Joe & The Juice opens in first Long Island location, in Manhasset

You can't walk anywhere in Manhattan without running into a Joe & The Juice, a Copenhagen-based cafe chain that specializes in nutritious smoothies and juices. But since it launched here in 2015, it's taken more than a decade for the brand to touch down on Long Island. This past Sunday, it made its long-awaited debut at a prime location on Northern Boulevard in Manhasset. 

Joe & The Juice moved into the Manhasset Row shopping center, next door to a Sweetgreen. The small parking lot was jam-packed on Monday afternoon, and some customers were forced to park across Northern Boulevard at the Barnes & Noble. Inside, the scene was lively and the music loud, with dozens of customers queuing at the front counter, and employees quoting 45-minute waits for food orders.

Joe & The Juice was founded in 2002 in Copenhagen by Kaspar Basse, and became known for its loud club music and having its own special performative handshake, which involved putting your hands on the other person's shoulder. The brand partnered with Swedish private equity firm Valedo in 2013, and now boasts more than 500 stores in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa, according to its website. 

The menu has a short selection of espresso drinks and layered matcha creations, like the iced matcha picante with coconut water, jalapeño lime nectar and a chili pepper ($6.80). But the energy seems to be in the juices, shakes and "functional smoothies," which on this visit, had a consistency halfway between juice and smoothie. The Big Brain Energy ($13) was way too tasty and addictive for the ingredients, which included lion's mane mushroom, spinach and sprouted milk. (Perhaps it was the date syrup that made it good.)

The kitchen also does more than half a dozen sandwiches, which are pressed tightly and served in pink cardboard slips for on-the-go eating. No breakfast sandwich was on offer, but the signature Tunacado sandwich ($12.60) had a very Nordic feel to it, as the bread was dense and seedy despite being very thin like a toast. The tuna is described as a mousse, which makes it seem like ahi tuna, but it's in fact your regular canned tuna salad spruced up with some fresh dill. 

Joe & The Juice is a rather pleasant place to get some work done, as the Nordic modern space is dominated by tall windows on two sides. Nearly every table has its own plug in, and the Wi-Fi is so quick, you can write an entire article (about Joe & The Juice) here. 

Joe & The Juice, 1579 Northern Blvd., Manhasset, 646-741-8640, joejuice.com. Open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. 

By Andi Berlin

andi.berlin@newsday.com

Andi Berlin is from Arizona and does not know where she is going. But when she gets there, she’ll find something beautiful and delicious that the world needs to taste.