The tale of Angela Mao, from worldwide fame to quiet anonymity, is a kind of quintessential New York story. In the 1970s, she was Lady Kung Fu, possibly the most famous martial arts actress of her time, positioned by Hong Kong studios as a female Bruce Lee. She vanished a decade later only to recently resurface in Queens where she is running Taiwanese restaurants.

A New York Times article in November found Ms. Mao, now 66, living quietly in the borough with her family, and with almost no hint of her glamorous past. And it was quite remarkable: Quentin Tarantino has cited her as an influence; she was in “Enter the Dragon”; a teenage Jackie Chan appeared in her early films; and she has been hailed as an unsung feminist icon.

But for more than 30 years, only faint rumors circulated about her life in New York. In that interview, Ms. Mao was baffled to learn that people still had any interest in her at all and was also indifferent toward her legacy. But since then, the oldest of her three restaurants, Nan Bei Ho, has become something of a bucket-list destination for kung-fu fans.

“They come every weekend,” Ms. Mao’s son, George King, said recently. “They arrive the minute we open and they sit there until my mom gets there. Some guy even flew in from L.A.”