Bobak Sausage Company

This is a great place to purchase Eastern European foods. They have a wide selection of good quality sausage, meats, deli items, and grocery items at very reasonable prices. I always come out of here with a lot of stuff!

REALLY good sausage and Polish deli goods. Best Maxwell Street Polish, regular Polish sausage, and I love those little smokies! Great dinner-​sized wieners, too. Even the smokie-​style breakfast sausages are great, especially with pancakes. Used to be able to get huge, whole frozen boletus mushrooms at Christmas time from their freezer section, but haven’t seen those lately. I really miss the restaurant buffet, however; that closed ages ago. This is what happens when family falls out with each other in a family-​run firm. Just wish they had an outpost closer to Oak Lawn, like Joe & Frank’s does. They lose business by not following their customers when the clientele moves further southwest.

Are the people that go there even Polish! The sausage from Bobak’s is YUK! Joe and Frank or Chester’s is much much better and more authentic Polish.

This place has always been my favorite shop for all sorts of amazing polish foods. They make their sausage and I always have to buy some just for the trip home. The selection is fantastic! They also make a great borscht smoky and hearty. Best potato pancakes I’ve ever had! Oh how I love you BSC!

Our three day weekend in Chicago was never complete without a Sunday morning visit to Bobak. Even though we lived in Detroit and surrounded by great Polish and Ukrainian meat markets, we always made an annual pilgrimage to Bobak. We would bring three 100 quart coolers and pack them full.
The sausage counter alone had to be 80 feet long and featured just about every kind of smoked and fresh style of cased meat you could imagine. Then of course we had to get bacon, hams and Boston butts followed by jars of soups, pierogi, kopytka and other assorted Polish delicacies. The car smelled awesome on the ride home. I forgot to mention, that they always used to throw in freebies for spending so much money. Incentivized shopping programs rule! They even gave us a bottle of vodka for a penny once. And oh, the lovely Polish girls who worked there… miauczenie!
At Bobak, it’s high quality products, great prices and always friendly service.
We happened to be at Bobak when Poland played USA in soccer at Soldier’s Field. The whole neighborhood was buzzing and sales of Zubr and Warka were flying off the shelf.
They used to have a phenomenal buffet attached to the store. The soups were amazing but the walcowane wołowiny (rollada?) – the pickle rolled in beef smothered in gravy with the lumpy, homemade mashed potato was amazing. Everything was homemade.
I haven’t been to Bobak since 2010, is the restaurant still open?

Another childhood favorite of mine! When I think Polish food I think Bobak! Best grocery store for Polish food! I took my son there for the first time, he really didn’t want to go at first, but then I couldn’t get him out!!!
I totally stocked up yesterday and will be cooking: from stuffed green peppers, brats, sausage, garlic butter, bacon, and I can go on! The deli counter is just about the whole side of the store and you can get all sorts of yummy things! Everything is freshly cut. Not really your place for vegetarians!
Price is pretty good for what you are getting. Employees are really nice and speak Polish in case you do! (I don’t!) Just hope that my daughter doesn’t find the pierogies!

If you want to each some good Polish food, especially the sausage this is the place to go! Everything they have here is great! The taste that the sausage has is amazing and full of flavor. I went along with one of my close friends here for the first time ever, and we both were amazed of how good it all was.
Keep up the great service!

I love Bobak’s my only wish was that itt wasn’t so far from the Northside.
The food taste pretty close to my family’s cooking and I love it!
The prices you can’t beat and it’s a grocery store.

Stopped by yesterday on our way home from Navy Pier (we live near Champaign) and I’m so glad we did. The prices are great and the quality of the Kielbasa, Golabki, Kapusta and Pierogies is wonderful as well. We also got great customer service including some tasting and a suggestion to buy the less expensive option of sausage because it taste better.
Woke up this morning and cooked the kielbasa in the kapusta, made the pierogies with sauteed onions in butter sauce and crumbled bacon and heated up their golabki in gravy for lunch. I’ve lost touch with my Polish heritage until today. Love Bobak’s and love all the food we picked up yesterday. Can’t wait to come back to Chicago and stock up.

