In a lot of ways, Disney is like Jollibee. Both have a cute, button-eyed seminal cartoon mascot and both are giants in their field with a reputation for acquisition. Jollibee bought Red Ribbon and Chowking, two brands that are only slightly less ubiquitous than fast-food champ Jollibee in the Philippines. And as you know, last week Disney bought Lucasfilm to add to their collection of Marvel superheroes, Pixar characters and Muppets.
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But before the next Star Wars movies a la Mickey comes out, Jollibee
has debuted its own sort of trilogy in Anaheim. The Jollibee and the
Red Ribbon that was already there is now joined by Chowking. Though
there's a Chowking in Cerritos and in Puente Hills, this will be the
first Chowking in Orange County.
I realize I'm belaboring the analogy at this point, but here's
why Chowking, Red Ribbon and Jollibee is better than the last three Star
Wars movies. Though there are common elements between each restaurant,
each can stand on its own. There's no reason why you can't have a Spam
Little Bite at Jollibee for an appetizer, walk over for a hot bowl of a
beef noodle soup at Chowking, and finally a slice of mango chiffon cake
at Red Ribbon for dessert.
Chowking is unique in OC because it is also now (correct me if I'm wrong) the only Chinese-Pinoy restaurant in our county. It specializes in noodle soups, chow mein and dim sum…all
with a Filipino accent. Here's the menu.
And here's why the Jollibee empire is better than The Empire (Disney or the actual Empire, take your pick)–not a Jar Jar in sight!
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.