Fast Food NYC: Fast Food & Casual Dining in New York City

New York City's (and the East Coast's) first Submarina California opened this past Thursday in Astoria, Queens. The sandwich shop is located in the back of a Häagen Dazs.

Address: 372 Fulton St., Downtown Brooklyn - Jay Street / Borough Hall A,C,F Station

Just this past June Checkers opened their first Brooklyn location on Court Street. Since then Checkers has rolled out across Brooklyn with several new locations opening. Late summer also brought a location in the Financial District and recently a location in Jamaica, Queens has opened, giving Checkers a presence in all five boroughs.

Columbian chicken chain Frisby, ("Pollo Frisby") only has one location in all of North America, and that happens to be right here in New York City on Northern Boulevard in Jackson Heights, Queens.

3-57 Saint Nicholas Ave, Ridgewood, Queens. L-Train to Myrtle-Wycoff Aves.

Pollo Campero is a Guatemalan fast food chicken chain. It arrived in the United States in 2002 and currently has three locations in New York City: Ridgewood, Corona, and Washington Heights. A Sunset Park location closed within a year of its opening.

The Ridgewood location is brand new, having opened in July of this year. It is easy to reach as it's only a block from the Myrtle-Wycoff Avenues L-Train station and Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood. This restaurant is rather large and even has a small indoor playground similar to what you would find at a suburban McDonalds. The dining area was extremely clean during my visit and the tables were even lightly decorated with colorful tissue paper. Latin music via XM/Sirius satellite radio was playing and some customers were even dancing!

The Pollo Campero menu is split about 50/50 between fried and grilled chicken. There are several small sides available, your choice of which is included in the combo meals, as well as several extra slides, such as a small salad, available at an extra cost. Combo meals also include the choice of either bread or tortillas.

I chose the 1/4 white meat chicken meal ($6.49 plus tax) and chose coleslaw as a side (the meals generally have a specific side mentioned but you can substitute), as well as tortillas. Beverage options include a self-serve soda fountain and several tropical beverage options which the staff will dispense for you. There is a salsa bar next to the soda fountain and also a ketchup pump (always a big plus).

The presentation of the meal was excellent. The chicken was served on a real plate along with the tortillas, which were in a plastic wrapper. My coleslaw came in a bowl and was a larger portion than I had expected.

The meal was absolutely delicious. The grilled chicken had a flavorful coating, was moist, and practically fell off the bone. The coleslaw was of a relatively coarse cut and tasted fresh and not overly-mayonnaise-like. I didn't really have a clue what to do with the tortillas, as I was eating the chicken off the bone, so I simply ripped off pieces of them as I went along.

Overall this is a restaurant worth checking out. The healthy options will certainly be appreciated by many, and the clean and welcoming appearance is certainly leagues better than the average New York City chicken chain. One can only hope that this chain will continue to expand throughout the city.

Fun fact: Both Pollo Campero's Ridgewood and Washington Heights locations are on (completely unrelated) Saint Nicholas Avenues.

Here are some updates for the beginning of the Fall 2009 Fast Food Season:

Greenpoint's KFC / Taco Bell Opened Today

Not revolutionary news, but this new location, which replaces a strange Taco Bell / Pizza Hut / Blimpie / Carvel / random coffee place location from the late 90s, is in the modern-day Yum! Brands co-branding style like you would see in the suburbs. Quite the departure from the pick-up-only, teller-window-style KFC locations found elsewhere in the city. You can find this new location in the Key Foods Plaza.

Baja Fresh Opens 2nd Manhattan Location

Right by Times Square this location is already extremely popular. A full review will follow.

Checkers Opens 2nd Brooklyn Location

Checkers continues its expansion throughout the five boroughs by opening its second Brooklyn location on Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Park South / Flatbush.

Submarina California Update

After my recent post on the lack of progress on New York City's first Submarina California in Astoria, the kind Submarina team has responded with an update:

"Out of respect for Häagen-Dazs's busy summer season, Submarina halted construction. The Submarina is scheduled to resume construction during the 4th quarter. Submarina looks forward to introducing the Best Subs Under the Sun® to New York City."

Sounds reasonable, and I'm sure we can't wait to try a California-style sub! Be sure to check out Submarina on Twitter.

Currently there are no A&Ws or Long John Silvers' in New York City. An A&W existed until recently on Hyden Blvd., Staten Island, but it's no longer in existence (it's now "Mike's Souvlaki Express").

So where can you find these two Yum! Brands chains? New Jersey and Long Island, with the later's locations being slightly closer. Here's a rundown:

A&W:
Menu: "All-American food" (hot dogs, hamburgers, root beer)
Co-branded with: Mostly KFC, occasionally Long John Silvers, rarely Pizza Hut, increasingly rarely not co-branded.
Closest locations to NYC: Jerico and Levittown Long Island (both can be reached by LIRR + bus in about 90 minutes from Penn Station). (Location Finder)

Long John Silver's:
Menu: Fried seafood
Co-branded with: Mostly KFC, occasionally A&W or Taco Bell, increasingly rarely not co-branded.
Closest locations to NYC: Hicksville (walking distance from LIRR stop, one hour from Penn Station) and Farmingdale, Long Island (Location Finder)

Photo credit: Photo by Xenophod. Licence Information

513 West End Ave, Jersey City, NJ - See detailed transit instructions below.

Dairy Queen is a chain you won't currently find in New York City. However, it's one that's in reach.

There are three locations between the New Jersey Turnpike and the Hudson River (see map), but only one is somewhat convenient to reach with public transportation. So if you're ready for a road track trip to get a Blizzard, just follow these somewhat simple instructions:

1. Get to New Jersey: Currently the PATH costs $1.75 each way and the best spot to catch it for this trip is World Trade Center. (You can also ride from Midtown or West Village, but there are variables so let's keep it simple). From World Trade Center you can't go wrong: Just take any train one stop to Exchange Place.
   
   

2. Get to near the Dairy Queen: Go upstairs and board a West Side Avenue-bound light rail train ($1.50 each way - every other southbound train will go there). Ride until the final stop.
   
   
3. Walk a couple blocks: The direction is north. It is to the right after you descend the stairs to West Side Avenue. It's about a five-minute walk and it will be on the left side of the road past Union Street.

All-in-all this will probably cost you an hour each way from Lower Manhattan and $6.50 total in non-MTA transit costs. But you really want that Blizzard, don't you?

3143 Steinway St, Astoria, Queens (Steinway Section) - G,R,V to Steinway St.

When I published my "Summer's Over Let's Eat" article at the beginning at the month I made an assumption:

Grub Street "Coming Soon" article + 1.5 months = Submarina California Astoria complete.

However, upon a visit to Astoria (Steinway Village) this past weekend I found the Submarina California no further in progress than mentioned in the July 20 article. The awning logo still has a "coming soon" banner hanging below it, and inside the Häagen-Dazs it will co-brand with there is no evidence of any construction activities.

So no exotic Californian sub chain anytime too soon. However, the Häagen-Dazs itself is worth a visit - Excellent shakes, friendly staff, and, during my visit, free coffee!