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Pelicana Chicken Begins Construction on New Location in Astoria, Updates Menu at Sunnyside Establishment

Sunnyside location

Feb. 22, 2017 By Christian Murray

The owner of a Korean fried chicken restaurant in Sunnyside has decided to open another establishment by the same name in Astoria adjacent to the Astoria-Ditmars Blvd station.

Julie Kim, the owner of Pelicana Chicken, opened her Sunnyside venue at 47-08 Greenpoint Avenue about six months ago and now aims to have the Astoria location open by the end of summer.

The Astoria establishment, which will be located at 22-56 31st St., will mark the fourth Pelicana Chicken to open in the United States, with Kim as the exclusive master franchiser in the United States. She has opened restaurants in Sunnyside, Flushing and the Palisades Park in New Jersey within the last 3 years.

Pelicana is headquartered in South Korea where there are more than 2,000 chain stores.

Despite the company’s recent American growth, Kim says she wants customers to know she is actively monitoring quality control at every location, and is even updating the menu in Sunnyside to reflect feedback that she has received from local diners.

The restaurant is best known for offering more than 50 possible combinations of flavored chicken. It is also known for its crispy, boneless chicken.

Peli Rice Bbokki Hot Pot

“We want to make sure that we keep all the dishes that guests love, but also add new items that locals will enjoy,” said Kim.

The restaurant has just added several items to the menu including Peli Rice Bbokki (pronounced po-ki), a hot pot that includes ham, noodles, dumplings, eggs, fried rolls, cheese, and vegetables, along with adjustable levels of spice.

Other new items include Soy Dumplings and Cream Corn Dumplings, which the owner said is often requested.

The restaurant has also added all-natural fruit sorbets for dessert.

Another big change at their Sunnyside location is that the restaurant now offers take out and delivery of select draft beer.

New food menu (click to enlarge)

Despite all the changes, many of the restaurant’s practices will still remain the same.

“We still use non-GMO, cage-free and vegetable-fed chicken in all of our menu items, and we use new cooking oil every day,” Kim explained.

The restaurant offers free delivery in Sunnyside and Woodside and can be made online at www.pelicanachickenusa.com.

They can also be found on Instagram (@pelicanachicken), Facebook, and Twitter (@pelicanausa).

Hours of operation are:

Sunday to Thursday – 11:30 am to midnight
Friday and Saturday – 11:30 am to 2:00 am

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34 Comments

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Smellyside

Sunnyside has the most just ok restaurants than any neighborhood ive ever seen. So many places that are just average. I usually go out of the area to eat. Very mediocre around here. This place is just ok, nothing special, but to their credit they are better than all the othe chicken places in the area. The rest are horrible. The so called Peruvian ones have so many preservatives, salts in them you get high blood pressure from just looking at the chickens

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Sunnyside Sam

They use MSG. May as well not eat at chinese restaurants as well. Wait. I don’t eat at chinese restaurants, but a little MSG on a chicken once in a blue moon isn’t a bad thing. But I agree with you. There are two decent restaurants in the area, and the third one closed months ago (Salt and Fat). The demographic that lives here doesn’t live in sunnyside. They sleep in sunnyside, but live their lives in manhattan. Unfortunately, until the demographic starts to spend money here (and not rice and beans joints or irish pubs), it will remain that way for the foreseeable future. And rents that prohibit businesses from trying to make a profit. People want cheap eats. Cheap eats mostly means below average eats. This neighborhood is not manhattan, and doesn’t want to be.

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Sunnysider

I have to give them major props for buying organic and cage-free – I didn’t know that when I first when to dine there. Anything to help put a halt to the highly polluting and unsustainable commodity farming is a plus in my book. I will gladly pay a little bit more for that. Not to mention better raised birds/animals just taste better – so you’re getting your return in flavor.

As for the portions… they are a little big. But that’s an easy problem to solve – just split it! Or take half home and eat it later.

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South.

Great chicken – been a few times. Pretty sure it’s organic and free-range, too – if I remember reading that correctly on the wall of the restaurant.

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Neziah Bliss

Frozen Mango Beer is pretty great there. Not like anything I’ve had before and very much worth a try.

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spaz! spaz! spaz!

just about everything is deep fried, Pelicana and the place a block away, Los Verdes (?) are some of the greasiest food I ever put in my mouth. I dont want to die from a heart attack.

I love Paris Baguette, their sandwiches are delicious wont put you on a stretcher in your 60s

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Hi

Yeah, but paris baguette has NO BREAD FOR SALE AT 2:30 IN THE AFTERNOON!! IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A BAKERY, RIGHT? I’ve walked in there three times in the afternoon and they have no bread. But they have overpriced sandwiches made by an entire Korean staff. What happened to diversity?

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South.

Bakeries often run out of baked goods – that’s how they work. They bake in the morning, and sell until they run out. If you don’t want fresh bread, go early. If that doesn’t work, there’s a grocery store across the street.

Also, I’ve been there and the staff isn’t entirely Korean.

All this to say: I’m very confident that you have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

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Southside Johnny

That’s sort of typical for a bakery, especially in Paris. Freshly baked rolls and bread are meant to be gone by mid-afternoon. I will mention that their sandwiches are delicious and I do not think they’re over-priced. Who cares about the ethnic background of the staff? You’ll find Irish people working in Irish pubs, Dominicans working in Dominican restaurants, and Korean people employed in businesses owned by Koreans. Have you seen who they’ve got working in that Thai restaurant on QB? (What happened to diversity??!) You seem to have a lot of complaints that are basically groundless.

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Dave

Went here once. The place was empty and it took forever to get my food. Plus it’s pricey and the portions are almost too big. When I didn’t finish, the guy looked at me like I was from Mars.

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Hi

No, it’s not a tough crowd. Portion sizes in america are exaggerated and large. This is fact. People complain that portions are small when they are minuscule and you pay a lot of money for 1 oz of protein. Don’t do what trump supporters do, and make false equivalencies when there are none or turn everything into black and white where it’s easy for you to complain about nuance and subtlety.

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Hello

No one ever seems to be satisfied anymore. Everyone wants to whine and moan about something to make themselves feel important.

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Fat/fan of Dough boy park

What the F does being a trump supporter have to do with a size order at a chicken joint ? Honestly, you have serious issues. This is why he is our president. Sad

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Hello

What’s opening up where The Meat Boutique was on Queens Blvd? They painted the outside green and are doing construction inside. Please not another bar.

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Luis

They should advertise the other dishes they make, i never went in because i thought it was just another chicken joint. There are so many chicken joints over here, none are good

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unbelieveably riduculous amount of fried chicken, why?

I went there with my 10 year old son and it seems the smallest chicken dish on the menu was a big bowl of about 25 -30 pieces.

How about some reasonably size portions, how much greasy heavy stuff can one person eat?

This is funny coming from an AMERICAN guy telling a Korean restaurant to have smaller portions. Isnt it usually the other way around?

Seems like a really cool place if you have many people who can help you eat it all.

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Sarah

I’ve been serveral times, and enjoy it. Fun place to go with a group of 4 or more.

Get beer by the pitcher, the service is a little scattered.

Reply

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