Gene’s Sausage Shop & Delicatessen

Good luck in man-​bun ville!
After 40 plus years of serving the needs of the Northwest side Polish community, Gene pulls up «steaks» and leaves us with a new Mexican grocery.
Thanks a lot, good luck and as we say in the Northwest side, «pokaluj mnie w dupe»!

Drove in from burbs to only be greatly disappointed.
Signs said «Remodeling Sale. Everything 30% off»
Walked in and it was a ghost town with bare shelves and an odor of rotten meat in the air. I have the uncanny suspicion that they ARE NOT remodeling as there was nothing what so ever to indicate a new look is in the future. The few staff members looked unpleasant and miserable.
Not impressed at all and will not even consider going to Lincoln Ave. location.

We were on a mission to find the DRY rhubarb soda we tried at WHISK in Ukrainian Village. I found no rhubarb soda, but we found two (2) large bottle of Tymbark juice. I guess it was a good trade-off…I suppose…
Anyways, we were traveling from Oak Park. With a twenty (20)-minute CTA #90 (Harlem) bus ride north to Belmont and then a fifteen (15)-minute journey east with the beloved CTA #77 (Belmont) to Long Ave., Gene’s Sausage Shop & Delicatessen, with a cow standing comfortably on top of the sign, finally showed up in front of us.
It’s a typical Polish deli, liquor, and grocery store like you see in the neighborhoods that are highly populated with our Polish friends. Unfortunately, there weren’t many varieties on agricultural products. Yet if you’re fond of Polski beer and liquor, I guess you can find plenty here.
I would rather have food in my stomach than have alcohol in my brain! I found some yummy chicken soup with a 16-​oz. tub for $ 3; mouth-​watering tripe soup for $ 4.50; comforting cream of mushroom soup for $ 3. I recalled the similar deli items at Montrose Deli charged more for a smaller container size. With that being said, did Gene’s have better deal on deli soup?
That inquiry will soon be answered when I head back to Montrose Deli in the near future so that I can have the prices and sizes validated for your information, yellow Unilocalers.
Hubby and I were quite excited to discover another Polish deli/​grocery store in Belmont Central/​Portage Park neighborhoods. We were treated friendly without having to speak Polish.
Unilocalers who have a language dilemma: may I digress just a bit? I’ve once heard of such statement. Please let me recite this verbatim. «If you live in America, you should be expected to learn and to speak English.» Please be glad that Rosa J. didn’t miraculously appear to your eyesight and give you a…(fill in the blank). I’m merely angry and thinking how moronic that statement is. Any thought, anyone? You can speak whatever you want here. If I don’t understand you verbally, we all have fingers, pens, and papers. I’m also gifted to communicate with you using my eyes, nose, and perhaps my toes!
Anyways, we all need to calm down and consume some Polish food. I’m heading to the refrigerator now…

Passed this place the other day and noticed that they had ground beef and ground pork for 99 cents a lb and pork chops @ $ 1.49 a lb so decided to stop in.
Bought several packages of pork chops that were so poorly wrapped by the butcher they kept falling out. Then stood in line for over 20 minutes as the cashier took her sweet time scanning and bagging what would have taken anyone else 5 to 10 minutes max.
Got home and cooked 1lb of ground beef and realized why it was so cheap. It’s because it was 75% fat and after all was said and done I had enough cooked meat for 1 taco. Needless to say, you get what you pay for and I won’t be back anytime soon.

I love this place. I would love to give it five stars but the cashiers are always so rude. Especially the tall, thin girl with the long blonde hair. It’s kind of like you’re a bother to her. Other than that I love this store. I always get good meat and I love their in house Pierogies. The butchers at the Deli are always really helpful.

This is the «original» of the two Gene’s stores. The second and more recent one is on Lincoln Ave., in the former Meyer’s space (Kudos to Gene’s for preserving the Meyer’s neon sign!). There’s probably a few items unique to this one because of the loyal Polish clientele. Near the entrance is the delicatessen part of the shop (lots of imported jams, candies, and cheeses). A limited selection of fresh produce and plenty of wines and imported spirits. Breads and pastries come from local purveyors.
In the main room is the very long cooler case containing the cold deli items such as potato pancakes, salads, and sandwich meats for slicing on order. Here is also the vast selection of sausages, including kishkas, head cheeses, and smoked varieties. Freshly butchered meats and fresh sausages to cook up at home are also available.

Been a patron for 40+ years, My Grandfather from Poland and my father baught all his polish sausage from here. The skinny polish sausage is the best…

Went there on a recommendation from a family member. Bought some ground beef, (price is great .99 lb) sausage, and bacon. Sausage and Bacon (though extremely salty but which one isn’t) were great but the ground beef was really fatty. When I say really, I mean close to ⁶⁰⁄₄₀ meat to fat ratio. Doubt I will make the trip back.

This place is an impressive and massive operation for Eastern European meats and sausages, and that’s exactly what we came for. It’s also a bit more of a grocery operation in comparison to the Lincoln Ave. storefront, mainly due to more floor space here I think. Jonas (may have spelling wrong) was the head butcher/​manager behind the meat counter and he was very helpful with recommendations and samples to boot of the dizzying sausage assortment available. Prices were good also. It would be hard to find a better place for these meats and sausages. They also have a large assortment of East European beers — I tried a six pack of a German pilsner (Radeberger) and it was quite good.

Good quality meat at a good price. They even have little samples out, which is always great They also have Rockstar energy drinks for a dollar! If you go anywhere else, they usually range from $ 1.99 — $ 2.49.
A reason why I’m not giving this place 5 stars is because of the one cashier. The store has a sign that reads «$ 15 for credit only» or something along those lines. She always asks «credit or debit». I say debit all the time, but once I made a mistake and said credit and she gave me attitude, telling me my bill has to be 15 dollars for it to be credit. Hmmmm, well, why ask me then? Obviously you can see my bill is under $ 15???
But yeah, i’m not going under 4 stars. I still like this place.

