Chengdu Style Restaurant in Davis, CA

Sauteed Green Beans.

Cold Chicken in Chile Oil.

Sauteed Lamb with Onions.

This is the sister restaurant of Chengdu Style in Berkeley, which we've enjoyed a number of times. Reviews have all been enthusiastic, so since we wanted to do a quick afternoon getaway, we decided to eat here.

Above is Toothpick Lamb, a dish we've had at a few Szechuan places, but no better than the version at Chengdu Taste in several Los Angeles locations. But here's a version that's slightly different, and close enough to the LA Gold Standard. The pieces of lamb aren't as uniform, and are bigger, otherwise we're talking about a similar blend of spices (szechuan peppercorns, chiles, cumin, coriander). The rich lamb flavor is an ideal medium for all these spices. You can pick the chiles off if you want the mild version, but I love that hot spicy zing and the accompanying love you two times endorphin rush, not to mention a brow gushing like the Oroville Dam. 

And here's the perfect thing to soothe the heat: a cold marinated cucumber dish. Spot on.

Pork dumplings in chile oil, in case you can't enough. 

Pork pot stickers. A world of difference from the indifferent steam table variety found at Asian buffets all over the place. Dipping sauce includes julienned ginger.

Chengdu Style Restaurant

737 Russell Blvd, Davis, CA 95616

Phone: (530) 746-2272