When Justin Robinson was a kid in Mobile, Alabama, he came home every day after school to his grandfather cooking on the grill. “He always had it going,” Robinson remembers. “Ribs, steak, chicken wings, it was always something.” The young Robinson was a picky eater, though, and preferred McDonald’s, he said, laughing. He had no idea back then that one of his fondest memories would be the image of his grandfather at the grill, or that his own career as Chef JRob would be so inspired by that memory. “My grandfather loved being an entertainer, and I eventually followed in his path,” he said. “As a chef, I’m firing up the grill every day. Everyone knows that if I’m throwin’ down on the grill it’s going to be a great time, a great evening where we can just relax.”

The 26-year-old Robinson now offers what he calls the Chef JRob Experience, a private dining event at his home in Atlanta, where he said diners come as strangers and leave as friends. “I wouldn’t want to be a restaurant chef because I would get bored,” he said. “I want to keep things exciting and fun. I like to pay special attention to my guests, and I like to keep rolling out unique dishes and trying new things.” Last night, Robinson marinated chicken thighs in homemade pesto, smoked them on the grill, and finished the dish with a truffle-parmesan seasoning blend. “It was really untraditional, and they were the best chicken wings I’ve ever made.”

Robinson’s transformation — from the kid who preferred fast food over his grandfather’s cooking, to Chef J Rob — began in college. When his parents dropped him off at his dorm at Auburn University, they bought him a hot skillet and told him he would have to learn how to cook for himself. “That’s when it all started,” he said. “I started cooking in my dorm and my friends always stopped by and said, ‘what are you cooking, bro, it smells so good!’” He would cook jambalaya, red beans and rice, and pork chops. “I always had enough to share, so everyone would stay and eat.” He loved to feed his friends, and they told him he was talented. He had picked up a Cajun influence in his cooking from a childhood spent on the Gulf Coast, and friends thought his food had a special kick to it.

Then, he heard about a talent show at the University. “I can’t sing, and I’m not the best dancer,” he told me, “So I cooked.” He got second runner-up in the talent show and made a name for himself. “Ever since then,” he said, “my life has been a rocket ship, straight up.”

In school, Robinson had been studying to become a surgical assistant. When he decided to go abroad for a medical internship in Thailand, he suddenly found himself immersed in a world of new flavors. “I feel like all along, food has followed me,” he mused. “I was there to enhance my knowledge in the medical field, but I was also discovering entirely different flavor profiles and dishes, like a scorpion on a stick.” He discovered the depth of subtlety in a steak prepared rare, and he tried exotic new fruits. “I was really expanding my palate,” he said.

After his graduation, he moved back to Mobile, and worked as a phlebotomist at the hospital. But food followed him again. When he cooked a meal for some coworkers, word spread. “At that time,” he said, “the phlebotomists wore red scrubs, so everyone would recognize me. They would stop me and ask if I was the chef, and I would say, ‘yes, I am!’” His coworkers began hiring him to cook meals for them when they were tired and overworked. “They say food is a natural medicine, and I believe that,” Robinson added.

He was accepted to graduate school to study public health at Mercer University in Atlanta. At Mercer, he began to think about food within the context of public health. What if healthy food was covered by insurance? This question drove him to pursue a grant for a program he envisioned called Hearty Home Meals that would serve diabetes patients. Both of his grandmothers have suffered from diabetes, so the issue is close to his heart. “Diabetes is caused by poor eating habits,” he said. “Through healthy eating practices, not only can you eliminate a lot of the symptoms of diabetes, you can also start replacing medications.” The grant for the program was approved, and the next step is to begin preliminary trials in the Atlanta area.

Meanwhile at Mercer, he began to grow a business as a chef. That’s when things began to “really start blowing up,” he said, “because I was in a bigger city.”

He has since graduated with a master’s degree and continued to make a name in cuisine for himself in Atlanta. In 2017 he participated in Food Network’s Iron Chef Showdown, and in 2019 he was featured on MasterChef, making it to the top 80 out of 20,000 contestants.

As his life as Chef JRob grew, he heard his father talking about a grill he had seen that was wood-fired. Robinson was curious. He bought his first Traeger and said that it “really elevated my cooking. It makes things so much simpler and easier and gives me great flavor.” It also brought him back to his early memories of his grandfather, who had called his grill Betsy. “I named my first Traeger Betsy, that’s my getaway where I have my connection with my grandfather.” During the pandemic, Robinson says that he “took big hits” as a chef. With his masters in public health, he decided to go to work as an epidemiologist. In that position, he was in charge of communicating CDC protocols to grocery stores and restaurants in Cobb County, Georgia.

Now, JRob loves to cook his grandfather’s signature dish, barbeque short ribs. On the rooftop of his loft, he grills for private guests who enjoy a skyline view of the city. In a small raised bed next to the grill, he’s growing a miniature garden of herbs and vegetables. He hopes to soon offer a full farm-to-table experience in a rural area outside of Atlanta called Chattahoochee Hills. He envisions a “pop-up” restaurant where diners can book an evening and enjoy a personalized meal.

“It’s really about cooking with love. I want to offer a great experience, a sanctuary,” he explained. “Being from Mobile, I’m a country boy at the end of the day. I’d like for guests to be able to dial back and enjoy nature in an intimate but spacious place. I want it to be what I call a ‘Traeger grilling sanctuary,’ where people can also come learn my techniques and cook a meal under the stars. This is a big city, and people want that.”

For now, he will continue to serve guests in his Atlanta loft. On a deck off of the kitchen are his Ironwood 885 grills, which he has named Butch and Braise. No matter where he cooks for his guests, his dishes speak for themselves. “I’m a Southern chef who plays with traditional cuisine to make it unpredictable and memorable,” Robinson said. One of his recent dishes was hibiscus-habañero duck thighs on the grill. “With the Cajun influence in my cooking, it’s always going to have a little kick to it.”

And no matter where he’s grilling, his first memories of his grandfather are always with him. “Anytime I’m grilling, I feel like I’m with him. I always feel his presence.”