GRILLWORKS INFIERNO LARGE FORMAT GRILLS
The Infierno line is our flagship family of restaurant grills. They are designed to anchor an open kitchen, and to bring as many live fire capabilities as our experience has seen across the globe.
These pieces are truly stages on which live fire chefs perform. They offer unmatched direct access to their natural wood fire. We believe this is key to providing chefs with the tools to innovate in the discipline.
Every Infierno is built entirely in 304 stainless steel lined with full-width fire brick. The stainless in this line is massive, with 11 gauge tube structure at 1.5 - 2” and body plates at 11 and 12 gauge, specs and heft that far exceed professional standards. Built to last as close to forever as humanly possible.
The Infierno Origin Story
The first Infierno was designed in consultation with Chef Dan Barber and his team, and still stands in full view outside the windows of Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Dan had just returned from Spain’s Etxebarri and had newfound live fire religion. He tracked down Grillworks owner Ben and challenged him to make a grill on which he could cook anything. Many iterations followed, many half-successes and many failures, each teaching lessons about what a place like Blue Hill would require to push culinary limits. And then came Infierno no 0001.
This original grill still resembles the much-evolved Infiernos we build today, over a decade later. Countless chefs have added their vision to the Infierno’s form and feature set, and we continue to learn and refine our most dramatic grills as we travel the world learning how live fire is used not just in the USA and South America, but everywhere. Absolutely every culture began with fire and brings different techniques to the table today.
In addition to the near-limitless function any size Infierno brings to a menu, they also bring show-stopping form. Our goal on that score is to mesmerize observers with the interplay of physical design and the organic power of flame.
The first Infierno was built in partnership with Dan Barber
“Massive handmade, wood-fired grills from Grillworks are changing how renowned chefs cook everything from beef to beets.”
- BLOOMBERG
Strength and Easy Care for the Duration
Every Infierno’s exterior ‘exoskeleton’ pattern adds exceptional strength in addition to a signature look. This stainless tube-over-plate structure prevents warping and reinforces the entire unit. It also provides a perfect anchor for the X lift system, which is comprised of gear-lifted cooking frames, the towers housing them, and automotive-level transmission boxes positioned at the EXO’s shoulders. These boxes have hinged caps that are lifted for easy visual checks and refills with food-safe lube.
NOTE - IT IS VERY IMPORTANT to keep the lift system gears wet with lubrication, just as with a dream car. With simple checks before use these lift systems should last almost indefinitely.
The Infierno X240 ‘Tigre’
The Infierno X240 is the largest self-contained wood-burning grill in the world. Her twenty feet of fire includes four grill stations, backed with rear fire cages, or braseros, each equipped with twin hot-swappable cooking surfaces, giving any culinary team up to eight different surfaces to cook on – simultaneously. Flanking the central hearth-heated Blanco Oven are two open hearth stations for open coal cooking or rotisseries, either vertically or horizontally oriented. Overhead is a vast system of holding shelves and suspension zones, allowing items to be heated gently or smoked over time. Viewed from any angle, this Infierno displays both the care in which her design was put together and the power she offers a culinary team. The X240 is so far beyond a simple ‘grill’ that nobody witnessing the action will feel the word is adequate to describe what they saw.
The Infierno X166
The Infierno X166 boasts four grill stations, all flanking her optional Blanco Oven. Much like the X240, this model is designed to serve as the whole hot line of a live-fire forward restaurant. Her fifteen feet of workspace can support the largest of operations.
The Infierno X100
The Infierno X100 is designed to provide all the features of the X240 and X166 in a more modest (but still plenty dramatic) footprint. She is over eight feet of flanking grill stations, Blanco wood oven, hearth, overhead resting and suspension areas just like her larger siblings, and a host of accessories like plancha, specialty screen or bar surfaces (in addition to her standard V-Channels, and of course rotisseries (up to 2).
This model is particularly dear to our hearts, as the X100 retains the same layout and is closest in size to the original Infierno 96 that has powered Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns since 2010. We’re also particularly fond of her proportions.
