Pelicana is a famous fried chicken chain in Korea. It’s KFC – Korean Fried Chicken. It reigns supreme not only in Korea, but also recently now in NYC. Although the Midtown, Flushing, and Sunnyside franchises are much more popular, I only frequent the Astoria location (because duh, it’s closer).
I do find it strange that I’ve never seen more than 4 other customers in this location at one time, but I still stop by. I love the chicken, and I love the proximity.
The fries here are one of my favorites – always crispy and never soggy. Not to mention, you can get your fries “fixed up”, like we did here. This one was eloquently called “french fries with yellow snowing cheese” on the menu. I’d almost rather not know exactly what “yellow snowing cheese” is, but it’s damn good.
Unfortunately the beer tower is no longer at this location, but perhaps it is at other locations in the city. I should mention that each franchise, even in NYC, has completely different menus and specials.
Now on for the chicken! We shared a Crispy Spicy Chicken Sandwich.
The chicken was perfectly cooked, and as usual, never dry. We’ve had different chicken dishes here a few times, and it’s always been solid.
But THIS… THIS is what we came here for.
For whatever reason, this dish is no longer available at the Astoria location the last time I checked. It was listed as “bbokkies” on the menu, which seems to be a misspelling of the Korean dish “tteokbokki”.
Tteokbokki is basically a spicy stir-fried rice cake. A lot of place, especially in the US, have the option to dump cheese on it. Obviously, we got the cheese.
The rice cake texture was a little hard to get through for Stephen, but the spicy tomato-based sauce was a winner for both of us. Oh, and cheese. Duh.
Pelicana Chicken, hidden underneath the L train off the Ditmars stop in Astoria, will always be a local favorite for us. The service is slow, the food is typically good, and there’s no one ever inside, but it’s our little joint.
Website: pelicanausa.com/astoria
Address: 22-54 31st St, Astoria, NY 11105
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