This post is dedicated to Robert, Dennis and the best Zeppelin tunes ever written!
Hola grilling friends!
I am back from the beach in Mexico and even though its been a few days I'm still happily on mexican time and my head is full of beautiful images of my other home away from home! I must have a bit of Mexican in me because I love the people, the culture, the food and the endless adventures to be had in this epic part of the world that my family and I have been able to experience with each other for almost a decade now.
I have been looking forward to posting this next story for about a month now and it is the first time I am mentioning a product that I haven't actually tested myself but I have done my homework, spent countless hours on the forum and heard nothing but stellar things about a chap named Dennis Linkletter and his product, originally from southern California who now resides and has done so for the past number of years in Bali, Indonesia and who happens to be the principal owner of Komodo Kamado Inc.
It's funny if not ironic that while I was putting the pieces to this story together I was on the beach taking in the high noon Mexican sun one day while reading an amazing not to mention thick as a brick novel called "When Giants Walked The Earth" by Mick Wall. To date, in my opinion, the best and most detailed Biography of Led Zeppelin. Now, some of you know but most of you don't, I had the pleasure of meeting Robert Plant, Zepp's frontman in our little village in Wakefield a number of years ago and it was one of those incredible moments when you get the chance to meet an artist who you, in this case me, have admired ( more like worshipped) since the age of ten. FYI, I am the biggest self proclaimed Zepp fan in the world and if anyone wants to challenge that claim, be my guest, LOL! Seriously, it was an epic August day back in 2004 and the singer walked into our store at which point I did the triple take and finally got the nerve to introduce myself to confirm my assumptions and what do you know, I was right!
Within moments we were heading out the door and down the street to get a coffee and a quick chance to show him around our beautiful village. We had a great chat while discussing his latest tour that was in Ottawa that night, he compted a tiny group of us tickets to his show and afterward came back into our store to autograph some old disc's I had of both his solo work and vintage Zeppelin I always have in the office. All this was going on and I was trying to maintain a cool-as-a cucumber demeanor on the outside while on the inside I felt like an adolescent teenager juiced up on way too much caffeine and sugar who'd just witnessed the second coming of Christ himself!
Good time to get back to my new found friend Dennis and Komodo Kamado! You see, as I sat there on the beach contemplating my naval, I thought to myself how appropriate it would be to title this post after one of the most famous and one of my favorite Zeppelin songs ever, "Stairway To Heaven" with a twist. Well, it just makes sense that after all the ovens I've tested and worked with and after all the meals and smoke and fire and all the rest of it that I've gone through ( it sounds tough but its truly been a pleasure) the one oven that clearly combines the best of art meeting superior technology is without any doubt at all, Komodo Kamado! I mean let's face it grilling friends, this guy's done his homework and designed a true masterpiece of a cooker.
Dennis is clearly an out of the boxer thinker and has put his money where his mouth is by tirelessly researching the world over to ensure his clients get the very best in kamado technology and who can argue. From the New Gen 2's self opening lid to CNC laser cut frame assembly not to mention a laser cut airflow wheel this kamado sounds like more of a space ship destined for some far off land of milk and honey than just your average cooker. It evens boasts a stainless machined inner rod that has an acme thread to allow easy and simple adjustment of the damper top, go figure! Its body make up is refractory and not ceramic and thanks to companies like Harbison-Walker ( a world leader in materials designed for high temperature) Dennis has been able to not only master the production process, but prove that his cooker is the most efficient when it comes to fuel consumption, 16 lbs of lump over 85 hours at 200 degrees!!!!! That's impressive!
If that's not enough, these cookers can be customized with an exterior mosaic tiled and exquisitely colored finish that would make even the most accomplished of ceramicist's blush with envy. They also come with casted interior bands that support the lid and guarantee a perfectly aligned not to mention sealed fit all the time and are delivered fully loaded with all the necessary parts and gadgets to enable you, the "griller", to get off the tarmac and start grilling up a storm and impressing your friends! Now, for those of you wondering and who can't help but ask about price, its kinda like shopping for an Aston Martin DB9. If your already shopping and serious, price shouldn't matter, because we can all afford an Aston DB9, right, right! About $4000.00 CAD landed into the country and shipped out of Los Angeles, USA is the round about figure depending on exchange, plus taxes and shipping etc.
Personally, I will have to keep saving my pennies but thanks to Dennis he has connected me with one of his clients here in Canada for whom I will be dining with at some point and I will get a first hand look and culinary experience with this client for which I am truly looking forward to so that I can write Part 2 of what's been a most amazing experience thus far after getting to know the man behind this company.
So my grilling friends, another tail from the "Grateful Griller's" vault comes to an end but the culinary day dreams live on as we all ascend our own "Stairways to Kamado Heaven". I leave you with a few verses that will ring some bells for some.
And as we wind on down the road
Our shadow's taller than our soul
There walks a lady we all know
Who shines white light and wants to show
How everything still turns to gold.
And if you listen very hard
the tune will come to you at last.
When all are one and one is all
to be a rock and not to roll.
Lyrics: Plant/Page
Feed the fire, and the desire to take it higher!
The Grateful One
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