Maciek Zurawski, the Polish-born pitmaster behind Grillin With Dad, has built an audience of 3.5 million people around one belief: backyard barbecue belongs to anyone who’ll fire up a grill.
He’s been featured on Good Morning America, PBS, Whole Foods, BuzzFeed, and Tasty, and runs his own seasoning line out of the Chicago area.
We’re proud to welcome Maciek to the Montana Knife Company family. We resonate with his commitment to craftsmanship, family, and food that brings people together.
Kingsford and a Polish Kitchen
Maciek moved from Poland to Chicago as a kid. Money was tight, his family didn’t have a grill, and the first American barbecue he ever knew came through his apartment window.
In summer, the neighbors lit Kingsford in the courtyard. The smell pulled him outside. In broken English, he asked what they were cooking, and they let him taste.
‘That’s freaking incredible,’ he remembers thinking. ‘I want to eat what you guys are making right there.’
His parents eventually scraped together a small grill, and his dad started messing around on it: chicken, pork chops, a steak now and then. Maciek was hooked.
He still cooks the Polish food he grew up on, but the smell of charcoal lighting up takes him back to that courtyard.
The Father’s Day Gift That Changed Everything
By 2017, Maciek was grilling on a Weber kettle and watching Big Green Egg cooks blow up his Instagram feed. He’d stop and stare every time he passed one in a store, but couldn’t justify the cost.
His wife noticed. That Father’s Day, a delivery truck pulled up with a Big Green Egg on the back.
“Happy Father’s Day,” his wife told him. “It’s for you.”
On a whim, he started a separate Instagram page to learn the Egg. Sitting on the couch trying to name the page, he decided to keep it simple: “I’m gonna be grilling. I’m a dad. So just do Grillin With Dad.”
Walking Out of Allstate
A few years in, Maciek’s day job at Allstate’s finance department collided with his side hustle. He’d think about his next cook all morning, hit the grocery store on the way home, and edit and post after the kids went to bed.
“One of these things has got to go,” he remembers thinking. “I can’t do all of this for much longer.”
He’d been saving every dollar Grillin With Dad earned. By the time he made the case to his wife, he had about a year’s salary banked. The pitch was simple: give it a year, and if it flopped, he’d go back to a regular job.
She backed the bet, and once Maciek went all in, the brand took off.
Polish Roots, Texas Smoke, Chicago Cuts
If forced to pick a barbecue style, Maciek leans toward Texas: brisket, simple rubs, and smoke. But Grillin With Dad pulls from his Polish childhood, his Chicago neighborhood, and the Mexican and South American kitchens he fell for as an adult.
Polish food gave him no heat, so when chiles and bold spices hit his plate, the doors blew off. He chars chiles and tomatoes over fire and layers his own salsas onto braised meats and weeknight cooks alike.
His Midwest side shows up in the cuts. Chicago is a rib-tips town, and Maciek leans into the cheap, working-class pieces and turns them into food that holds its own next to brisket.
“I’m not a professional chef or famous pitmaster,” he says. “I’m a backyard barbecue guy. If I can do it, anybody can.”
Why MKC?
Maciek first spotted MKC on Instagram, where a black blade caught his eye. The whole site was sold out, so he waited.
His first drop was the Bearded Butcher collab: the Breaking Butcher and the Boning Butcher. He read up on MKC first, and the brand’s story closed the deal as much as the knives did.
The knives lived up to his excitement. They’re durable, easy to sharpen, and look as good as they cut.
Today, his daily drivers are the Big Horn Chef and the Smith River Santoku. Whether he’s filming or making dinner, he reaches for MKC.
What’s Next for Maciek
Maciek keeps cooking, posting, and feeding his family. His two kids, an 11-year-old son and a nine-year-old daughter, give him honest feedback on every cook.
He hopes they walk away with the confidence to make great food at home and a sense of how the grill brings people together.
Keep Up With Maciek
- Website: grillinwithdad.com
- Instagram: @grillin_with_dad
- YouTube: @GrillinWithDad
