There’s a reason legendary butcher Pat LaFreida endorsed this $1,200 at-home overhead grill — I’ve been using it, and there’s simply no better way to cook meat, pizza, or fish

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The $1,200 Otto Wilde OFB Grill is my new favorite cooking appliance. I’ve seared steak, blackened calamari, grilled vegetables, whole-fried fish, and outdone every pizza joint in the borough of Brooklyn (*dodges rotten tomato*), all within a tiny corner of my backyard.
It’s a highly simple, yet powerful overhead broiler that approaches infernal temperatures, right in the comfort of your own backyard (or very, very well ventilated kitchen).
The Otto Wilde OFB Grill is even endorsed by legendary butcher Pat LaFrieda. I spoke with him about why this grill earned his signature of approval. "Do you see how hot this thing gets?" was his resounding response. "You just can’t get this at home."
The price of Otto Wilde’s OFB (Over-Fired Broiler) might put you off at first, but consider the cost of a good propane (or even charcoal) grill and a pizza oven, and you’re already easily at the $1,200 mark.

Otto Wilde’s OFB (Over-Fired Broiler) is a consumer-sized, restaurant-grade overhead grill (also known as a "sally" or salamander grill, finishing grill, or hotel grill) that gets up to a scorching 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s mainly designed for cooking and finishing steak, which is why it’s one of the only grills ever to earn an endorsement from legendary meat man Pat LaFrieda, who provides meat to some of the United States’ finest restaurants and steakhouses.

If you’ve spent any time in the restaurant industry, you know exactly what a sally is, and exactly what it does. But if you don’t have the slightest clue, it’s a highly simple, yet powerful appliance that approaches infernal temperatures, right in the comfort of your own backyard (or very well ventilated kitchen).

Yes, the $1,200 price is shock-inducing, but let’s get that out of the way, right out front. How much are you willing to spend on a propane grill for your backyard? And do you have any interest in owning a pizza oven, at least someday? An average propane grill is going to run you at least a few hundred dollars, and a pizza oven will easily set you back $800 to start (though the sky’s the limit with both). Between a fairly inexpensive grill and a bottom-of-the-line pizza oven, you’re already at the price of this Over-Fired Broiler.

I spent all winter sampling the fruits of Pat LaFrieda’s signature Otto Wilde OFB Grill after LaFrieda himself gave me the rundown outside of his sandwich shop at The Pennsy Food Hall at Pennsylvania Plaza.

Pat LaFrieda explains why, for the first time, he chose to endorse a grill

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When Otto Wilde first approached meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda, his immediate reaction, he told me, was something along the lines of "Oh no, not another grill pitch." And, frankly, when I received a similar presentation from the brand, I thought the same: ‘I’m not paying $1,200 for that tiny little oven, and neither would anyone with any good sense.‘ But when you witness how unbelievably hot this grill gets, your mind (or at least mine) gets to conjuring up imagery of crispy T-bones, crackly salmon skin, and perfectly blackened calamari steaks, along with other delightfully crunchy textures you once deemed unachievable at home.

Yes, whether we realize it or not, the salamander grill is often the very reason many of us dine out when we want a steak. Achieving 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit is difficult without a restaurant-grade grill (or an incinerator), and while it may be unnecessary for most culinary adventures, this is, definitively, a meat eater’s grill. If you’re looking to get the best possible sear on your steak, you can’t really do much better. It does excel elsewhere, but more on that later.

Getting the most out of your grill: Setup, cleaning, and maintenance are a cinch.

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The age-old salamander or overhead grill (or broiler) — possibly named after old folklore around dragons and lizards wielding fire, but who knows — is the very reason your steak crust and fish skin seem so impossibly crispy when you dine out. And at last, 1,500-degree Fahrenheit heat is safely available to the home cook at a (relatively) affordable price. Yes, there have been other iterations of the consumer-scaled salamander (or "sally", for short), but everything I’ve found has either been too small or too expensive (I’m talking over $2,000).

The Otto Wilde OFB grill comes more or less assembled, which you may take for an exceptional luxury if you’ve ever had to assemble a large propane grill before. Just make sure you find the small brass adapter piece as you’re unboxing. You’ll need this to attach the hose for your propane tank.

Otherwise, all you really have to do is place the top unit on top (no fastening required) and slide in the cast iron grate (the company also offers a stainless steel grate, if you prefer)

Preheating the Otto Wilde takes all of three minutes. Reminder: This thing gets up to 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, which is most certainly a temperature that no part of the human body should ever encounter. Go ahead and try this at home, but keep the kids and pets away, and don’t leave it unattended.

One of my favorite things about this grill is the drip tray, which not only helps keep your food from drying out (just like a smoker) but also makes cleanup a cinch. Just let the grill cool down and pull the tray out to wash it (it’s dishwasher safe).

The grilling process

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This is a delicate balance. First, preheat your grill for about five minutes; it doesn’t take long and it’s worth the wait.

The key, as with any grilling endeavor, is not to torch whatever you’re cooking. Different cuts of meat (or any other type of food) are going to respond to different temperatures and their proximity to the flames above. The good thing about the heat that the Otto Wilde OFB puts out is that it’s infrared, so you don’t have out-of-control flames blaring, nor do you have much likelihood of a grease fire. Most importantly, though: This is a thrilling piece of equipment to use. Play around and have fun.

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