Chino Bandido celebrates 35 years of Chinese-Mexican fusion
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Chinese-Mexican fusion restaurant Chino Bandido is celebrating its 35th anniversary this weekend. Photo: Jeremy Duda/Axios
Chino Bandido, the Valley's beloved Chinese-Mexican fusion restaurant in north Phoenix, is celebrating 35 years in business this weekend.
State of play: Chino Bandido is hosting a weekend of festivities to celebrate the anniversary of its 1990 opening.
- They'll have live music on Saturday and Sunday, with guitarist Jay Farris performing from noon-2pm and bluegrass band All Stringz Considered from 5-8pm.
- Chino Bandido is also serving discontinued menu items like chicken wings, black bean tostadas and rice pudding with raisins, and will have all five of their cookie styles while supplies last.
- There will also be drawings for a couple of contests, one of which is open to people who can correctly fill out the restaurant's original order forms.
Catch up quick: Owner Eve Collins and her late husband Frank were inspired to start Chino Bandido by the variations they'd make at home of food they tried at various restaurants.
- Collins' ancestry is Chinese and her brother married a Latina, which is how the restaurant ended up being Chinese-Mexican fusion.
- That fusion was a part of her youth. Collins' parents owned a grocery store in Sunnyslope, and they added Chinese-style fillings to the tamales they learned to make from some of their customers.
- Chino Bandido moved from its original location at 19th Avenue and Greenway Road to 310 W Bell Rd in 2021.
What she's saying: "The best parts of the entire business have been the families, the ones who've grown up and they bring in their families," Collins told Axios.
Flashback: One of Collins' most memorable moments was when Guy Fieri first came to Chino Bandido in 2008 and showcased it on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."
- Collins said the restaurant has always encountered skepticism about their style of food, but Fieri gave Chino Bandido credibility and convinced a lot of people to try it.
My thought bubble: I haven't been eating there since Day 1, but I've been a loyal Chino Bandido customer for about 30 years.
- As a teenager, I lived in the neighborhood on the opposite side of Greenway from the restaurant's original location. When I was about 15 years old, my best friend urged me to try the Chinese-Mexican fusion restaurant he'd just discovered down the street.
- My go-to dishes are the jerk chicken, pollo diablo and the chile relleno.
- I'm pretty certain I could still correctly fill out the old-school order form.