Cross-Examining the Grill at Northshore Fireplace

By Victoria Scott

Paul Pasco and the sales staff of Northshore Fireplace help each customer find the grill to suit his - or her - style.

At its simplest, grilling involves cooking food on a rack over an open flame. But as many charred or too-rare meals can attest, at its simplest, grilling is not so simple.

Enter the convenient, controllable backyard grill - and, with luck, someone to help decode it. The sales staff at Northshore Fireplace, 2813 Central St., has the grill figured out. They can help customers stay out of the kitchen if they do not like the heat.

The store, which began as a lawnmower and snow-blower vendor, now specializes in fireplaces and accessories, ceiling fans and outdoor grills. In the absence of owner Daniel Constance, his brother-in-law Paul Pasco showed off the hardware.

Their inventory includes both propane and natural gas grills, says Mr. Pasco. Ground-post grills - the kind affixed to a natural gas pipe - are more popular here than in other areas of the country, he says. While ground-post grills have the advantage of never running out of gas, they are in general less portable than wheeled propane grills. However, some can be fitted with wheels and a long tether or, in a yard with multiple gas connections, can be wheeled and plugged in like a vacuum into a central vacuum system.

Propane and natural gas grills, Mr. Pasco explains in a short course in grill technology, have open-flame burners with heat-diverting devices above them. The heat diverters - called briquettes, flavor screens or flavor bars - catch juices that drip from the cooking food. The drips turn to smoke, imparting a charcoal-grilled flavor without the charcoal.

Like an oven, a gas grill with its hood closed uses hot air, along with the hot surface on which the food sits, to cook. This is convection cooking.

A second species of gas grill, the infrared grill, operates on the principle of radiant heating. These grills cook by transferring heat directly to the food rather than by relying on heating an airspace.

The infrared grill has a ceramic plate rather than a flame. Because it does not depend on trapped air, says Mr. Pasco, the infrared grill lid is usually left open for cooking.

The more efficient infrared burner uses less fuel but cooks twice as fast as a conventional grill. And because its ceramic surface reaches 1600 degrees, he says, the grill burns off spills, eliminating clogs in a way 600- to 700-degree gas flames cannot.

Its high heat makes the infrared grill "ideal for food you want to sear," says Mr. Pasco. While hot air dries out food, he says, infrared heat cooks fish, steaks and chicken quickly and seals in their juices. Infrared grills, however, do not go as low in temperature as conventional ones.

Northshore Fireplace sells several brands of gas grills, among them Ducane, Broilmaster, Solaire, Weber and Tec. They range from $250 to $5,500, depending on size and features. Some brands offer an infrared along with a conventional burner for cooking flexibility. Infrared burners can be fitted with accessories - everything from griddles and steamers to deep fryers - to please the gourmet cook.

In addition to gas grills, Northshore sells charcoal grills priced from $350 to $1,000. The most unusual is the Big Green Egg, a ceramic kettle available in five sizes and based on an ancient Japanese clay oven. With a thick shell made of space-age materials, the Egg heats up in 15 minutes, says Mr. Pasco, and retains heat for hours.

The superior heat retention, in combination with a damper top and air shutter bottom, allows the cook to manipulate the Egg's temperature up and down, from 250 to 450 degrees. The shop sells real charcoal, and the flavor, Mr. Pasco says, is far superior to the flavor from chemical-laden briquettes.

But no matter how reliable, he says, a grill will eventually need parts and service. It is here that Northshore stakes its claim against the big box stores. "A grill may look like a bargain, but is it a name brand?" says Mr. Pasco. "Will parts be available later?"

Northshore offers annual service that includes cleaning, parts replacement and even paint jobs. They work on "inherited" grills - those that are sold with a house - like the old Charmglows that have been out of production for 15 years, he says.

Different grills suit different lifestyles, and Northshore specializes in surprises for Father's Day and birthdays. Their goal is to fit the grill to the chef, whether he (males still tend to do the grilling, says Mr. Pasco) sticks to burgers and brats or aims for the Michelin stars.

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Church/Darrow Affordable-Housing Proposal

"We have put the properties up for sale," HODC Executive Director Richard Koenig told the RoundTable. Nonetheless he is not wholly pessimistic about the future of affordable housing in Evanston. "Since the City Council rejected this project, that could put more pressure on them to pass the inclusionary zoning ordinance soon," he said.

The aldermanic debate at the May 22 City Council meeting generated almost as much passion as the neighborhood and subcommittee debates that preceded it.

The deciding issue for the five who opposed the proposed development - Aldermen Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward; Steve Bernstein, 4th Ward; Elizabeth Tisdahl, 7th Ward; Ann Rainey, 8th Ward; and Anjana Hansen, 9th Ward - was neighborhood preference.

The four who supported the proposal - Aldermen Cheryl Wollin, 1st Ward; Lionel Jean-Baptiste, 2nd Ward; Delores Holmes, 5th Ward; and Edmund Moran, 6th Ward - cited the need for affordable housing and a belief that a building on a lot that has been vacant for three decades would be an improvement for the area.

Opposition to the proposal centered on three issues: that the units would be rented for 15 yearsrather than owned outright; that there was not sufficient parking on the property; and that there would be no commercial space on the ground floor of the building.

Supporters of the project countered by saying opponents unfairly characterized tenants as not being "stakeholders" in the community and the opposition to the project was a barely veiled opposition to the working poor.

The development was targeted to people making between $20,000 and $40,000 per year, with rents varying between $500 and $950 per month, depending on the number of bedrooms and the income of the household. After 15 years the one-, two- and three-bedroom units would have been sold as condos, and HODC would have offered counseling about home ownership and helped long-term tenants with the down payment.

