Health-focused restaurant Energy Fuel opens in Garden City
Energy Fuel's guacamole crunch salad with chicken. Credit: Keith Warkman
The fourth Long Island location of a health-focused restaurant has opened in Garden City, behind Roosevelt Field mall in the same shopping center as Mac & Melts and Moe's Southwest Grill.
Owner Sonny Bari opened Energy Fuel Sept. 7, serving a menu of wraps ($10-$12.50), salads ($9-$13), bowls ($13-$18), burgers and sandwiches ($8-$12), smoothies ($7-$9.50) and more in a space that has just over a handful of tables.
It also offers breakfast options, including eggs, pancakes and muffins ($3.50-$12). All the locations serve the same menu; prices vary.
For Bari, the road to becoming a restaurateur was a rocky one.
After years of combined experience at his family’s Crown Fried Chicken restaurant in Brooklyn, and a luncheonette on 18th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Bari took the leap and bought the latter, turning it into his own health-focused cafe called Fuel. He had a six-year run before filing for bankruptcy both professionally and personally.
Bari relocated to San Francisco and stayed with friends while “clearing his mind.” During his one-year stay, he took up culinary classes and started working at a mortgage firm that helped him get back on his feet. In 2007, he returned to New York and opened his first Energy Fuel in Park Slope. Today, he owns 10 locations across Long Island, Brooklyn and Queens.
The eatery is open daily; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m Mondays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
Energy Fuel is at 676 Stewart Ave. in Garden City; 516-416-4299; energyfuelny.com. Its other Long Island locations are at 522 Commack Rd. in Deer Park, 369 Little East Neck Road N. in West Babylon and 206 Bedford Ave. in Bellmore.
