Inferno Roadside Grill Rolls into Town

There's a new restaurant in town, specializing in burgers and wraps. The decor is reminiscent of an Ed Hardy t-shirt, with a logo of blazing orange flames and gold lettering.

But perhaps its most noticeable feature is the fact that it's sitting on four wheels on the side of Route 347 in South Setauket. This is Patrick Torvato's Inferno Roadside Grill.

"I think it's the first real food truck on Long Island. I made it a point to not sell hot dogs," Torvato said.

Food trucks are a growing phenomenon across the country, he said, referring to the popularity of food trucks thanks to television shows like "The Great Food Truck Race" on the Food Network.

Torvato spent a week on Route 347 in Port Jefferson Station before migrating this week to the west, settling on the south side of the road a short way east of Belle Meade Road. The locale is not far from where two competing hot dog trucks sat on either side of the road before they both departed.

Though he's only been situated in South Setauket for two days, Torvato said business is good so far.

"I'm getting quite a lot of repeat business," he said. "I'm getting high marks on my burgers."

Burgers range in price from the $2.49 "half stack" to the $9.99 "heart attack." The menu also features wings in five flavors, Philly cheese steaks, grilled chicken wraps, and a "burgeritto" (two cheeseburgers with toppings in a wrap). On Friday, Inferno Roadside Grill will even start selling a Louisiana shrimp po'boy wrap. He takes call-ahead orders and will even bring the food out to customers waiting in their cars.

Torvato, who graduated from Port Jefferson High School in 1986, used to run an Italian takeout restaurant in New York City's East Village. His father had run pizzerias, so he was "raised knowing how to cook," he said. "You could throw me into a formal restaurant and I could put food out."

He said he spent nearly five months turning an old camper he bought for $500 into the black, red, and gold food truck you can find on Route 347 between the hours of 11:30 and 6:30 each day. He did it that way, he said, because new food trucks cost between $45,000 and $60,000 fully outfitted. The county's health department has inspected it and the Town of Brookhaven granted it a mobile peddler's permit.

"I just realized that the food truck was a tremendous trend nationally," he said. "It's a way to make money and give people good food. ... I believe in the burger I'm selling."