Flash forward to present day, Chef Dennis Cheplick is the creative genius behind Ellie Lou’s delicious food. He graduated from Johnson and Wales Culinary College in 1989 and worked his way up to Restaurant Chef at Walt Disney World. In 2009, we were extremely fortunate to hire Dennis Cheplick as our Corporate Chef for our Walt Disney World, Orange County Convention Center locations. 

In 2010, Chef Dennis began the quest to perfect BBQ. He mastered every sauce and dry rub from scratch, but mostly, he paid homage to the barbeque regions around the country. Chef Dennis created Carolina Gold BBQ Sauce to satisfy that regions love of mustard and vinegar. His Memphis Sauce pays tribute to those who prefer a more traditional Smokey BBQ with a little tang.

The Best Barbeque in Central Florida

Chef Dennis’ Kansas City Sweet Sauce is by far everyone’s favorite as most prefer the sweet, rich topping popular in the Midwest. For the very brave, he created our Southern Lava Sauce. Derived from Ghost Pepper extract and Habanero Peppers, this BBQ sauce is not for the faint of heart. Chef Dennis is a true Pit Master smoking our meats to perfection and creating mouthwatering daily specials. He typifies the talent and ingenuity of Ellie Lou’s. He has captured our intent to celebrate the love of BBQ throughout the county by crediting each region with their contribution to BBQ.