Chengdu Taste, the acclaimed restaurant specializing in mouth-tingling cuisine from Sichuan’s capital city, is now in three San Gabriel Valley cities with the opening of its latest outpost in Rowland Heights last Saturday.

When chef-owner Tony Xu opened his first restaurant in Alhambra in June 2013, the sidewalk along Valley Boulevard quickly became the site of long lines, as people queued up for hours for a taste of Chengdu-style specialties such as Diced Rabbit with Younger Sister's Secret Recipe and the ominously titled Mom's Preserved Chili. The likes of these dishes, which rarely had been seen in Greater L.A., earned the restaurant a place on our 99 Essential Restaurants list — and kept the lines long even after the second location opened last August in Rosemead.

“I want to cook traditionally, to bring back the recipes from before,” Xu told the L.A. Weekly when he was profiled for our 2014 People Issue. “This cooking is something that even people local to Chengdu haven't seen for years.” 

Now, with this third location, Chengdu hunters in the eastern part of the Valley no longer have to make the drive west. It's even better news for those who live in the cities beyond the San Gabriel Valley who regularly travel on the 60, as the new restaurant is a short distance from the freeway. But judging from the photos being tweeted over the last week by Chengdu Taste, be prepared for a wait.

Chengdu Taste, 18406 E. Colima Road, #A, Rowland Heights; (909) 675-8888.

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