The Infierno X88
The Infierno X88 is a different animal than her larger siblings. She’s a three-station grill geared to leave extra space open for hearth work. As on all the Infiernos, large adjustable grill stations carry twin cooking surfaces, giving chefs up to four different cooking setups that move up and down up to 18” over the heat. Between them lies the special third station - the open hearth. This space can be used open, with free access to the brick and coals, with a freestanding plancha, or the Infierno can be equipped with a shelf system in that gap, complete with removable frames that can hold all manner of pans or dishes in two positions between the base and the overhead shelving. Another cooking dimension can be added to this support area as well — the Blanco Cap, which serves as a compact smoke-oven chamber.
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The Infierno X66 and X55
The Infierno X55 and X66 are the answers for mid-size restaurants or for projects where the live-fire element is key, but may not involve the majority of the menu. These grills are pocket battleships, armed with the same heavy duty X-System chain-and-gear lift system, overhead resting areas, rear fire cage, swappable cooking surfaces (four sections on the two lift frames), and full-width rotisserie capacity as their larger siblings. These are the grills lined up at José Andrés Bazaar Meats in Las Vegas, their fires the first thing you see as you’re walked to your table.
Any of our professional models can be built into a suite. We’ve recently begun working with Hestan to make sure our products are easy drop-ins for their commercial suites.
Our Langelier 36 built into a Hestan commercial kitchen suite.
SEE THEM IN ACTION…
The Grillworks X Lift System, the Heart of each Infierno
The Infierno X system is a patented, ultra heavy-duty adjustable hearth cooking system. At the core of it is a unique one-handed crankwheel operated chain-and-gear that raises and lowers a swappable mix of grill surfaces over the fire to control heat. In addition to the simple mechanics of operation, the X system includes a telltale sound-and-sight polished copper height indicator that makes it easy for chefs on an active line to communicate ideal cooking levels to each other. Live-fire on an open hearth is often more art than science, so this system can shorten the learning gap between the seasoned chef to those new to the discipline.
And we understand that our restaurant grill systems are stages upon which chefs perform for guests, so the X system visuals are unmatched in finish, presence and drama. While the lifting gears are shielded from the fires of the hearth, elements critical to chef operation and guest eyes are exposed for all to appreciate. Like displaying the workings of a Swiss watch or the engine driving an Italian sports car, the mechanics of the Infiernos, coupled with the fires they house, are designed to amaze the eye.
Blanco Oven Damper & Detail
Modular Design
Blanco Station
Resting and Suspension
Crankwheel & Chain Drive
Blanco Smoke Oven Cap
Fire Cages and Exhaust Deflectors
The Blanco Cap’s Baffled Exhaust
OUR PROFESSIONAL GRILLS & SYSTEMS
The professional space is where we get the most inspiration for new features, models and looks. This results in our pro models really pushing the envelope in both their ability to do anything an ambitious chef has in mind and also complete the look a restaurant designer knows will be key to a concept being ‘right’. And if something more can be done on either front, we want you to present us with that challenge.
The Langelier Elite
When customers stunned by a restaurant Infierno began asking for models like them they could put in their homes we named this “smaller” category Langelier Elite, after the longtime Grillworks friend who got the first.
Professional Built-in EXO Pro Grills
Many restaurant designers and chefs have a very specific look in mind for their new space and kitchen. The EXO Pro line is intended to compliment, or add that wood grill PUNCH, to an aesthetic. These grills offer almost every capability of the Infierno line, but come ready to slide into an enclosure of the customer’s design. Where the Infierno is the whole line in a dramatic roll-in package, the EXO Pro arrives ready to be a team player.
OUR HOME GRILLS
Built-In Architectural Grills
We also offer our Architectural line to those wanting to complete an exterior or interior design with a statement wood-fired cooking element. These grills are most recognizable to our friends in Argentina as the traditional element of any country house or ranch. Ours are built not just for utility, but to either center or aesthetically compliment a space. Standard sizes range from 36 inches wide up to 72, with many options and almost infinite customizations possible.
Freestanding
Home is where Grillworks started. Every model we make harkens back to the little grill Charles Eisendrath invented over 40 years ago. The Grillworks 20, in fact, shares the exact same footprint, look, and capabilities of the original. Joining the 20 is an array of freestanding grills that range in size from the 20 (named for the cooking surface size) up to the show-stopping, restaurant-level Langelier X54.
“Grillworks’s top of the line ‘Infierno’ has to be seen to be believed. It is not the Cadillac of grills but the Rock Star Tour Bus of Grills.”
- FORBES
QUESTIONS?
We know you have more questions.
