Curto's Appliances – Westchester County, NYC

Heading into NYC to talk turkey with Surjit Kalsi from Capital Range Corp.
Man is a legend in this business. Had his hands involved with the Garland stove, the original Viking range, creator of DCS and Capital. I hear he can levitate as well.
Lots of info coming down the pike…stay tuned!

Outdoor kitchen inquiries are starting to build. Oh, I’m not talking just a simple Weber grill stuck in a corner of your outdoor space. I’m talking full-on kitchens: grills, outdoor fridges, warming drawers, kegerators, ice makers, etc etc etc.

What am I selling this year? For the full suite of outdoor kitchens we’ll probably move a decent amount of Lynx and DCS equipment as they have the most comprehensive outdoor lineup. I’m sure there will be a fair amount of Wolf grills (which I currently own) as well. This will be the first full season with Viking outdoor, so we’ll have to see if there is movement on that line. It’s hard to tell with the new owners rocking the Viking ship so hard in their initial stages of ownership, so I don’t know what availability will look like.

So if you have an existing grill it’s never too early to get it cleaned and primed for Spring searing action.
And if you are in the market for one, look no further than Curto’s for your outdoor kitchen!

Lynx Grill Head Set in Stone

Welcome to the Lynx Temple! All Bow Before Pharoah!

Appliance Dude riffin’……

We are now ramping into the sweet spot of the outdoor kitchen/grill sales season and I have a few notes to share. People are definitely spending the loot on the high-end grills and sales are skewed heavily towards Lynx outdoor kitchens and grills. Here are some notes to digest, broken down by brand.

Lynx – 36″ and 42″ grills with ProSear have been the movers. Had a few bites on the new, step-down L500 series but there has been a recall on the carts (easy fix) so don’t know if that’s causing some consternation with consumers. Most of the lynx grills we’ve sold are just heads as they are being used in a built-in outdoor kitchen setup. Of course Lynx is touting their new brass burners as the finest thing since inexpensive medical insurance. Will these new burners markedly change your life? As one customer said to me “You can’t tell me that these burners are going to make my food taste any better”. Agree on that point, however I can tell that you that the brass burners will in fact last longer as they won’t corrode as easily as stainless under high heat and they hold and radiate heat better.
Translation – built to last, food cooked more evenly (if that’s what you want).

Wolf – Haven’t had much play on the Wolf grills yet. Can’t figure out why. Price point? Can’t be, because the Lynx is just as expensive when you factor everything in. I own one, I like it…see my tuna dish below. Wolf’s making a big push in this space, all other competitors beware…the Wolf will roar(howl)!
I made this lovely treat on a 36″ Wolf OG36 grill – how’s that for a sear?!

Seared Tuna Courtesy of My Wolf Outdoor Grill and My Deft Touch.

DCS – the grandaddy of the outdoor grill space and the home of the lifetime warranty on your grill. Beat that! People come into the showroom and brag that their DCS grill is still kicking after 10-15 years. These are the guys who really invested in this space. This is their heritage. They’ve definitely had the thunder stick taken away by Lynx but it’s still a brand that consumers are very happy with and it comes in at a great price point and they are offering free goodies with the purchase of at least a 36″ grill.
What I love about DCS is two-fold:
1 – Grease Management system which channels all the yuck (runoff) into a trough thus negating (how about minimizing) flare ups. Cool.
2 – The entire grill surface can be converted into a sear station. That’s nice, so we don’t need a dedicated searing area like everyone else does which means less space for normal grilling. DCS gets it.

Capital – was a strong (somewhat) seller last summer. This year, very little action. People simply don’t know the name. Maybe it’s known more for its indoor product. Had a few people biting on them lately, if they buy I will get the feedback and pass it along.

Viking – haven’t had anyone mention Viking for outdoor pieces. Probably would help if I placed the product on my web site. We just started selling Viking again after a looooooong lay-off. Will work up to it. I know they streamlined the outdoor product line so that’s a nice thing. Don’t want to confuse consumers with too many skus….anyone want a Viking branded vegetable/fish grilling basket? Or Viking branded wood chips? Time to get back to core competencies. Make killer product, the consumers will come.

The three premium outdoor grills that we offer are made by Wolf, Lynx and DCS.
I’m always asked which one I would choose out of the three and what I tell customers is that
you’re in a winning situation because you can’t go wrong with any of them. There are a myriad of other
companies making noise about offering “premium” outdoor grills. IMHO, those words are just that…noise.
Wolf, Lynx and DCS are the ones you need to focus on.

If you want the line that offers the most extensive product offering for a complete outdoor kitchen and who
is regarded as the leader in the outdoor grilling business, go with a Lynx.

If you are comfortable knowing that since Wolf is the leader of indoor high-end cooking appliances and feel that
will translate to the outdoor kitchen, I would go with the Wolf grills. (Note: I took a Wolf grill home this summer and
I’ve been very pleased with it).

Consider DCS if you want your dollar to travel the furthest and you like the idea of maximizing the square inches of your grilling surface – DCS does
this by leaving out the sear burner and instead turning the entire grill surface into a sear zone.

We just put a Lynx 36″ gas grill (L36PSFR-1) on display next to the Wolf OG-36 and they are eerily similar to one another. Both offer the following:
- Grates are cut from 304 grade stainless steel
- Internal rotisserie
- Sear burners
- Smoker boxes
- Ceramic briquettes which provide even heat distribution
- Heavy duty weld construction…aka they are built like friggin’ tanks
- Both total 75,000 BTU’s when combining the sear burner and two grill burners.

Opening Day for My Wolf Outdoor Grill

Lynx 36" Gas Grill

I took the Wolf OG-36 grill home a few weeks ago and I’ve been cooking on it almost every night. The power of the Wolf has impressed me and my wife swears that food tastes much better this year on the Wolf than when I was previously cooking on our old Weber Genesis. The only issue with the Wolf is that I have had a few flareups when manually lighting it (in one instance I gave myself a “manscape” when a flareup singed all the hair off the top of my arm). Aside from my adventures in hair removal it’s been a pleasure.

Lynx has done an incredible job branding itself as the premium outdoor grill manufacturer and it will be interesting to see how they deal with the coming battle with Wolf. Let’s face it, Wolf has usurped Viking’s role as the leader in premium indoor cooking appliances and they will try to replicate that feat in the outdoor kitchen space as well. At this point I’m of the mind that if you spend the money on either one (and you will spend quite a bit on these brands) you are getting top-notch quality and will be happy no matter which direction you go. However, I will do some cooking on the Lynx in the next few days and will share my thoughts on comparing it against the Wolf.