Mel Chmilar Jr.

Mel Chmilar Jr., also known as Darksideofthegrill, is a self-taught pit master and live fire cook who is quickly carving out a name for himself in the BBQ community. A journeyman welder by day, this BBQ showman hits the social platforms bringing epic, outrageous and highly skilled cooks from his EGGs to yours in a friendly, positive and easy to follow tutorial. 

Mel is a Certified KCBS BBQ judge that has taught live fire/BBQ classes, demos, whole animal/meat processing and was a chosen competitor at the World food championships. Mel’s unique BBQ personality has been seen on local and national tv networks. He is currently producing a weekly After the Cook podcast with NHL, NFL and cooking stars around the world. In the near future, darksideofthegrill plans to attended many major events and festivals for the BBQ community.

When starting out in BBQ Mel cooked on almost every grill under the sun, but he’s always been drawn to live fire and real wood smoking. Through the BBQ competitions and festivals Mel fell in love with the Big Green Egg and its ability to sear, cook low and slow, use real wood smoking, and wok cooking. Mel cooks on his EGGs daily!