For 15 eager residents of Clayton there was only one thing better than dining on pizza at lunch time: learning how to prepare it themselves on a grill.
Weber Grill held the latest in a long line of cooking classes Thursday at the St. Louis Galleria. The class, hosted by the Clayton Chamber of Commerce, gave attendees a chance to try their hand in grilling pizzas on a historic Weber grill.
The St. Louis location features Weber Grill Academy — the first brick and mortar of its kind in the U.S. and the first academy to be a part of a restaurant internationally. The custom-designed learning facility has public grilling classes three times a week, where guests learn techniques and tips from trained chefs.
“We have classes that are open to the public and those that are available privately as well,” Weber Grill General Manager Trevor Fortin. “We do classes at all of our restaurants but this is the only location that has an academy grill attached for teaching all-year-round, hands-on-grilling and it’s a lot of fun..”
The hands on grilling is what makes Weber Grill unique. The restaurant hosts anywhere from 35-50 public classes a year and gets up to 20 people per class, offering them a chance to create their own meal.
“We try to find a happy medium where you’re going to be able to learn, you’re not going to be left alone to fend for yourself,” Fortin said. “You are prepping it, you’re grilling it and we’re coaching along the way.”
Weber has two main chefs in charge of conducting the classes, including Keith Brockman, a native St. Louisan who handles most of the classes.
“He’s entertaining, he’s a great coach and he has a real passion,” Fortin said.
The company gets their ideas for what to cook in their classes from a long history of grilling.
“Weber has been grilling for a long time so they are able to give us a wider array of things that we can do in all of our classes from steaks to pizzas, to American barbecue and even grilling Italian,” Fortin said. “We’ve been able to, from all of our cookbooks, put together a nice array of classes for everybody.”
To book a private classes, contact Weber Grill at 314-930-3838. Patrons can also sign up for public classes online at webergrillrestaurant.com.