ARCADIA >> For the past few years, chef Johnny Lee has been serving Hainan-style chicken rice — delicately poached chicken served with a bevy of sauces and rice cooked with the chicken broth — out of pop-up locations around Los Angeles.

Lee has gained notoriety across Los Angeles for restaurants like Eggslut in Grand Central Market and Ramen Champ in Chinatown. When he found out the Westfield Santa Anita shopping mall would be adding an upscale food hall, Lee jumped on the opportunity to give his Hainan chicken concept, Side Chick, a permanent home.

• Photos: Westfield Santa Anita debuts “Food Alley” Asian cuisine

“The food here in Arcadia is great,” Lee said, “but there was a lack of interesting, modern takes on food. You don’t want to eat Asian all the time.”

Lee’s Side Chick is one of seven new eateries making their debut in the mall’s new “Food Alley,” nestled between the Baldwin Avenue entrance to Nordstrom and the new Din Tai Fung restaurant location.

While the area was always meant to be a direct entrance to the mall from its outdoor stores and restaurants, Westfield staff saw it as an opportunity to line the walkway with new dining options in the style of Australian laneways or Beijing hutongs, said Elan Feldman, a development manager for Westfield.

“This is a diverse community,” Feldman said. “We want to bring the best of food in the San Gabriel Valley in a single location.”

Aside from Side Chick, Lee’s Sticky Rice Group is also opening Matcha Matcha, a dessert spot inspired by traditional green tea, and Monkey Bar, a gastropub that blends New American and Asian flavors, in the Food Alley. The area also will feature Uncle Tetsu’s Cheesecake, Tsurumaru Udon Honpo, EMC Seafood and Raw Bar, and The Backhouse, a Japanese yakitori and sushi restaurant.

When asked if the Food Alley is the mall’s Asian food court, Westfield Santa Anita marketing manager Debbie Oung said that isn’t the case, despite all of the eateries having Asian or Asian-American influences.

“This mall is at the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, which is huge in the food movement,” Oung said. “People recognize the importance of food here, so we know there’s demand for something like this.”

For Glenn Inanaga, vice president of legal at Panda Restaurant Group, the confluence of Asian flavors in the Food Alley is beneficial. Panda Restaurant Group partnered with Uncle Tetsu’s to bring the brand — with 70 locations worldwide — to the United States.

“There’s very good synergy between the restaurants here,” Inanaga said. “We jumped at the chance to help showcase great Asian-inspired brands here.”

Lee agreed, saying he hopes to benefit from having all of his restaurants there in close proximity and having them next to different Asian-inspired concepts.

In fact, the Temple City High School alum said it can help solve an age-old problem for people like he and his friends who sometimes have trouble deciding where to go out to eat.

“This is much easier,” Lee said. “Everyone can split up and get what they want, and you can even try a little of everything that way.”