Essentials: Maxwell Street Polish, Chicago
There's more than one Chicago dog
The Chicago dog, with its laundry list of ingredients and overzealous ketchup denial, gets most of the glory. But the Maxwell Street Polish—another Chicago sausage invention dating back nearly a century—achieves superiority in a far simpler package: A garlicky Polish sausage is nestled on a bun with grilled onions and yellow mustard, plus optional pickled sport peppers (I skip ’em). You taste the sausage more than the toppings, and you’re pretty much guaranteed a nice snap from the casing. The best ones come from places that never close, including hilarious rivals Jim’s Original and Express Grill, which both lay claim to the original recipe, are literally next door to each other, and serve basically identical menus. —Josh Modell
Josh Modell began his writing career with vicious critiques of his grade school’s cafeteria food. From 2000-2018, he worked in various editorial capacities for The A.V. Club, from copy boy to editor-in-chief to editorial director of the whole Onion Inc. empire. He is currently the executive editor of Talkhouse.
Kevin Necessary is a freelance illustrator and editorial cartoonist. He is currently the editorial cartoonist for The Cincinnati Enquirer. His cartoons are syndicated by GoComics, and his cartoons have been published in a variety of publications such as The Week and Politico. A Cincinnati native, Kevin will fight to the death defending Cincinnati chili. He lives with his wife, Julie, and three cats, Huckleberry, Grayson, and Bonnie.