Posted by Joe DiStefano, February 20, 2009 at 12:00 PM
The last time I saw this big a crowd at a fast-food joint on Roosevelt Avenue was back when Pollo Campero opened in Corona. So many people have been lining up outside the new Jollibee in Woodside that I'm convinced the boxes of Chickenjoy come with stimulus checks. Either that or Filipinos have a deep-seated love for the fast-food of their youth.
I went to Jollibee the other night in the rain and it was closed by 7:30 p.m., so I wound up eating Korean fried chicken at Unidentified Flying Chickens. The next afternoon I returned to Jollibee. It would be quite a long wait, so I fortified myself with a Dominican empanada on the walk over. As I rounded the corner the aroma of fried chicken hung in the air. At 3:15 p.m. I joined the line that snaked down 63rd Street. After about 45 minutes of waiting I had decided what to order and changed my mind three times. The mostly Filipino crowd took the wait in stride except for a kid in front of me who said, "This is the first and last time I go to Jollibee."
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Posted by Joe DiStefano, February 11, 2009 at 12:00 PM
White Castle turns into the “Love Castle,” this Valentine’s Day, but based on the throbbing castle graphic on their site, it’s unclear whether this involves white tablecloths and candlelight, as in years past, or bearskin rugs and a 70s funk soundtrack. If you and your lover seek an alternative to the Castle, you might want to try Jollibee.
That's right, Jollibee. The leading fast-food chain in the Philippines will open its first East Coast location on the outskirts of Woodside’s Little Manila this Saturday. I asked the manager whether they’d have any specials for Valentine’s Day and he said, “No, but it is a special day.”
Indeed. Can anything be more romantic than taking your valentine to a fast-food joint whose mascot is a gigantic red bumblebee sporting a toque?
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Posted by Joe DiStefano, October 15, 2008 at 12:15 PM
Like all serious eaters I strive to find deliciousness in every morsel that passes my lips. Sometimes that doesn’t happen though, resulting in disappointment. And sometimes the disappointment is so strong that the wrong must be righted immediately. The other day I went to try a Cuban sandwich at a Woodside restaurant that I won’t bother to name. While it wasn’t inedible, it was by far the worst specimen I’ve ever seen. Improperly pressed, tough fatty pork, unmelted cheese; you get the idea. Rather than torture myself, I ate only half of the abomination and headed over to El Sitio, an old-school spot that makes an exemplary cubano. And ya gotta love the cartoon pig on the sign.
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Posted by Emily Koh, July 23, 2008 at 4:00 PM
After having conquered—maybe "endured" is a better word—Brick Lane Curry House's phaal curry challenge, I'm beginning to suspect everyone at the Serious Eats HQ are not-so-secretly using me as a guinea pig to see how much spiciness one can take before their tastebuds become obliterated. Although slightly concerned about potential ulcers and the future of my digestive capabilities, I am not one to back down from a challenge (what did I say about spice seekers and their egos?), which is why my ears perked up when it was mentioned that Sripraphai not only served some of the best Thai food in New York, but also some of the truly spiciest. So off I went to Queens, expecting to taste some of the spiciest Thai dishes in a milder redux of my earlier Indian curry adventure.
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Posted by Zach Brooks, July 7, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Stepping out of the Roosevelt Avenue subway stop in Jackson Heights for the first time is similar to what I imagine those kids must have felt like stepping into the giant candy room of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory. Walk in one direction and the street is packed with Indian food and grocery stores, another direction and you'll be surrounded by Latin food, yet another there is Korean and Chinese food, and of course, there are great looking street carts everywhere you look. On a recent trip, we headed west on Roosevelt into Woodside to hit up Renee's Kitchenette, a Filipino restaurant recommended by a friend for its Filipino style BBQ.
Renee's BBQ chicken was good, as were some of the other dishes we had, like the char grilled pork belly, or the Lumpiang Sariwa, two large crepes filled with veggies and meat, then smothered in peanut sauce. But my favorite dish was hands down the Filipino sausage. While some are sour or heavy on the garlic depending on the region they come from, the version at Renee's were sweet-- a characteristic of the sausages from Pampanga. Similar to chinese sausage, but in a thicker chorizo-like form, the homemade longanisa, as they're known in the Phillipines, were cheap, incredibly tasty, and easily stole the show from the BBQ chicken that brought us out there. If this is what Filipino home cooking tastes like, I may need to find a family in the Phillipines to adopt me.
Renee's Kitchenette
6914 Roosevelt Ave, Woodside NY 11377 (nr. 69th Street; map)
718-476-9002
Posted by Ed Levine, July 14, 2006 at 6:36 AM
Wednesday's New York Post had this really cool Latin Hot Dog round-up
in their Tempo section. The piece was uncredited, but the entire section was compiled by Juana Guichardo, Mercedes Sanchez and Eneida Del Valle.
Their five favorites:
Mazorca: 83-17 Northern Boulevard, bet. 83rd and 84th sts., 718-205-2484. The perro mixto features ham, bacon, melted cheese and crushed potato chips.
La Perrada de Chaio: 83-12 Northern Boulevard between 83rd and 84th Sts. Jackson Heights 718-639-6677. The Mexican hot dogs feature guacamole and chiles. The Iraqi(?) hot dog features boiled eggs and pineapple sauce. Both come with mayonnaise and a potato chip dusting.
San Antonio Bakery #2: 36-20 Astoria Blvd. at 37th St., Astoria 718-478-1199: A Chilean Completo features creamed avocado, diced tomatoes, onion and mayo.
The condiment of choice is pebre, cilantro-spiked salsa.
JC & Family: 68-14 Roosevelt Ave. between 68th and 69th Sts., Woodside Queens 718-478-1199. Its version features an all beef hot dog, sauerkraut, chopped tomatoes, mashed avocado, and stripes of mayo.
Cositas Ricas: 79-19 Roosevelt Ave. at 89th St., Jackson Hts. 718-478-1500
Here the dog, called a perro caliente con salchicha, features potatoes, Parmesan cheese, potato chip bits, cheese, mayo and pineapple sauce.
My hot dog round-up in the Times only feature Los Chuzos Y Algo Mas on Roosevelt Avenue. Their Columbian Lucky Dogs feature cheese, pineapple, mustard, crumbled potato chip, and Thousand Island dressing.
And here we New Yorkers thought we knew all about hot dogs. It's time for a Latino hot dog excursion this weekend.
