The Skill to
Handle the Grill
By Dave Hoffman
Anyone who really appreciates good barbeque knows that it’s more than a meal, it’s a lifestyle. Weber Grill Restaurant – founded by the family of the inventor of the grill from which it gets its name – provides experiences that celebrate grilling as a fun activity for backyard heroes, serious chefs and curious diners alike.
Weber Grill Restaurant has locations in Wheeling, Lombard, Chicago, and Schaumburg Ill., and Indianapolis Ind. Diners at these locations enjoy top-of-the-line American barbeque dishes – steaks, burgers, seafood, ribs, pulled pork and other favorites. But what really sets them apart are their events, including Grill Academy, off-premise catering, and private dining events.
Grill Academy provides public and private hands-on grilling classes. Public classes are held at the Schaumburg and Lombard locations. The Lombard location is currently remodeling their indoor facility to provide year-round classes.
“To participate in the public classes, you purchase a ticket, similar to a cooking class,” said Corporate Sales Manager Lauren Rullo. “There will be a theme about grilling. For example, there may be a date night class, a surf-and-turf class, all about bacon, tailgating, or even Barbeque 101 where you learn how to smoke large cuts of meats and briskets. Throughout the class, participants prepare and grill several meal courses from start to finish and get to enjoy the results of their labors. It’s the only school dedicated to grilling.”
Private groups enjoy a variety of activities such as competition events like the burger battle or grill master iron chef type of battles.
“The chef goes through best practices, tips, and tricks, how the competition works, and scoring,” Rullo said. “With the master battle, there is always a secret ingredient that has to be incorporated into the dish that is introduced at the last minute. You’ll have five minutes to plan, then at the last minute, the chef adds a new ingredient like mushrooms. The more creative you are, the higher you score on points.”
Winners of the competition not only go home with bragging rights, but also with a Weber prize – usually a gadget they can use for grilling.
In addition to competitions, private events include more traditional dining with an additional hands on component for the guests, so they get to enjoy the meal and be a part of the preparation.
“It’s the best of both worlds,” said Rullo.
The restaurants are also available to cater on-site grilling events. “Whether it’s a wedding, backyard graduation party, company picnic, work anniversary or baby shower, we bring the grills to you and our team does all of the setup and everything involved with the food service,” said Rullo. “We’ve done that for intimate groups of 15 as well as festivals reaching up to 10,000. Our chefs like to say, ‘Have grill, will travel.’”
You can contact Weber Grill Restaurants for your next dining experience at https://webergrillrestaurant.com/.