I’m Frank W. Roberts, and I’ve been cooking over fire for more than fifty years.
I started this site after retiring because I wanted to put my decades of grilling experience to work helping people pick the right grill — without the marketing nonsense, the sponsored fluff, or the breathless “best of” lists written by somebody who’s never actually cooked a brisket. At 82, I’m not chasing trends. I’m telling you what works.
My Background
I cut my teeth on charcoal grills — the classic kettle and the offset firebox style. From there I moved into stick-burning offset smokers, the kind where you’re feeding splits of oak, hickory, and pecan into a firebox every 45 minutes for twelve hours straight. I’ve done my share of those overnight cooks, and I’ve got the calluses and sleepless nights to prove it.
These days I cook mostly on pellet grills. I’ll be honest with you: a pellet grill doesn’t put smoke on meat the way a real stick-burner does. The smoke is cleaner and lighter. But pellet grills take the drudgery out of a 12-hour cook, and at my age, that trade-off is the right one. I cover all three styles on this site — charcoal, gas, and pellet — along with dedicated smokers, because different cooks call for different tools.
Why This Site Exists
Most grill review sites are written by people who’ve never owned the grills they’re recommending. They scrape product specs, slap together a “review,” and collect the affiliate commission. That’s not what I do.
I evaluate every grill I cover against the same criteria: build quality, temperature control, real cooking performance on the four cooks that matter (low-and-slow brisket, ribs, chicken, and steak), cleanup and maintenance, and value for the money. If a grill doesn’t earn a recommendation, I say so. If something is better at half the price, I tell you that too.
How I Use AI
I’ll be straight with you about something most affiliate sites won’t admit: I use AI as a research assistant. At 82, time matters. Reading through hundreds of owner forum posts, warranty complaints, and manufacturer specs used to take me weeks for a single review. AI lets me pull that information together in an afternoon — and then I bring fifty years of fire-cooking experience to weigh what’s actually true.
AI doesn’t tell me what to recommend. It helps me find patterns in what real owners are saying. The judgment is mine, and it comes from a lifetime of standing over coals and pellets.
What I Don’t Do
I don’t build grills. There are already more well-engineered grills on the market than any one cook could wear out. My job is to sort the decent ones from the fantastic ones and steer you toward the right grill for the kind of cooking you actually do.
How This Site Makes Money
This site earns commissions when readers buy through my product links. That’s how I keep the lights on and the reviews coming. It does not change what I recommend. If a grill isn’t worth your money, I’ll say so — even if it pays well. You can read the full affiliate disclosure here.
Get In Touch
Got a question about a specific grill? Disagree with a review? Want me to look at something I haven’t covered yet? Drop me a line. I read every message.