Where are you from and how long have you lived in town? What brought you to the area?
I am originally from Poland and my family and I came to the US when I was a kid. We first moved to Chicago and have been in this area for the past 30 years. After I got married and we had our son, we wanted to move to Libertyville for the family friendly feel. My wife and I love the downtown area and “small town” feel.
Do you have child(ren)? Age(s)
We have 2 kids, 6 year old boy and a 4 year old daughter.
What are your favorite things to do in the area with and without your kids? Family friendly restaurant? Date night?
We love going on family bike rides. Our house backs to one of the bike trails making it super easy to go on these adventures. Our most ambitious one to date was taking a trip up to Independence Grove. Let’s just say the kids slept really well that night after we got home…
Are you involved in a business venture, a local organization, a creative endeavor or in the corporate world? Please share!
My wife and I both work corporate jobs. I’m in finance and she is in marketing. I do have a side hobby/business of grilling and making social media content. I run the social media pages Grillin With Dad where I share recipes, videos and tips and tricks around the grill. What started as a hobby 4 years ago, has now grown to almost 900 thousand followers across Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok. I do all the grilling in the backyard and focus on easy recipes that anyone can replicate.
I also try to involve my kids in the cooking as much as possible. They both love when I grill. My son is the meat eater of the two and my daughter loves her greens. So between the 2 of them, they have a complete meal ha.
How has this community been instrumental in getting you to where you are now?
I get a lot of inspiration from the local restaurants for my page. I’ve done collaborations with some as well. Just this past Christmas, me and Pizzeria DeVille organized a toy drive where we served homemade bbq and specialty pizzas. It was great to see the community come together and donate hundreds of toys for the families that needed them most.
What is one thing people would be surprised to know about you?
My other hobby, besides cooking/grilling is motorsports. When I was younger, long before we had kids, I used to race motorcycles in amateur leagues. We had races on local racetracks as well as some out of state ones. Nothing quite compares to the adrenaline rush of going 150mph on 2 wheels.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve gotten from another Dad?
To enjoy the moments with our kids while they are still kids. My son is 6 and to say those 6 years went by fast would be an understatement of the century. Even with our jobs and my grilling hobby, we try to set time aside each day and weekend for family activities. That time is very important to us and to our children.
What are your favorite places to travel near and far and why?
We love going up to the Wisconsin Dells area. We usually go up a few times each year. My son loves campers and camping so we either rent a camper for our trip or take a tent. It’s super fun for the kids to be at the campsites and it’s nice for us to get away from the everyday for a few days.
What is next for you?
The growth of my social media pages has been very unexpected. Even though I work full time now, my goal is to do social media and cooking full time. It’s a great feeling knowing that my cooking and my videos inspire others. Grilling, especially this last year, has been like therapy to me. It’s a great feeling to go outside, fire up the grill and try to cook up something tasty.
Visit Maciek’s website Grillin With Dad!