Awesome old school Polish butcher and delicatessen. I went in and was instantly in paradise looking at case upon case of homemade sausage and smoked meats. We picked up an assortment for a BBQ that we were going to (Fresh polish, Italian, Alpine, and a few others). Not only are the prices extremely affordable but the quality couldn’t be better. We received so many compliments, and everyone wanted to know where these links of encased heaven came from.
Can’t wait to go back!

This is the real deal! I wish I worked there.
It’s like being in your Gramma’s kitchen, but multiplied by a million!

Gene’s has two unique locations. This location on Belmont is near the center of the cities Polish neighborhoods. Vegitarians need not apply. Just a terrific website. They do a great job describing all the different sausages. Do yourself a favor and do a little bit of homework because the selection can be overwhelming. It’s truly unbeliveable that you can go to a store that literally has dozens of sausages that you’ve never tried. There’s sausages for snacking, sausages that are good for the grill, good for putting on sandwiches, good for topping with horseradish, good for dunking in mustard and strait up sausage that’s good in one hand when you have a pickle in the other hand. Here’s an exciting list of some of the best items (that I’ve tried until now) —
— Alpine sausage (Kielbasa Goralska)
— Gypsy Ham (Szynka Cygańska)
— German Ham
— Kabanosy (snack sausage)
— Hunters Sausage (Mysliwska)
— Veal Wieners (Parowki)
— Don’t forget a Giant Deli Pickel!
So both places totally have differnent feels. The location on Belmont has a very Polish feel and the location in Lincoln Square has a German feel (naturally since it’s Lincoln Square). It doesn’t hurt if you have a Polish representative as part of your party when you visit the Belmont location. My wife is Polish and was able to connect with the staff right away (mostly given her ablility to speak Polish fluently). Now that I’ve been here a couple times, I do just fine on my own. They have an entire section of the deli that has prepared polish food for lunch or dinner on the go. Smacznego!

The meat here is amazing, but no one spoke English. If you speak Polish, this is your store. If you only speak English, try the one on Lincoln instead.
Don’t forget to buy some Bacon.

Finally stepped inside this well stocked Polish grocery store and was amazed at all the fabulous, authentically Polish and Eastern European items there is to be found at Gene’s.
I love their Gypsy hams (Szynka Cyganska), which went into my Ukrainian Easter basket to be blessed at church… Orthodox Easter is one week later in 2012.
Excellent food and liquors here!

My heritage is 75% Irish, 12.5% German, and 12.5% Polish, so I can by no means call myself a true Polish guy, but every Christmas my grandpa and I come here to to get food for our big Christmas dinner. We celebrate our Polish heritage on xmas. I love going here, it is such a cool shop and everything looks amazing. Everything that we get is awesome and even with a family of 30+ people, we still have leftovers which are great for the next day.
Highly recommend.

This place neighborhood is a lot of fun to visit, and the food at Gene’s is great.
The store is is fairly large with lots of offerings. Go load up on sausages and Polish food. You can also buy European chocolates and fresh bread.

Orgasmatic for meat lovers. You are transported to Krakow when you walk through the door. The smells of fresh meats and smoked sausages permeates the air. The spoken voices are mostly in Polish. The signs are bi-​lingual or simply in Polish.
This is where to go for meats, cans & jars of salads, soups and sauces, and Polish beers. But the fresh produce leaves something to be desired, so drive a little bit west and get your fruit and veggies at A&G Fresh Market.

Gene’s Sausage Shop is my most cherished Chicago find.
The first time I walked into Gene’s I was greeted by a Chicago Police officer arresting a Polish man for stealing sausages in his coat pockets. Realizing this was a sign from God, I looked around for the angel Gabriel and pledged to spread the good word to all the peoples of the land.
You will often find these deals:
–Chicken halves for $ 0.49/lb
–Ground beef chuck for $ 0.99/lb
–Pork tenderloin for $ 2.99/lb
~
My favorites here:
–Gypsy hams (Szynka Cyganska), little juicy one-​pounders smoked to perfection
–Royale smoked ham (Szynka Krolewska), a smoky salt-​cured dry ham
–Potato pancakes
–Apple blintzes
–Snack sausages (thick, homemade Slim Jims)
They will vacuum pack any of their meats right at the deli counter for $ 0.25 per bag.
If you don’t know Polish, you may have a hard time ordering. Just point, smile and nod. It usually works out. If not, you might find your next favorite dish.

Dear Gene,
Will you marry me?
Love,
Nat
Oh damn… I have a husband and he’s a Unilocaler. I’m
so busted.
Two words for you: POTATO SAUSAGE. it’s heaven in an intestinal casing. Mashed potatoes… onions… BACON.
We have started a new camping tradition. Whenever we go, we must make a stop at Gene’s for potato sausage and those GIANT hotdogs. Perfect on the open fire.
I honestly have no idea what most of the stuff behind the meat counter actually is… but it doesn’t matter. Just get some of everything. Cook it. Mmmmm… meat coma.
The grocery section is impressive as well. All sorts of goodies. I take the same approach as the meat counter… if it looks good, buy it.
The highlight of my week: the Mr. and i were walking through Lincoln square and noticed a new storefront… with a large cow over the doorway.
COULD IT BE?! We eagerly pressed our noses to the window and peered in.
YES!!! The work permit displayed on the door told us it is, indeed, a new Gene’s location. Significantly more convenient for us Ravenswood residents.
I can’t wait!!!