Foster's Grille Scores 'Best Burger' Awards

Foster's Grille is part of a restaurant chain of 23 stretching across the east coast to this first one in New York. Since the eatery's inception more than a year and a half ago, it has built up a strong base of customers and reviews.

"We've been open 18 months, we're doing okay," said owner Steve Dibartolomel. "We do very well Thursday to Sunday. We get more of a dinner crowd than a lunch crowd. We get a lot of birthday parties and community fundraisers."

This family-friendly restaurant may be one of the most talked about new restaurants with various awards and customers that keep coming in for freshness and quality.

"The Food Critics Awards named us 'Best Burger,'" he said. "We 'out-flayed the Flay burger' of Bobby's Burger Palace. Newsday said, 'we have the best homemade dessert. Customers keep coming back for the fresh food, consistency of the food and cleanliness."

"Beer Night" every Wednesday and live music every Thursday and Friday couldn't hurt bringing in a crowd either.

"Wednesday is 'Beer Night,' every adult entrée gets a 32 ounce pitcher of beer. Thursday is 'Cruise Night' with live music, and Friday is live music," he said. "We have local musicians mainly from the surrounding area."

Foster's Grille originated in Virginia in 1999 and over the course of five years opened six more locations and started franchising in 2005.

"Our founders, Shawn Foster and Lewie Bloom, wanted to recreate the feeling of those family cookouts and bring it to neighborhoods all over America. Shawn, a highly regarded chef, created a menu where there's always something delicious for everyone, and Lewie made sure that even though our burgers are 'Too Big for Two Hands' the check never is," according to the restaurants web site.

The amount of recognition of Foster's Grille is picking up steam as it was recently named "Top Ten Fastest Growing Restaurant Concepts" by RetaurantChains.net for 2008 and listed in the "Ones to Watch" section of QSR Magazine.