About a year ago Peter came home and told me: I found a place where we should open a restaurant...it’s in a gas station. Being from a small town where our first McDonald’s was in a gas station, I didn’t think too much of it. He took me to see this little place inside a Valero technically in Tustin but barely. At first I was underwhelmed. It needed a lot of work to get it to where I knew it needed to be and where I knew Peter wanted and expected it to be.

In the next four weeks I watched in awe as Peter worked fifteen hours a day transforming this little 100 square foot place, with all the wrong equipment, into a restaurant. He drove everywhere around Southern California to ensure that he had the equipment he needed. He spent hours upon hours scouring Craigslist with a fine tooth comb searching for the right piece of equipment at the right price. We spent hours cleaning. Painting. Cleaning. Driving. Cleaning. While I feel like I worked hard, Peter worked harder. Where I feel like I put time in, Peter put in more. When I was finally ready to sleep for the night, Peter was up creating the floor plan, coming up with menu ideas, preparing the shopping lists. I’m pretty sure he didn’t sleep for about four weeks. I was starting to think he was a Vampire. Turns out he was just dedicated.

Alas, we were ready to open. August 16, 2010 was our first day. Peter will tell you he couldn’t give the food away for the first couple of weeks. We didn’t have a staff for at least two months. It was just he and I. People were pretty skeptical of this guy claiming to make gourmet burgers and sandwiches out of a gas station. I mean, who could blame ‘em? But then slowly people started to come. First we had the Roger Dunn crowd. One came and got an ABC Burger and then every half hour another one would come because the previous guy said it was an amazing burger. Then we started getting people from the surrounding businesses. Then one day Jarrod from the Jewelry Exchange came in and said “Hey, nice write-up in the OC Weekly today!” We both had no idea.

Turns out Gustavo Arellano from the OC Weekly came to eat and wrote a great article about the Grill. That was the moment it kind of changed for us. This is when we started getting customers from around Orange County. (Check out our Press Section to read the full article). We had our best day yet that day and it has continued to grow since. The Foodies at the OC Register came and gave us an amazing review in December. I remember the reporter telling us the online publish date and then telling us that when it came out in print we “needed to be ready” because it went to some 100,000 addresses. Apparently I couldn’t really comprehend the amount of homes that actually is. The OC Register put us on the map.

The difference from August to today is drastic to say the least. I mean, the menu hasn’t changed much. The space hasn’t changed at all. Peter still works harder than anyone I know,  he still scours Craigslist looking for improvements for us, and I still go to bed while he is preparing for the next day. But the major difference is that people are coming now. They have thrown caution to the wind and decided to give this little unknown place a chance. People see a line at a gas station and stop by to see what all the fuss is about. We couldn’t be happier that people have given us the chance. I couldn’t be prouder of Peter’s drive and determination to make this place a success. So thank you all for giving us the chance to serve you!

-Antoinette