Three years ago, I first heard of Kamado-style grills from RFD where a whole bunch of crazy guys were running around town trying to get a BGE from Costco on clearance. I was curious to find out more about this
thing that people were going bonkers over when they're "on sale" for $900. I mean, who pays this much for a bbq? Especially when it looks like this:
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| The BIG. GREEN. EGG. |
That's... one... ugly...
thing. Then I found out that it retails for something like $1,500 and "Eggheads" around the world swear by them. Never going back to gas. It's a hardcore community of followers and diehard fans out there. What irks me even more is that this Egg comes with absolutely
no accessories, meaning you can't even use it out of the box. To make it remotely useable, you'd have to spend a couple hundred more on it and yet people still go crazy. There must be something I'm missing here...
But it got me interested. I haven't bbq'd in ages and I was in a condo but
I wanted one. Eventually. Like when I'm no longer in a condo. So I started researching Kamado grills and found the one I wanted:
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| Kamado Joe - just as good as the BGE but with all the bells and whistles. For less money! |
So I juggled the idea of getting a Kamado Joe when I moved but didn't realize (until recently) that they are still $1,300!! When I first started my research, they were around the $1,000 mark but mind you, that's when the Canadian Dollar was less pathetic. Trying to get 文生 to agree to a $1,300 bbq would probably mean it'll never happen so I just kept the thought on the back burner and hoped for a sale.
Thanks (or no thanks) to the RFD community, I found out that Can Tire was clearing out their Vision brand of Kamados. Online reviews seem to be quite positive and the more important part, it was less than half price of the Joe!
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| Vision Kamado Pro C |
The first step was to get 文生 to
agree to the new addition. Check. Kinda. Then it was trying to find one. Check-ish. Well, apparently Vision ended their agreement with Can Tire so hence the clearance, meaning the
entire GTA was pretty much out. Stores were showing phantom stock or only have heavily damaged floor models left. I really wanted to have a Miss Vicky Day bbq this year so the Friday before the long weekend, I decided to look further away from the center of the universe and found a
brand new in box one in... get ready... Peterborough! Okay, Peterborough is far, but not unreachable right? So I called the store, told them I'm driving two hours to get there so please have the bbq on hold for me because I don't want to show up to find out it's not there. Great, all set.
I proceed to borrow a van because yes, this thing is a monster and weighs 200lbs (240lbs with the box) and there was no way it'd fit in my buggy (right?). Fast forward to Saturday morning, when I woke up both 文生 and CLM at 6am to begin our long scenic drive into cottage country, all was fine and dandy until we got to the Peterborough Can Tire and... they... sold... my... bbq. OMG#@^*@!#(*&#$(&@@!!!!! Needless to say, I was NOT a happy camper. The attitude at the store just did not help the situation either. We were told there was only one more in the area so fine, we'll go to yet another store. Apparently "in the area" meant BANCROFT, an hour away from OTTAWA. I was not only livid at this point, but in much disbelief that the Bancroft store, which showed only 1 in stock (usually that meant floor model or non-existent), actually have it brand new in box as well. 文生 was actually the one to make the executive decision to go to Bancroft so another hour and a half later, they were lugging the big box into the van. *Side note: I thought people in the 'burbs are generally more pleasant and it was true up to the point when they see you in person and realize you're not white...
Took us what seemed like forever to get back into town and I really didn't feel like assembling the bbq so I waited until Sunday to finally put it together. Thanks to YouTube, where this guy basically did a complete unboxing of the same Kamado, I was able to set up the grill with Tinlop in a relatively short period of time. We did a test run the same night and grilled peppers, zucchini, wings, pork chops and stuff. Boy it was yummy! There is absolutely no comparison to gas/propane grills.
On Miss Vicky Day, I fired it up again and made steak, pineapple, more wings and chops, zucchini, asparagus, potatoes, roasted garlic... it was good! I'd say it's well worth the money for the grill, even when we had to drive to Bancroft.
