Openings Feb. 12, 2009
Philippines' Most Popular Fast-food Chain Lands in Queens
By Laurel Fantauzzo
The Jollibee and friends in Woodside. Photo: Jennifer Boyle
The smiling, red-and-yellow-striped, winged mascot of Jollibee, a wildly popular, decades-old Filipino fast-food chain, has a new home in Woodside's Little Manila. Jollibee hawks Western-style eats flavored with Filipino methods, such as the Yumburger (a thin beef patty with salty local spices on a white bun); Chickenjoy (fried chicken with white rice); palabok; vermicelli noodles with shrimp and dried fish flakes; and spaghetti with a hot-dog-studded, sweet red sauce. The chain started in 1977, and there are more than 500 Jollibees worldwide, but this is only the 25th in the U.S. and the first on the East Coast. The soft opening is on Saturday and already 1,000 Facebook users have RSVP'd (not required) to the event. If history is any indication, they may actually show: When the first U.S. Jollibee opened in Daly City, California, in 1998, out-the-door lines lasted for several days.
Jollibee; 62-29 Roosevelt Ave., nr. 62nd St.; Woodside, Queens. 7 a.m. to 11 p.m.
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