There's an old adage that floats about the consumer world reminding the buyer that, quite frankly, they get what they pay for.
For some, especially in the world of cooking, the decisions can be rather daunting. Take knives, for example: spend a few dollars at the local big-box store on a knife that quickly dulls or chips? Or get a few hundred-dollar set that lasts longer and is stronger? Or simply go out and spend $700 on a hand-made Damascus knife that can take any abuse dished out to it and still stay sharp?
There are plenty of consumers who will do the former and a growing number that may take the middle ground, but it's those who fall into the latter category that Ben Eisendrath is a bit "fired up" to meet.
Eisendrath is the owner of
Grillworks, known for its elite stainless-steel Argentine-style grills called The Grillery. Eisendrath, the son of Grillworks founder Charles Eisendrath, isn't apologizing to anyone when he notes the prices his grills fetch.
"We have a fireplace model that goes for $1,250, then our freestanding grills start at $2,475 and go up from there all the way to large, custom models," says Eisendrath.
Those prices tend to keep the grills out of the hands of the retail bargain shoppers and places them in the hands of clientele that fall into the upper echelons. Like who? Well, notable Grillery owners include
Tom Brokaw,
Damien Hirst,
Dan Barber,
Alexa Hampton,
Christiane Amanpour,
Jamie Wyeth,
Steven Raichlen and
Matthew McConaughey.
"The Grillery works a treat, making us, surprisingly, the culinary envy of our neighborhood," says Amanpour, of CNN, in her testimonial on the company website.
While Eisendrath, who took up the company charge in 2007, could have sought a way to make the grill cheaper and available to a wider audience, he considered his options before deciding to keep building the best grill he could.
The grills are handmade right here in Northwest Michigan, though Eisendrath has back-up production facilities in Virginia, not far from his home in Washington, D.C. He refuses to allow anything but the highest-quality materials such as high-polished, aircraft-grade stainless steel to be used in their construction. Eisendrath is committed to having nothing but perfection leave his shop and go to the eager customers who pay top dollar for the privilege of owning one of the magnificent devices.
"You cannot find a better grill, from materials to craftsmanship," Eisendrath challenges.
Customers agree and have been doing so since the elder Eisendrath began constructing them after spending several years in Argentina in the early 1970s. Eisendrath's mother, Julia, handled the books while his father worked on the grills. Grillworks became a passion, but Charles Eisendrath had a day job to consider as well: he's a former Time magazine correspondent and the current director of the University of Michigan's journalism fellowship program.
Despite his insistence to keep the grill from becoming too much to handle, customers still managed to find a way to order them. It was likely the quality of the device that drew their attention and desire. The Grillery was designed to honor the Argentine grilling method of cooking meats over an open wood fire. In addition, there were features such as V-shaped grates that captured the meat's juices and deposited them into a collection tray that could be used for making gravies and au jus. At the core of The Grillery's ingenious design is a grill surface that can have it's height adjusted up to 16 inches to reduce or increase the amount of heat applied to the items being grilled.
Ben Eisendrath remembers those days, and that original design, with fondness.
"I stamped the serial numbers on each of them," he says. "Back then I would think of all the things that my dad could have been doing with the company, but wasn't."
The stainless-steel grills were an everyday part of the young Eisendrath's life. Beyond the serial numbers and the face plates he attached to each of the grills, his family had them at their home and another at the family farm in East Jordan, where he often searched the 140 acres to find different woods suitable for firing the grill and flavoring the foods cooked upon it.
Back then, Eisendrath often pondered what would happen if his father made the company his priority instead of his hobby, or advanced the design or simply offered a variety of them?
None of those things were destined to happen under the leadership of Eisendrath's dad, either. In the late 1990s, Charles Eisendrath announced to his family that Grillworks would be no more.
It was nearly a decade later that Ben Eisendrath, who then worked for AOL as director of new products for the once-powerful Internet giant's digital service division, found himself searching for a new job. In his late 30s, Eisendrath recognized AOL's inability to keep a stranglehold on the quickly changing face of the Internet and chose to take an offered buyout. It was then he approached his father about relaunching Grillworks, and the transfer was signed at the family farm.
Since then, Eisendrath has expanded the Grillworks line-up and made a few of the adjustments he had dreamed up as a kid: some now offer independently-controlled double surfaces, others are designed for build-in as outdoor kitchens. Some are even commercial-grade, being used in the restaurant business, such as the 54-inch model at the award-winning Blue Hill at Stone Barns outside New York City.
Not everyone can afford the Argentine-style wood fire masterpiece from Grillworks, and that means Eisendrath and his company often are on the receiving end of inevitable backlash from the part of the population that either doesn't understand the draw or is simply jealous that they can't afford it and someone else can.
Eisendrath said he does indeed wish he could take the same exact grill his company makes right now and make it cheaper to the general public. However, that's just not possible.
"I say that making them here like we do, by hand, to order, these are the prices they must be," Eisendrath says when asked how he responds to the naysayers. "Our customers appreciate the quality of the grills and the care we take with them, and are fans of the art involved in cooking over open fire. They are people who take their cuisine -- and entertaining -- very seriously. The reasons our customers buy our grills are the same reasons some people might take a vintage car or a very special bottle of wine home."
For more information about the grills, or to order one, visit
The Grillery website. Any of the grills can be customized as well.
Sam Eggleston is the interim managing editor of the Northwest Michigan Second Wave and a full-time freelance writer. He was born and raised in Michigan. He can be reached via email.