The Original Maxwell Street

You can smell the grilled onions from 290 when you’re driving with the windows down in the summertime! Exit at Independence Ave. and on the south side of 290, 24 hours a day, here lies the gate to the best polish sausage you’ll find in Chicago. Hidden in a heap of grilled onions lie several cooked polish sausages waiting on a hot grill to be served on a soft bun with sport peppers and mustard. Juicy, flavorful, the grease squirts in your mouth…*Homer Simpson drool*…it’s like a cigarette after sex…a cold beer after mowing the lawn…seeing Flanders lose. Anyhow, despite the destruction and ruin that Maxwell Street has seen (thank you, sterile University Village for ruining another great Chicago tradition), another Chicago gem still holds ground. Yes, Jim’s Original is stil there at Roosevelt/94, but for how long? The richies from their overpriced new condos have already been complaining about the onion smell. I simply can’t stand the sight of the new Maxwell St., which is why I have been frequenting this location for many years. And frankly, the fries are better here! I swear, they must use red potatoes… Like I said, you can smell this from the freeway, and it a’int the nasty smell of McDonalds! (or Taco Bell)

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A Maxwell Street Polish consists of a grilled all-beef Polish sausage topped with grilled onions and mustard on a bun. The sandwich was first created by Jimmy Stefanovic, a Macedonian immigrant, who took over his aunt and uncle’s hot-dog stand (now Jim’s Original) in Chicago’s Maxwell Street marketplace in 1939.[1] It is sometime referred to as a “Jewtown Dog,” or “Jew Dog”[citation needed]. (Part of the market was called Jewtown after the original Jewish merchants.) The Maxwell Street Polish soon grew to be one of Chicago’s most popular local dishes, along with the Chicago hot-dog. It is served by restaurants around the city, and is common at sporting events. Many small vendors specialize in the Maxwell Street Polish along with the pork-chop sandwich. Some variations exist. For example, some hot-dog vendors offer a “Maxwell Street hot dog” in which a hot dog is substituted for the Polish sausage. Others like to add sport peppers to the Maxwell Street to give it more heat.

Best Chicago Hot Dog: What is a Maxwell Street Polish ??