Patent ID: 8020546

Claim:
An outdoor cooking apparatus comprising: a) a pedestal having a periphery, the pedestal including one or more pedestal walls, an upper end portion, a lower end portion and an interior with a receptacle space that enables a fuel canister to be contained within the pedestal; b) a rectangular top supported upon the upper end portion of the pedestal, the top having a top periphery that is larger than the pedestal periphery, said top periphery including four sides and four top corners; c) three of said walls being concave to provide a plurality of three knee space areas under the top and in between the pedestal periphery and top periphery, each knee space enabling a user to occupy a seat next to the top and to extend their legs under the top and within the top periphery, and wherein each knee space area includes one side of the top periphery, one pedestal wall, and the area under the pedestal top in between the said one side of the top periphery and the said one pedestal wall; d) wherein each knee space area is separated from another of the knee space areas by a said top corner; e) the top having an upper surface, a part of said upper surface being a cooking surface that can be heated to a cooking temperature, said cooking surface having four cooking surface sides; f) a plurality of tiles that partially surround the cooking surface, the tiles extending less than 360 degrees around the cooking surface, each tile being not adhered to the top and removable, enabling a user to remove a tile and replace it with another tile; g) one side of the top periphery being generally aligned with a side of the cooking surface periphery; h) wherein one of the walls is not a knee space area, providing a chef's station for a chef wherein there are no tiles and the cooking surface extends to the top periphery; and i) the chef's station having one or more control knobs that enable a chef to control the cooking surface temperature when the chef is occupying the chef's station; j) wherein the rectangular top comprises a unitary frame supporting the plurality of tiles and the cooking surface.