Foley’s Backstreet Grille in Stoughton Makes Name on Freshness

Dave Foley first started Foley’s Backstreet Grille eight years ago, and said it was the best thing he ever did.

Foley was born and raised in Canton, and bought his location about a mile over the Stoughton-Canton border on Pearl Street in Stoughton. He said it’s great because he lives right down the street.

“It’s very convenient for me, which helps with the hours we put in,” he said.

Foley said he first started cooking 1973, working as a dishwasher while attending Canton High School.

“I started at the Blue Hills Country club,” he said.

The restaurant opens in the evening, but Foley said he and his staff are in much earlier to start preparation.

“It takes two or three of us all day to prepare for the four or five hours we’re open,” he said. “We use all fresh ingredient and use no prepared food.”

Foley said he buys from local companies and makes everything in house.

“The quality is far superior to the places around here,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 40 years. We’re always fresh to order, which I know form the way the chains do it is basically heat and serve. Cooked to order might take a little longer, but it comes out hot and fresh.”

Foley said he’s had his eye on the location for some time. He said it was originally a local breakfast place for about 30 years, but when they moved out many people bought it and couldn’t make it work.

“Nobody lasted as long as we have,” he said. “They saw attrition is 95 percent in the first year and 65 percent in the first five years as the national average.”

Foley said he focuses on local customers because he knows they’re the ones who will come back and keep the business thriving.

“Statistics say 95 percent of business comes from a three-mile radius,” he said. “You have to concentrate on your neighborhood. My demographic is largely people my age. They’re straightforward and they like good fresh seafood, which we specialize in.”

Foley said he’s tried many different kinds of seafood and he said the name is very important. He said, for example, that while everybody loves calamari, he doesn’t think many people would order it if it was named fried squid. He said it’s the same way with the mako shark.

“I used to serve shark and it’s a lot like swordfish,” he said. “We used to have grilled mako and it was delicious but people just didn’t want to buy it. There are places out there where you could probably sell it as swordfish and people would go for it. I remember serving it for the fun of it. It depends on the market I guess, down south they serve alligator, in the southwest they have rattlesnake.”

Foley said being local isn’t just about serving food for him, he said you have to give back.

“I’m a pay it forward kind of guy,” he said. “We have two events to benefit the Massachusetts State Hospital School. It’s our house charity. My golf tournament raised $5,000 for the school and the road race raised $8,000 in the first year. It was a lot of publicity but it’s not why we do it. If you’re out making friends and doing the right thing the business will come.”

Foley said they had 500 runners last year in the road race, which was the first year he started it. He said the Corrib in West Roxbury, where he used to work, had its 20th race this year.

“They’ve raised over a million dollars over there,” he said. “I helped found that race, and we have high hopes for my race obviously. They had 2,400 runners this year.”

Foley’s is located on 531 Pearl St. in Stoughton and is open Tue - Fri, 6pm - 10pm; Sat, Sun, 4pm - 10pm; Mon, closed.