Grills - Shopping With Dan Kluger Suzanne DeChillo/The New York Times MOUTHWATERING Dan Kluger inspects the Lynx Sur La Table custom grill at Sur La Table on the Upper East Side; about $7,000, (800) 243-0852, surlatable.com. FOR Dan Kluger, executive chef of ABC Kitchen in Manhattan, summer conjures up visions of grilling outdoors. When he was growing up, said Mr. Kluger, 39, "grilling meant that there was an occasion: it was a long weekend or being away at a friend's house or a camping trip." These days, he remains a special-occasion griller out of necessity: there is no space for cooking outdoors at his home in Park Slope, Brooklyn. But "when I go to someone's country house and there's a grill, that's what I'm doing," he said. I'll do two or three meals on it if I possibly can. I love it. In search of portable grills and larger models he would like to find waiting at a friend's house, Mr. Kluger began at Home Depot in Chelsea. "I wish we could try them out," he said, staring longingly at the grills lined up on the store's lower level. The $99 Char-Broil American Gourmet barrel-style grill would be a good choice for buyers on a tight budget, he said, because it can grill and smoke. ("Grilling is about higher heat and caramelizing," he said. "Smoking is about infusing flavor" at lower heat.) He also liked the Weber Genesis E-310 grill. "Weber is like the Honda of grilling," he said. Very consistent and reliable. And this particular grill certainly appeared large enough for a party, he said, noting that the sign indicated it was capable of cooking 35 hamburgers at once. At Sur La Table on the Upper East Side, Mr. Kluger found something even bigger and more extravagant: the $7,000 Lynx Sur La Table Custom free-standing grill. It had a multitude of features he admired, including an insulated ice drawer, infrared searing burners and a rotisserie function. It also appeared to be built like a tank - and when it comes to grills, "you want something heavy duty," he said. A lot of the time, they end up falling apart. For similar reasons, Mr. Kluger recommended the beefy Grillworks models from grillery.com. "They have a barbaric, manly look to them," he said, and a particularly tasty fuel source: wood (instead of propane, natural gas or charcoal). At Crate & Barrel, he found just the opposite. The cute, bright green portable charcoal Fyrkat grill by Bodum, he said, is "a simple take-it-to-the-beach, take-it-to-the-party kind of thing." And despite its diminutive size, he thought it would be completely capable. Big, feature-packed grills are appealing, he said, but when it comes to cooking with fire, "you could probably do the same thing with a $100 or a $6,000 grill."