Twenty years ago, the Sea Grill Restaurant was a garage.
A garage!
“My brother and I both grew up in the restaurant business,” said Lizanne Tracy, co-owner of the Sea Grill Restaurant with her brother Scott Zurawski. “Dad owned the Whitebriar Restaurant and Hotel and bought the Princeton back in 1986.”
When Lizanne and Scott decided to open up their own restaurant back in 1990, Scott suggested they use the old garage in back of the Princeton.
The result was the cozy, quaint building that became the Sea Grill in 1991 at 225 21st St. between Dune and Ocean drives in Avalon.
And unlike so many other seashore restaurants, the Sea Grill specializes in steak.
“When we were starting out, our dad said there were plenty of Italian restaurants down here, and plenty of seafood restaurants, but no steak places,” Tracy acknowledged.
So they looked at some successful restaurant formats and were impressed by the “Library” chain of restaurants.
“We saw that the Library always had lines outside, so we knew they must be doing it right,” she said, “so we played off that.”
As the Sea Grill’s Web site (seagrillrestaurant.com) notes, “As soon as you step into the Sea Grill, you know you’re in a different kind of restaurant. Lively, hip and sizzling with atmosphere. Step up to a style of shore dining that’s everything you crave and nothing like you’ve ever experienced.
Instead of menus, check out our blackboard of daily offerings and give your order directly to Chef Carla DeHart or her sous’.
Tell the chef how many ounces of steak you’d like and how you’d like it cooked. Seafood can be ordered in the same way. Whatever you choose, it will be prepared to mouthwatering perfection.
“You can talk right to our kitchen staff and even put in a special order,” said Tracy. “Then you just go to our salad bar.”
