In his decades as a fashion designer, Humberto Leon sought to highlight the works of other artists and cultures in a career marked by collaboration and creativity. At Chifa, his family’s restaurant in Eagle Rock, Leon and his mother, sister and brother-in-law serve haute takes on classic Chinese, Peruvian and Taiwanese flavors. At their new Monarch in Arcadia, the focus becomes even more specialized: The sprawl, banquet halls, tea service and full scope of Hong Kong cuisine both classic and modern are all on display, a love letter to the San Gabriel Valley and to Leon’s family’s years there. Located in a former noodle shop on Baldwin Avenue, Monarch is the follow-up to Chifa, a stylish place adorned with seafoam-green tones and heart-shaped windows. Leon says the family sees the Monarch menu as an exploration of the current state of Hong Kong trends and styles, playing with modern flavors as well as the diner-like hallmarks of cha chaan teng — a beloved variety of the region’s cafes. The family’s matriarch, “Popo” Wendy Leon, will serve as inspiration for the new restaurant, just as she does at Chifa. She lived in Hong Kong through her late 20s and has specialized in this style of Chinese cuisine ever since, eventually bringing it to Peru, where she opened a restaurant (also called Chifa) in 1975, then in late 2020 to Eagle Rock, serving her recipes alongside those of her daughter Rica’s husband, John Liu. Liu will primarily lead the Monarch kitchen, reinterpreting classic Hong Kong cafe-style fare through his lens as well as Popo Leon’s, adding a few dishes from his Taiwanese heritage. There will be sweet-and-sour pork belly with the sticky-sweet, homemade sauce that Humberto and Rica grew up eating; a Chinese-influenced steak tartare with snow cabbage and chili crisp, served with shrimp chips; silken steamed egg with fish liver; a baked pork-inspired ragù over fresh egg noodles; and braised lamb shank in tomato curry.“I think the beauty of Hong Kong, ” Leon says, “is that it almost has its own cuisine in itself, rather than just Cantonese, because of the diversity of people who’ve gone through [the city]. ”Much like Eagle Rock’s significance for Chifa — the neighborhood to which the Leons immigrated in 1977 — the family’s latest location is equally significant. Monarch is as much an ode to the region to which they relocated: In 1985, they left Northeast L. A. for the San Gabriel Valley’s Rosemead, where they lived while Leon’s mom helped his uncle open a dim sum restaurant in Arcadia.“In the San Gabriel Valley — which felt at the time like a new place where we could really feel at home — I think the community is predominantly Asian and Latin, ” Leon said. “We’ve always felt really included. And the Asian food scene has really flourished in that area, so it’s super exciting to come back to the hometown we grew up in as young adults and to be in this community of incredible Asian restaurants.


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