Korean Fried Chicken Chain Returns to Convoy

When it first opened in Kearny Mesa way back in 2008, BB.Q Chicken was one of the only local purveyors of Korean-style fried chicken, also known as the other KFC. An early offshoot of a Korean-based company that was first founded in 1995, the Convoy Street location would shutter in 2013, a year before the brand’s official launch in the U.S. in 2014.

Now that BB.Q Chicken has outposts coast to coast, from New York to Seattle, and 13 branches in California alone, the chain is returning to San Diego to join our ever-growing contingent of KFC options. It’s landed once again on Convoy Street, moving into the Convoy Village Shopping Center where it replaces Ichiro, the Japanese restaurant that closed in January after a 36-year run. A rep for the company says the restaurant should be opening within two months.

Purported to have the world’s first “chicken university” for research and development, BB.Q Chicken (BB.Q stands for “best of the best quality”) differentiates itself by frying its chicken in olive oil. It offers a wide array of flavors of bone-in and boneless fried chicken, from Golden Original to Honey-Garlic, Hot Spicy, and Cheeseling, a seasoning mix of powdered cheese. Other dishes include tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes), fried dumplings, and kimchi fried rice.

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