Newsday’s Burger Smackdown winner New York Burger Bar in Massapequa shuttered by fire
The Juicy Lucy burger, an American cheese-stuffed 8-ounce patty topped with caramelized onion, tomato, pickles and house sauce at the New York Burger Bar in Massapequa. Credit: Daniel Brennan
A fire has shuttered New York Burger Bar, the Massapequa burger restaurant that opened in May 2015 and, seven months later, won Newsday’s Burger Smackdown.
The restaurant’s patty beat out 31 other LI burgers for the crown.
The fire started in the restaurant’s basement on Thursday afternoon and did not spread to the adjacent businesses. No injuries were reported, according to Nassau County Police.
New York Burger Bar’s owner Richard Bedrosian said that the business incurred a significant amount of damage. “We are going to rebuild,” he said. “It may take a few months but we will come back better than ever.”
New York Burger Bar won the Burger Smackdown with its Juicy Lucy, an eight-ounce patty stuffed with American cheese and topped with grilled red onion, tomato, pickle and a pink mayonnaise-based sauce. (The original Juicy Lucy, a burger stuffed with cheese instead of being topped with it, is said to have been invented in Minneapolis in the 1950s.)
In the finals, the upstart Burger Bar beat out All American Hamburger, the 53-year-old drive-in located virtually across the street.
New York Burger Bar’s Juicy Lucy is also on Newsday’s list of Long Island’s top burgers.
