Meet Eugene Santiago, William Fahn, and Holly Ly of Monkey Bar LA in Arcadia

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eugene Santiago, William Fahn and Holly Ly.

The Executive Chef is Eugene. Born and raised in the Inland Empire. Attended Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena right after high school.

After culinary school, he worked for chef Kerry Simon in Las Vegas at the Hard Rock Hotel. After a short stint in Vegas, he had the opportunity to move back to California to help open Kerry’s first flagship Los Angeles restaurant SimonLA inside Hotel Sofitel. Since then, he’s worked for Chef Michael Fiorelli at Mar’sel inside the Terranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Chef Dean James Max at James Republic in Long Beach. Eventually teaming back up with Kerry Simon to open Carson Kitchen in downtown Las Vegas. After great success with Carson Kitchen, it was time to come back to his hometown. Working with longtime friend David Tewasart of Sticky Rice, to bring the gastropub aesthetic of Monkey Bar to the SGV.

Lead Bartender William is a child of the world. Born in Pittsburgh, Will moved to Taiwan with his family when he was four years old. At the age of twelve, he started traveling around the world. From Tokyo, Japan, to Vancouver, Canada, he lived in a total of five different country, with stories behind most imagination. After college, Will started his culinary journey back in Taiwan and find his calling in bartending. Having experience both eastern and western style of bartending, Will wish to combine a little bit of both and introduce the world and stories into his cocktails.

Holly is the manager of Monkey Bar. She has been in the restaurant industry since she was 16. She began this journey as a hostess and worked her way through all the positions within the restaurant. She’s worked at fine dining Japanese to all you can eat KBBQ. Starting out, it was supposed to be a “for now” thing but as the years went by, she realized “this is where I want to be.” Monkey Bar would define the start of her decision to make this her career.

Monkey bar is located in the EAT area of Westfield Santa Anita. It is the first of its kind in any Westfield mall. They’ve brought another level of dining to the mall. Eating at the mall isn’t such a drag anymore, it’s an experience. What sets Monkey Bar apart from other places in the mall is that they can accommodate many different dining experiences whether it be a girl’s night out or a holiday company party. They aim to cater the experience specifically to the guest and not a generic experience that is given to every guest. They have done things from tray pass, catering, buffet style and set menus. The options are limitless at Monkey Bar. La Prairie held a lunch at Monkey Bar for their clients and knowing that they have caviar in their skin care line, they decided to incorporate that into their menu. As a growing restaurant, they went through a trial and error phase to see what works and what doesn’t. It would be wrong for them to say that things were great right at the start. They saw what guests liked and followed that. Again, that brings it back to catering to the guests and what the guests like. Being at Monkey Bar is an experience from food to drinks. Craft cocktails come and go and arguably are a “phase” but there’s no denying the level of quality in a cocktail that is crafted with juices and syrups made in-house.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has definitely been a bumpy one. The weather has been our biggest struggle. Because we are an open space bar, being mostly outdoor in the hundred twenty degrees summer and the sixty degrees winter has been a never-ending obstacle.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Monkey Bar LA – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We pride ourselves with being a seasonal bar that guarantees the quality of food and beverages to our guest. Our menu changes periodically to have the freshest ingredients to offer the table. Even though we are located in a mall, our menu will definitely surprise most who walks in our door.

What we are looking for is to be that local spot and go to place where we know everyone that walks through our door, doesn’t matter if you come in yesterday or six months ago. To be that bar where ultimately become your second home.

Pricing:

• Happy hour has rotating taps changes often for 5 dollars
• 9 dollars beer and shot combo during happy hour
• $5 shots for reverse happy hour
• $16 bottomless mimosas on Saturday and Sunday

Contact Info:

• Address: 400 S Baldwin Avenue. #2200 Arcadia, California
• Phone: 6262658078
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: @MONKEYBARLA
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monkeybarla/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/monkey-bar-arcadia-2

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.