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A sign at Chicago's Express Grill

The grill

Price list at the Express Grill

A Maxwell Street Polish consists of a grilled or fried sausage topped with grilled onions and yellow mustard and optional sport peppers, on a bun. The sausage, a cross between Polish kielbasa and a natural-casing hot dog, is typically spicier than either and usually made from beef and pork.^[1] The meal traces its origins to Chicago's Maxwell Street market, and has been called "[one of] the classic foods synonymous with Chicago".^[2]

History

The sandwich is widely said to have been created by Jimmy Stefanovic, a Macedonian immigrant,^[3] who took over his aunt and uncle's hot dog stand (now Jim's Original) in Chicago's Maxwell Street marketplace in 1939.^[4] The Maxwell Street Polish soon grew to be one of Chicago's most popular local sandwiches, along with the Chicago hot-dog and Italian beef.

It is served by restaurants around the city, including chains such as Portillo's^[5] and Brown's Chicken,^[6] and is common at sporting events. Many small vendors specialize in the Maxwell Street Polish along with the pork-chop sandwich. (Both items were popularized in the Maxwell Street market.)^[7]

Due to the University of Illinois Chicago's South Campus development, the two most famous Maxwell Street Polish stands, Jim's Original and Maxwell St. Express Grill, both of which coexisted side by side for decades at Halsted and Maxwell streets, have now relocated a half block east to Union Avenue, adjacent to the Dan Ryan Expressway on-ramp at Roosevelt Road.^[8]

See also

• Chicago culture

References

External links

• A famous Chicago Maxwell Street Polish sign
• The survivor: Jim’s Original accepts no imitations.