History of the proposal
HODC partnered with Evanston Community Development Corporation (ECDC) on the proposed development, which would have been financed in large part by low-income tax credits (LITC). HODC did not request any money from the City for the project, but it did ask for a variance in the parking requirements. The LITC financing required that the units be rented for 15 years before being offered for purchase.

ECDC, composed mostly of residents of the Church/Dodge area, has been working on finding ways to improve that area of West Evanston. They supported a tax-increment financing (TIF) district there, which the Council approved last year, and have met regularly with residents of the Fifth and Second wards to seek ideas and input. More than two years ago, ECDC announced their intention to create an affordable-housing project in the Church/Dodge area.

In about that same period, the City sponsored a series of neighborhood-planning meetings for area residents, addressing key problems: crime, loitering, poor lighting, unemployment, dwindling home ownership and a lack of economic development. The Neighborhood Plan that resulted was subsequently adopted by the City Council.

Because there was such vocal opposition to the project on the part of some neighborhood groups and landlords, the Council's Planning and Development Committee appointed a subcommittee to try to work out a compromise, but after several meetings, they could not reach an agreement.

The May 22 meetings
The City's Plan Commission had previously rejected the proposal, saying the "concentration of poverty" would harm a fragile and already stressed area that was struggling to rejuvenate itself.

At the May 22 meeting of the Planning and Development Committee, Carliss Sutton, president of the neighborhood group Community Alliance and a member of the subcommittee, summarized the neighbors' opposition and said they had sought compromise but had received nothing in response: "Our objections are of two types: harm to the surrounding neighborhood and possible harm to the tenants." He said the neighbors did not feel the developer had addressed their problems and added, "The unfortunate result is that two values - affordable housing and neighborhoods - are against each other. We should not have been forced into this dilemma." He asked, "Why are the needs of this neighborhood so consistently disregarded? Who should prevail - citizens or developers?"

Richard Koenig of HODC said the neighbors originally had about 16 areas of concern and he and his board had addressed many of them, such as making space on the ground floor that everyone agreed would be a good place for a library, agreeing to hire local minority residents at prevailing wages and changing the setbacks and adding landscaping.

He said the only thing requested of the City was a variance for parking, because at most he could find room for only 35 spaces, seven spaces short of what was required. City staff found there would be ample street parking. Mr. Koenig added that LITC financing mandated 15 years of rental occupancy.

In committee Alds. Wynne, Bernstein, Tisdahl, Rainey and Hansen voted to accept the recommendation of the City's Plan Commission, that is, to reject the proposal.
Some based their decision on what seemed to them a divergence between the proposal and the Neighborhood Plan.

Ald. Tisdahl said she had reread the Neighborhood Plan, which "called for ‘developing a commercial business district at Church and Dodge' and ‘maintaining affordable housing and increasing home ownership.' I voted for the neighborhood plan and I am reluctant to vote on a project that doesn't comport with it. It's difficult to call this ‘home ownership' when it takes 15 years to own the place."

Ald. Wynne said she, too, was "troubled by this project. I know how difficult the neighborhood planning process can be. Part of the way we get people to believe in us is that we honor the processes we create."

For other aldermen, the long rental period before actual ownership was the deciding factor.
Ald. Bernstein said. "The public benefit [home ownership in 15 years] is too iffy. Tenants are tenants, and that is the concern of the neighborhood. ...The bottom line is it doesn't feel good."

Ald. Rainey said, "The 15-year [wait for] ownership is the weakest part of the project. I think the alderman of the Fifth Ward is the best alderman they've had, and I believe she can bring something better. ... I think if you build this project, we're sticking it to the community."

Ald. Hansen said she could not support the project because HODC's financing was "driving the project. I wanted to see a tenants' association with some authority, but HODC said the authority would have to rest with them. If one thing had been given, I would have given my support to it, but HODC did not make any changes."

Those who supported the project said they believed the affordable rental units would provide a way for some Evanstonians with lower incomes to remain here.

Ald. Wollin said she hoped a compromise could be worked out that would benefit low-income persons who live and work in Evanston.

In responding to Ald. Tisdahl's comments about the Neighborhood Plan, Ald. Holmes said it also called for affordable rental housing, which this project provided.

As it became apparent that the project would be defeated, she said she was "at a loss for words. ...I appreciate Aldermen Bernstein, Hansen and Rainey saying they wish they could support me. But this project is not about me. It's about the community I represent and will continue to work with. I did not call anyone to ask how they would vote on this project, because I assumed you would all vote your conscience."

"This is about poor people," Ald. Jean-Baptiste exploded near the end of the debate. "Don't fool yourselves when you hide behind the plan. [Your] perspective is that poor people present an environmental hazard. ...Does that mean everybody who's coming in is going to be a criminal? ... Fifteen years is not an eternity; ownership is not sacrosanct. Behind our civility is the betrayal of one of our values."

At the Council meeting later that night, Ald. Moran requested that even one of his colleagues who voted to reject the project in committee reconsider. He said the project was about hope. "Ten years ago we committed to revitalizing the west side. We have evidence that we have not progressed as far as we should have when we have a lot that has been empty and contaminated for 30 years. I do not despair when I hear that it will take 15 years for ownership. ... HODC has compromised. The places where they haven't compromised are where they couldn't compromise."

When he saw that the vote would remain 5-4, Ald. Moran said, "This was my most discouraging day in 15 years on the Council."