I have seen the glory and I've gotta rant

[Eastex]

I was in the Houston area yesterday and stopped off at Alspaugh's Ace Hardware in Kingwood on the north side. Nice place, they've got a ton of Weber stuff but what caught my eye and almost dropped me in my tracks was this


The lid was there too and had this badge on it for best dealership of 1997


I'm telling you it was a thing of beauty, I'm almost glad it was up in the rafters on display, otherwise I would probably still be there rubbing on it.
   But here's the rant, over on the floor were a few of Webers new Ebelskivver pans for their gourmet grate set up. I'll save you the google search and let you know that I looked them up and they're some kind of stuffed pancake balls basically. I'm sure they're fine but this ain't the kind of piece that is going to be on the shelves at your local Lowes. Its mostly going to be mail order and high end stores like this one that carry it. So basically your market is someone who knows what the heck they are and also uses the Gourmet grate set up on their Weber grill. I'm guessing that's about a couple of dozen people total. They would probably do better marketing it as a cast iron deviled egg holder!
   Is there anyone at Weber that has access to the internet? Is there a forum for people who wish they could fix ebilskivvers on their grill?? There are forums on the web where people lust daily for old flat top kettles. Who here wouldn't pay more than they have for any of their other grills for one of these repop kettles. I suspect we have several members who would buy two, one to cook on and one to keep in the box.

[Jeff]

Wow...I wonder how one could go about inquiring about having one of these replicas made for them.  I wonder how old this one actually is?   Does Weber still have the dies to make this kettle any longer?  I wasn't aware that's what the bottom vents looked like on this grill.  It looks like those vents are newer and were put on because...that's all that was available??? 

Please tell me about Webers new Ebelskivver pans.  I know nothing about them.  Is this something that can be ordered, but only select stores have them? And its made to use with the Gourmet System?

Great pics and great find!

[Ken Mc]

those pans are all over e-bay and Amazon I believe...

[Ken Mc]

That kettle is beautiful !!!!

[Duke]

Thanks for sharing that picture. I think it's great that you visited that Ace. Is that the one that Weber claims has that large collection?

[Eastex]

That was the only vintage kettle I saw. Kingwood is a pretty upscale part of Houston and I bet that lots of their sales are the higher end gassers , it looked like they had them all. They did have the older model woks with the vent holes around the edge , not the really old style with the brackets on the bottom, I would have bought those.
   I picked up a 2013 catalog and they stocked most of the new stuff. I saw the ebelskivver pan, the Korean BBQ pan, the new design grill pans, the slider press, the meatball/slider rack, the potato nails??, and the grill press. I bought the new compact chimney starter and would have bought the new ash shovel if they had been there.

[Craig]

That's a nice replica!! I agree with Jeff that they must have used the modern vents with the wide turn tabs for the bowl a'la Smokey Mountain and the Bar-B-Kettle. Would love to have one of these!

Craig

[MartyG]

Somebody has to take that thing down for a few better shots! I was in Houston earlier this year - had I only known...

[Jeff]

Is it just me...or does that old kettle look like its not very well balanced on top of that beam?  I see an old outboard motor hanging by a chain on the beam the kettle is on, but I cant tell how its secured up there.  I can picture it falling down and hitting the floor hard!   

Lastly, that grill should be displayed in a much better place than that! 

[Craig]

They probably don't want vultures like us grab-assing  and fondling it!  I also noticed it looks like the vents are locked shut with a cable or wire??  When you think about it the leg metal is shaped exactly like the metal used on the post 1964 wood/plastic  lid/bowl handles? Pretty sweet!

Craig

[Golly]

fffuuuccckkk yyyeeeaaahhh
the ultimate holy grail
dont worry about rubbing it if it was on the ground i would have stolen it

[Eastex]

I had the same safety thoughts, I'm thinking there must be some straps over the piece it's resting on on the top side of that beam. The bottom reminded me a lot of the bottom of my 22.5 WSM with more vertical area on the sides. The lid was the part that got me the most, I suspect the more domed shape they have now is more efficient but that flat top looked so cool. The vertical section between the top of the lid was a good couple of inches tall looked like. I'm driving around making stops at work today and I still can't get it out of my head.

[Mayhem]

Crikey. Think I'm out of my depth here. I had to google ' ebelskivver '.

[Eastex]

Me too, it looked like something the Mrs would serve deviled eggs on

[Mayhem]

I thought it was somewhere my son went skiing!