Chengdu Taste

Although owners Tony Xu and Sean Xie have expanded their Mian noodle concept into a mini-chain, it’s their original Sichuan restaurant, Chengdu Taste, that still sets our hearts—and taste buds—on fire. The casual Alhambra restaurant that first put Sichuan food on the map in L.A. in 2013, Chengdu Taste offers a dizzying number of dishes that capture the unique spicy, numbing mala quality Sichuan cuisine is famous for.  Though Chengdu Taste also offers more exotic meats like rabbit and frog legs, as well as a show-stopping lion-carved fish, the restaurant’s more everyday level fare, like the toothpick lamb, are what have kept this restaurant on our shortlist whenever we find ourselves craving a touch of Sichuan mala on the tongue.