Oh Joy! Chickenjoy, to be exact. Jollibee's first outlet in Orange County opened today at 7 a.m. in the space that previously held Chris & Pitts BBQ in Anaheim at the corner of Euclid & Crescent.
I got the tip off from astute reader JB, who got wind of it from a Pinoy blogger and newly minted Jollibee employee Vernon Rodriguez who wrote about it on his blog FluppyBunny. Yesterday, I paid a visit and confirmed with them that today's the day. I took a couple of snapshots and grabbed a menu, which I've scanned for your convenience.
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Have you no idea what Jollibee is?
READ HERE for a primer I wrote on this Filipino fast food giant that bested McDonald's and KFC in the Philippines.
Truth be told, even as we welcome the first and, so far, the only Jollibee in Orange County, the Cerritos branch of Jollibee was never too far away and has been quietly serving the public for years.
I ate there the other night, actually.
But Gustavo and I couldn't be more ecstatic that with the arrival of the red-tuxed Jollibee (and adjoining Red Ribbon Bakery with their divine Mango Chiffon Cakes) this little part of Anaheim just became just a little more Pinoy. The wonderful Kapit Bahay now has some company.
Jollibee, however, isn't trying to cater to just Filipinos. I noticed that their pancit palabok, a uniquely Pinoy dish of rice noodles with a pork-based sauce that was previously called Fiesta Palabok in years past, has now been dubbed Fiesta Noodles, which goes to show how much Jollibee is desperate to be less foreign to potential American customers…as if they're weren't already serving fast food burgers and fried chicken (which, by the way, ahem, isn't indigenous to the Philippines).
If your kids are keen on meeting the Jollibee character, he will make an appearance on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at noon, 4 and 6 p.m. Today there will be giveaways, and yes, lots of Chickenjoy to eat.
Jollibee, 601 N. Euclid St., Suite A., Anaheim, CA 92801, (714) 635-0256
Before becoming an award-winning restaurant critic for OC Weekly in 2007, Edwin Goei went by the alias “elmomonster” on his blog Monster Munching, in which he once wrote a whole review in haiku.