Mr. Chow restaurateur serves up massive Holmby Hills mansion for $78 million

There’s a new dish on the menu in Holmby Hills.

Michael Chow, the designer, restaurateur and co-founder of the Mr. Chow Chinese restaurant chain, has listed his estate in the tony Westside pocket for sale at $78 million.

Tucked behind walls and gates, the compound centers on a mansion of more than 30,000 square feet that Chow designed and built for himself over a seven-year period. The sprawling residence, which evokes the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid, was designed to display a priceless art collection and features gallery walls and 30-foot-ceilings.

Entered through a vaulted-ceiling atrium, the residence has space for intimate and large-scale entertaining, an Art Deco-inspired library and a home theater that is both subterranean and waterproof. Windows in the theater look into the swimming pool, which has built-in rain fountains.

There are seven bedrooms and staff quarters plus a three-story guesthouse. A rooftop terrace takes in views of the cityscape.

Chow, 79, opened the first Mr. Chow restaurant in London in 1968 and the first U.S. location in Beverly Hills in 1974. Originally an interior designer, he has designed numerous boutiques and restaurants.

The property is co-listed by Rick Hilton and Jeff Hyland of Hilton & Hyland and Jacob Green, Matthew Altman and Josh Altman of Douglas Elliman.

neal.leitereg@latimes.com | Twitter: @LATHotProperty