A family-owned Mexican restaurant chain whose La Leona brand began in Winnebago, Illinois, has opened its third location in three years, this time in Marion, Iowa, filling a space left empty since the Golden Palace Chinese Buffet shut its doors around early June. La Leona opened Oct. 13 at 1011 Eagleview Drive, on Marion’s growing eastern side near U.S. Highway 151.
According to The Gazette, the Marion restaurant marks La Leona’s first corridor location and its third overall, following an initial spot in Winnebago, Illinois, and a second location that opened in Dubuque in November 2025. The business is run by brothers Francisco and Marcos Lugo, who joined forces with Marcos’s brother-in-law, Roberto Zarate, to launch the Marion restaurant. Earlier Gazette reporting had indicated the family anticipated a late-September opening for the Marion site, in the space previously occupied by Golden Palace Chinese Buffet.
Francisco and Marcos Lugo are the third generation in their family to work in the restaurant industry, having grown up working in restaurants spanning Wisconsin, Illinois, South Dakota and Florida. The trio started restaurant operations in Wisconsin back in 2003, and the family’s holdings now stretch across Illinois, Wisconsin and northeastern Iowa, including La Leona in Winnebago, El Caporal in Sparta, and additional restaurants in Minnesota. Francisco Lugo said he returned to restaurant work after trying another line of work, and the Lugo brothers and Zarate also operate restaurants under other names across the Upper Midwest.
Why Marion, and Why Now
Francisco Lugo said the trio sees a more promising business environment in Iowa, and that Marion was chosen in part to be closer to bigger cities while still offering room for more Mexican restaurants. He had initially wanted to open in Davenport before settling on Marion instead. The owners discovered the Eagleview Drive vacancy during a recent drive to Mexico, and they now have at least two locations in mind.
The restaurant takes its name from the owners’ home in Mexico — La Leona translates to “the lioness.” About 90 percent of the Marion menu draws inspiration from Jalisco, the Mexican state associated with the origins of birria, and Francisco Lugo described the cooking simply as home cooking, saying the restaurant puts its emphasis on seasoning. La Leona prepares its food without food dyes and relies on a scratch-ground spice blend that includes anatol and achiote.
What’s On the Menu
The Marion menu includes roughly 10 exclusive entrees not found at the other locations, among them pollo San Jose, whole-fish tacos and a seafood molcajete served in a volcanic mortar. Birria tacos come with a consomme dipping broth on the side. Popular items across the chain include Puerto Vallarta-style signature burritos, Acapulco-style chimichangas, sweet al pastor pork tacos and pork belly appetizers, alongside a broader menu that includes fajitas. In the kitchen, Marcos Lugo has emphasized quality over quantity.
The owners are working on a liquor license for the Marion location and plan to eventually add margaritas. At the Dubuque restaurant, which La Leona Dubuque describes as serving authentic cuisine inspired by Jalisco, the menu already offers 27 margarita flavors, and the owners hope to eventually serve every margarita flavor across their restaurants. A separate report from BizTimes.biz noted that the family has been in the restaurant business for three generations, starting with Laura’s grandfather, and that the Dubuque menu was built around tacos, burritos, quesadillas and fajitas alongside margaritas and imported beer and wine.
A Growing Corner of Marion
Its arrival adds another dining option to a stretch of eastern Marion that has continued to fill in as the city has grown; Marion’s official 2020 Census population stood at 41,535, an increase of 6,767 people from 2010, according to the City of Marion, which later estimated the population at 41,703 as of July 2021.
With three restaurants opened in three years and at least two more locations in mind, the Lugo family’s push into the Corridor shows little sign of slowing down. For now, Marion diners have a new option near Highway 151 built around Jalisco-style dishes, scratch-made spice blends, and a menu the family describes as, above all, home cooking.
Dining and Cooking