A Maxwell Street Polish consists of a grilled all-
beef Polish sausage topped with grilled onions and yellow mustard and the optional sport peppers, 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.
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, 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.
Due to UIC's South Campus development, the
two 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.
