Aug. 5, 2020 By Michael Dorgan
A popular Korean-style chicken restaurant has spread its wings and opened a large joint in Bayside – with an additional Sunnyside venue to launch in a few weeks.
Mad For Chicken, which was established in Flushing in 2006, opened its latest venue at 39-02 Bell Blvd. last week and is now serving its specialty fried chicken dishes to residents of north east Queens.
A Sunnyside restaurant is set to open on the corner of Queens Boulevard and 44th Street later this month.
The Bayside restaurant is 4,500 square feet in size and will cater to more than 150 people once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.
The restaurant’s outdoor area, which is now open, is situated at the rear of the building and under the mayor’s “Open Restaurant” initiative can serve more than 100 people.
The Sunnyside venue will also be large. It will seat about 120 people spread across two floors when it opens.
Mad For Chicken was established by Sean Cho in 2006 when he opened the 157-18 Northern Blvd. restaurant and Cho has since opened a Mad For Chicken eatery in Williamsburg. Clinton Oh is partnering with Cho in the Bayside and Sunnyside restaurants which will be the company’s third and fourth locations respectively.
Oh said that they were expecting the Bayside restaurant to open a few months ago but the pandemic slowed down their initial plans.
“We wanted to open around May 1 but COVID-19 restrictions forced our construction work to get delayed,” Oh said.
The Sunnyside venue was also expected to open months earlier.
The Bayside restaurant is now open for outdoor dining, pickup and deliveries in accordance with city-wide restrictions, Oh said.
Customers can now choose from Mad For Chicken’s signature fried chicken menu which includes scallion chicken, drumsticks and wings, buffalo wings and boneless chicken breasts. Other items on offer include the mac and cheese melt, nachos, salads and kimchi fries.
The restaurant also serves cheese sandwiches and quesadillas as well as a range of draft beers and lager.
Oh said that the company puts a big emphasis on using healthy ingredients in its dishes.
“We only use the highest quality and most expensive organic chickens for our customers which are sourced from a farm in Pennsylvania,” Oh said.
The free-range chickens, he said, are delivered directly to their restaurants and are never given any hormones or antibiotics.
The new location is currently open from noon to 11 p.m. Sundays to Thursday and from noon to midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
Outdoor dining at Mad For Chicken, 39-02 Bell Blvd. (Image provided by Clinton Oh)