YoYo Chicken opens in Bellmore

Following last month’s openings in Deer Park and Huntington Station, YoYo Chicken can now add Bellmore to its list of new locations across New York and New Jersey. The Merrick Road restaurant opens today and will be giving out free chicken sandwiches from 3 to 5 p.m. 

The first Long Island YoYo, which opened in Baldwin in 2024, is named after owner Omar Elgammal’s son, Younis, and inspired by his dad’s halal food truck in Manhattan. The menu is dedicated to chicken fans, featuring sandwiches ($7.99) served Nashville-style, seasoned to taste, with slaw, pickles and pink YoYo sauce. Chicken plates ($15.99) include two sandwiches plus seasoned waffle fries, wings ($8.99 for five) in sauces from Buffalo to sweet and spicy. Chicken can also be had as tenders ($9.99 for three) or wings ($7.99 for five), in mac-and-cheese bowls ($14.99), with rice bowls ($9.99) and atop loaded waffle fries ($14.99).

For non-chicken eaters, smashburgers pack the same punch and come in double and triple options. Ground beef patties with American cheese, caramelized onions and "secret" YoYo sauce come on a potato roll. Although full of flavor, the burgers are on the smaller side, so consider getting the double smashburger ($8.99) if you’re hungry. Add waffle fries with dipping sauces from BBQ to lemon pepper to hot honey. The sole dessert, besides milkshakes, is a sweet rice pudding that is sold with ice cream ($5.49), the recipe of Salma Elgammal, Omar's wife. Originally from Egypt, Elgammal sources his meat from a halal butcher in small amounts every other day so he can keep the product fresh, not frozen.

YoYo Chicken, 2942 Merrick Rd., Bellmore; yoyochicken.com. Open 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. daily.

By Marie Elena Martinez

marieelena.martinez@newsday.com@mariesworlds

A global freelancer who has checked her suitcase to raise her young daughter on her native Long Island, Marie Elena will always make time for good mezcal, even better tacos and killer conversation. Preferably, in a corner bar seat. She can be found on Instagram at @mariesworldeats.