old favourite that we had somehow not gone back to in a long time: Chengdu Taste in Alhambra. I noted yesterday that our last visit to Ahgassi Gopchang had been in January 2019. Well, my last report on a meal at Chengdu Taste was of a meal eaten in December 2017! Even subtracting three years hit hard by the pandemic, that’s a long time. Part of it, as I’ve said before, is that since we do actually have very good Sichuan food in the Twin Cities, Sichuan meals are not our top priority on our regular trips to Los Angeles—there’s a lot more to eat there that we either don’t get at all or get pale versions of here. It is, however, also true that even the best Sichuan in the Twin Cities metro (at Grand Szechuan) cannot compare to the best in the San Gabriel Valley. This was confirmed at this return to Chengdu Taste.

I have to admit that we hadn’t actually set out to eat at Chengdu Taste on this trip either. We’d left for the SGV from Seal Beach, expecting to eat at the new’ish Malaysian restaurant, Ipoh Kopitiam. But when we arrived the line outside Ipoh Kopitiam was so long that we didn’t even bother stopping the car. Instead I turned left on Valley Blvd. and drove straight to Chengdu Taste. Now, back in the day it wouldn’t have been so easy to walk into Chengdu Taste for lunch either. In 2017 we just barely got a table on arrival (and that was just the two of us eating). This time we had the boys along (their first-ever Chengdu Taste meal) but we could have gotten seated with a much larger party as well. There was only one table occupied when we arrived a little after noon and it wasn’t so much busier when we left (though there were two large groups walking in as we were walking out). I guess Chengdu Taste is no longer the hot ticket it was in the half-decade or so after they opened. I am pleased, however, to say that the food is as good as ever.

What did we get? Mostly but not entirely old favourites. Firs to arrive on the table was Cold Noodles with Garlic Sauce. The noodles sit on a vinegar and chilli oil dressing and once mixed in are just dynamite (there’s perceptible heat but it’s not a very hot dish as things at Chengdu Taste go). Hot on its heels arrived one of the missus’ favourite dishes, the Dong Po Pork Crura. Their other pork crura/shank+hock dish, the Flavoured Pork Crura might be even better but this was just excellent as well. Also excellent: everything else. This included the Wonton with Pepper Sauce, the Spring Onion Chicken in Pepper Sauce (a cold dish that is one of my favourite chicken dishes anywhere), the Sauteed String Bean and the Tofu and Fish in Earthen Pot (a very mild relief dish). And rice to help with it all.

For a look at the menu (now QR code only—and you order via the QR code as well; though you pay at the table at the end) and what we ate, launch the slideshow below. Scroll down to see how much it all cost and to see what’s coming next.

Prices have inevitable risen in the six and a half years since our last visit but even so, with tax and tip, our total for all of the above came to just $120. Factoring in the meals we made from leftovers, this was easily enough food for six adults—which puts the effective cost at $20/head. Still an insane value for the quality. Maybe we won’t wait another half-decade for our next visit.

What’s next on the food front? As it happens we did eat at another member of the Chengdu Taste family on this trip. But that was not in the SGV and was after we got back from parts north—so more on that later. On Tuesday, I’ll have a report on a recent dinner at Alma (spoiler alert: their current summer menu is fantastic). Later in the week you can expect at least one report from our drive up the coast and at least one of the remaining Seoul reports (I promise). Let’s see how it goes.