FACING PAGE : Chong Qing diced chicken with hot chili peppercorns and Sichuan cucumbers . THIS PAGE , LEFT : Stir-fried lotus root and BBQ ribs with dry sauteed string beans . BELOW : Sesame prawns .
R ecalling the last time you ate in a Chinese restaurant — rather than ordering takeout — is often an excavation into the memory . In the post-COVID restaurant world , some dining rooms didn ’ t even bother reopening as business remained brisk without a waitstaff . Cheng Du Taste , however , sits in the liminal state between a carryout window and a full-fledged restaurant . It also sits somewhere in the aesthetics of the 1970s , down the block from the original New York System and recognizable because of a tinted , waterfall-shaped glass wall . (“ Is that an arboretum ?” asked one confused diner . And after a pause : “ Was that an arboretum at one point ?”)
Early in any evening , it looks like the restaurant is closed for dining in . The only person in full motion is at the takeout counter , which remains frenetic at all hours . But behind a section of Saran-wrapped hot pot tables ( and past the darkened arboretum ), sit seven tables that are decades removed from modernity . This is the most unadorned example of a restaurant you might find in Rhode Island — and one most linked to the architectural style of Mike Brady . Wooden spindles stand upright over the tables and a moon-shaped doorway looks out onto Smith Street in retro fashion .
But it ’ s what comes out of the kitchen that rips the culinary curtains open , creating groupies of the people who will fill every table by 7 p . m . The demographic is impossible to nail down : College students in pajama bottoms and sweatshirts dominate the space , but parents toting preschool kids and disciples of the Beat Generation in berets are also keen to slide into a six-person booth for the night . There is no alcohol at Cheng Du — just tea , soda , and the occasional aloe vera juice . Even menus look like relics of a bygone era , with prices handwritten in the margins to mark the passage of time . But the menu is also eight pages long and offers an expansive study of Chinese history , largely unencumbered by American demands .
That doesn ’ t mean the subdued staff won ’ t make concessions . When a Friday night diner in a baseball cap realizes there is no bar , he asks if he can retrieve a bottle of wine from his hockey bag to celebrate the end of the workweek . A bottle opener is quickly placed on the table and the Bruins fan pours red wine into teacups like it is tradition .
But that ’ s where the domestic comfort
CHENG DU TASTE
495 Smith St ., Providence , 729-5699 , chengdutasteonline . com
Open for lunch and dinner Thursday – Tuesday . Wheelchair accessible . Lot parking .
CUISINE Classic Chinese and Sichuan .
CAPACITY Forty .
VIBE Wood paneling meets the city of Chengdu .
PRICES Appetizers : $ 1.95 –$ 18.95 ; entrees : $ 10.95 –$ 39.95 ; dessert : $ 8.95 –$ 16.95 .
KAREN ’ S PICKS Steamed juicy pork buns , soup of any kind , everything with chili peppers , Sichuan cucumbers , sesame prawns , candied sweet potato and taro .
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l JUNE 2023 119