Gold Dig #11

Chengdu Taste is in the San Gabriel Valley, the real Chinatown of LA (in my humble opinion). The outside looks pretty much like every Chinese restaurant in the area – kinda rundown, no frills, hopefully because all the focus is on the food! They do have one of the fancier menu covers I’ve seen. It is oft seen on Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list, and it’s one of those restaurants that lots of people in LA talk about. I’m Chinese American, so have schlepped all the way out to that area my fair share of times for dim sum and to buy Asian groceries you can’t get on the westside (for a reasonable price anyway). But I’d never been to Chengdu Taste, so I thought it was high time! It turns out I have unknowingly driven past it quite often, as it’s just up the street from my favorite Asian market.

The Dish

The word on the street was that the dishes to try are the toothpick lamb, numb-taste wonton, and boiled fish. I know, boiled fish sounds totally uninteresting, right? But those that know (including Jonathan Gold) say it’s the thing to get. What they don’t say is that there are 4 different boiled fish items on the menu. You are looking for the boiled fish with green pepper sauce. You’ll notice that right underneath it there is a boiled fresh fish with green pepper sauce. I would have thought that fresh fish is the better option. However the waitress informed me that the popular dish most people order is the first one, because it doesn’t have bones. This made me laugh. My grandparents always told me that it’s a good sign for the food to still have the bones, head, and tail when served to you – that’s how you know it’s fresh. Apparently not so for most Americans.

Toothpick Lamb with Cumin

The toothpick lamb came out first. It had a really strong cumin scent. But the flavor was nicely balanced between the cumin and the dried chili peppers. Not too spicy, just enough for good depth. My one complaint about this dish was the texture. Each bite-size piece of lamb comes on its own toothpick (thus the name). Some of the pieces were tender, but others were grisly and a bit hard to chew through.

Numb-Taste Wonton

Next came the numb-taste wonton. So called because Sichuan peppercorns are known for some to cause a numbing sensation in the mouth. I actually found the sauce to be more salty than spicy. I preferred to snag the ones that weren’t completely soaked in the sauce, so that the taste of the filling wasn’t completely overwhelmed by the saltiness. They didn’t taste all that different from the wontons I make at home. But I like those, so I guess I can’t complain 🙂

Boiled Fish with Green Pepper Sauce

Last came the fish. This dish has tons of fresh green chilies and a smaller amount of fresh red chilies. Since they weren’t the dried ones, which don’t seem very chewable and digestable to me, I popped one of each in my mouth to see how spicy they were. Not too bad, but then I made the mistake of chowing down on a couple of the Sichuan peppercorns. It started out as just a strong citrus flavor, but then the mouth numbing went into effect and made me feel like I wasn’t fully tasting all the food I ate after that. Luckily I had eaten a piece of the fish before that, and it was delicate and delicious. I suggest digging out the fish pieces and picking off the peppercorns, which can be a bit challenging as they are all over. As I dug around, I discovered a hidden heap of bean sprouts and bamboo shoots, which were a crunchy treat soaked in the oily broth.

After attacking the fish for a bit, I returned to the lamb and found that it seemed even more flavorful. If I could do it again, I would reverse my eating order. Start with the fish (picked clean of any clinging peppercorns), then the wonton, and finally the lamb. Oh and I’d finish with a bowl of rice with the oily broth from the fish poured all over it. In a Chinese restaurant, that serves as dessert for me. Because while I love Chinese food, Chinese dessert is the worst. No, beans is not a dessert! Where is the chocolate, cheesecake, creme brulee!? But that is a topic I will save for another day.

Bonus: Ok, maybe I’ll talk about dessert just a little more. If you know me at all (or have been reading much of this blog), you know it’s a pretty important topic for me. I like to have something sweet after every meal. I’m told there’s science to this – a little sugar is how your body knows you’re done with a meal! So given my aforementioned feelings on Chinese dessert, I’ve made a tradition of stopping for a sweet boba tea treat at the end of my San Gabriel Valley excursions. Tapioca Express is my go-to spot – lots of flavors and add-ins.  The iced mango milk tea with lychee jelly is one of my faves!

Want to watch our mouths go numb? Check out our video here!