List Price: $218.90
Sale Price: $180.49
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I wanted a portable grill for cooking at the beach here in San Diego during great weather that would fit on my patio, and for cooking meals that need lots of heat or baking (pizza) at temps above 500*F which my oven can't reach. I am somewhat of a home gourmet and I am very particular about what gadgets I buy. After reading about many many grills here on Amazon and other sites, I found what features I wanted.
Case Iron grates These hold heat better than steel. The get those nice grill marks and don't rust as easily as steel. They last much longer.
Portability I live in an apartment, and I don't want to deal with taking a grill apart if I were to move. Also, I'd like to take it to the beach or tailgating when needed. I can't do that easily with larger grills.
Surface Area It must be large enough to cook several burgers and their buns at the same time. I don't want to have to have some burgers freezing while their buns are heating up.
Durability Portable grills creek and groan too much, and they're a pain to collapse and setup. Some don't come with legs and they have to be set down on a table if it's available.
I chose the Stok Gridiron after loitering around the grill section at brick and mortar stores. There were no reviews on this anywhere, so I took a chance and bought it based on how durable it looked and how easy the Stok website said its ease of set-up and take down was (I've never seen anything easier). I've been using it for a while and it's not flimsy at all.
Amazon had the lowest price I could find. Target had a better price, but it was higher if you included almost $50 in shipping. This grill showed up in 2 days. I ordered it on a Wednesday and it arrived on Friday.
I opened the box and took lots of pictures. I was surprised that it came out of the box mostly assembled. I just put the wheels on, attached the handle, and the tank and I was ready to cook. It took about 10 minutes, including the time it took to find my screw driver.
Next came the cook test and the clean up test. I lined the inside with foil to make cleaning easier in the future. I went out and bought some carne asada and a bag of tortillas. After marinating the meat, I let this grill get up to 500*F, and placed the meat on the grill. SIZZLE! The meat was don't in 8 minutes, and the tortillas were done in 5. The tortillas help me find the hot spots, and I indicated where the were on some photos I posted. Your grill might vary. The handle stayed cool to the touch, and wasn't a worry at all. There aren't any adjustable vents, so beware of that if you're smoking something. As an engineer, they have good reasons of this. It's mostly to make it safer for portability and to keep the oxygen flowing in since it's shallow.
The next day, I put on the pizza stone and make a pizza. I got the grill to read 500*F again, but that didn't seem right because it was VERY hot inside. I'm guessing the lid thermometer says 500*F, but it may have been around 700*F. My next purchase is going to be and IR thermometer. So for my pizza, I did the usual pepperoni and mozzarella, and I added a packet of apple wood chips to smoke it. In 10 minutes, my pizza was done and soooo crispy and delicious! I'll never bake my pizza in an oven ever again. Get the pizza stone if you like pizza. The insert system is handy because the stone just slides right in and stays put. I can't use a pizza stone in my oven because it just don't get hot enough. Using the stone on a grill is a great way use the full potential of the grill and a stone.
Clean up was easy and I had little to no problems with flare ups. I rubbed some corn oil on the grates to get them seasoned, kind of like my cast iron pan. Stoke makes a 2 burner grill that comes with the stone and vegetable insert, and a 4 burner grill that comes with nearly everything. I bought the stone, vegetable and wok inserts. They work great and the grill allows me to get that high heat I just can't get on my stove top!
Pros:
portable
Cast iron grates
Insert system! It turns this grill into the swiss-army-knife of grills.
durable and solid construction. No creaks, and collapses very easily.
Heats up very quickly
easy to clean
Easy to set up out of the box.
Cons:
Shallow can't cook a turkey or large chicken on it
Not the most uneven grill I've ever had, but it works just fine once you find out where they are.
Overall, I highly recommend this grill. I'll update as time goes on and I get more experience with it. Get this grill if you live in an apartment, or want something portable that can get a big job done easily.
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This grill gave me more options than any other grill in its class!With all the inserts you can use it has enhanced my tailgating! On the surface it cooks well, no problem heating up and staying warmI liked the color as well IT POPS! Easily collapsible too. I have recommended to all my friends who are tailgating camping, or have a small area such as an apartment porch. Thanks STOK!Best Deals for Stok STC1150 Portable Gridiron Gas Grill
Heats up fast. Got it up to 500 F the first time I fired it up. Large surface area, easy to clean, easy to move.Very uneven heating. I spread white bread on it to find the hot and cold spots.
Honest reviews on Stok STC1150 Portable Gridiron Gas Grill
I live in an apartment. This grill is perfect. Not only does it easily fit in tiny space so I can easily roll it outside, but it fits perfectly in the 'trunk' area of my Scion XAIt heats pretty evenly for me honestly, and having a thermometer on the lid really helps. I haven't tried the removable grill inserts but I might, could be fun. I might pick up the vegetable one soon.
My only complaint is 1. There are no hooks to quickly hang your tools and 2. there is no second table, or really enough surface area on the first table to use it for anything besides your spatula.
And my big recommendation for everyone get a smoke box (or the nifty Smoke Strip) and some hickory or mesquite wood. It does wonders to little grills like this and genuinely improves the taste and general atmosphere around the grill.
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