As a person who was raised in the west ‘burbs and has currently resided in Jackson, MS for the last 18 years — I’ve been feigning for some good ol’ fashioned Chi-​town grub.
We’ve had numerous mom and pop operations open here in Jackson and they would last for a month or two, even had one place that was open for 5 years, however they were located inside a mall and its a dying mall besides that.
So I finally broke down and went to the Internet — because I knew there had to be some people that could do mail order. After researching Flukey’s, Daisy Brand (Crawfords Sausage Company), Irving’s Red Hots, Bobak’s had some really strong reviews and were decent on the shipping charges.
Usinger’s is the most reasonable on shipping charges — but I ordered brats and Italian sausages from them and that’s another review.
But I ordered 7lbs or 7 packs of polish sausages from Bobak’s and there were 5 links in each pack at $ 8 a piece. Shipping and all I paid $ 84 — which is cheaper than me driving home, having to get lodging — so it all balances out.
This past Sunday, I busted open a pack — simmered them in some water in a frying pan, sauteed some onions, fired up the gas grill on medium — placed the links over the direct flame turning them so the internal juices can go back and forth — a few minutes later — you start to hear the cracking, popping sound — to me that’s a good thing when a sausage has a high quality casing and good coarse ingredients on the inside.
Took’em off the grill, slathered some spicy mustard on top, then the sautes and then some good ol’ kraut — simply deelish.
The only drawback was the size of the link — it was bun size (6″ link), when I thought it was going to be more a 12″ link.
Outside of that — the quality and flavor of the sausage makes up for the lack of size.
I’m thinking about writing to Kroger’s which is the local grocery chain in Jackson and see if they can start carrying this product. The southern brands of so-​called polish sausages (Bryan & John Morrell) are insults to the pallets of seasoned Chicagoans and when it comes to our sausages.
Until I can get the logistics part down of getting these products to Jackson, MS (which has deep historic relationship with the city of Chicago, due to the great migration of the 50’s and 60’s) — I will continue to do mail order with Bobak’s and those fine polish sausages!!!

As a life-​long Chicagoan, I had never been to Bobak until two days ago on the way back from my Southwest Side dental surgeon. Yes, the side of my mouth was full of novocaine, but I thought I might regret it if I didn’t stop in.
And I was right! I’ve enjoyed shopping in Eastern European deli’s in Ukrainian Village and up Milwaukee Avenue, but this superstore goes one step further. It’s as inexpensive as the others (a big plus!), and I loved the samples of their chorizo and Italian sausage throughout. I don’t buy much at one time, but I walked out with what I’d hoped to get – a pork loin for just $ 5 – as well as a nice healthy bread with oats as the first ingredient.
Thumbs up!

This review is for the customer service and communication of employees.
After reading good reviews on Unilocal!and reading online they sell sausage casings for making home made sausage, I call them to confirm. The operator is not sure so she transfers me to what I assume is the butcher/​meat department. He confirms that they do indeed carry them.
I rent a Zipcar so I can drive down from Andersonville. When I get there I look and look and don’t see casings. So after giving up I go to the meat counter and ring the buzzer for assistance. No one is there although there are probably a dozen employees taking down Christmas decorations here and there. I buzz again. Finally a woman comes out and I ask her if they had casings. She shakes her head no. I tell her I had called and was told they do. She shrugs and returns to the back.
Now, very frustrated, I go over to customer service to see if I can get some kind of answer. No one at customer service. No buzzer to get anyone. I wait and wait and finally give up.
I have a feeling that there was a language barrier at the meat counter. Perhaps the woman didn’t speak English or her English was not up to par to understand my request. If that’s the case, go get someone who can understand me. Don’t just shrug. I have been to other Polish markets in Chicago far better in customer service than this one. It’s far from me so even if this was a 5 start rating I would probably not go back often, but I will never go back. I wasted money on a rental and half of my day to come up empty handed.
Oh, and the food in the «food bar» looked old and heat-​lamped. Gross.

Unilocal is the reason I even found Bobak’s. I was visiting Chicago, trying to find good Polish food and Bobak’s came up. They have many varieties of meats. I have noticed that the stock changes often though so don’t expect that your favorite item will be there on your next visit. In the back of the store, they have several crocks. The one you must try is the dill baby cucumbers. I bought 12 on my last trip and they were gone in about 3 days. What was I thinking!!! I haven’t tried that buffet but it does look intriguing. They sell hot dogs or brats with all the fixings for $ 2. The buns were hard but the delicious hot dog and kraut made me forget all about the bun. I never had their kraut before and that will be on the list for the next trip.

30+ item hot buffet and two soups of the day. I had an assortment of pork, mashed potatoes and a creamy chicken soup. My girlfriend has beef and mixed vegetables with the same soup. We were both very pleased with our meals. There are several tables next to the window for eating in. I would come back again for lunch or to shop their extensive Deli and to get some Milka chocolate!

Their Maxwell Polish Sausages are really good. Some of their side stuff from the delis are hit or miss for me.
Store is clean and prices are good.
How can you not like $ 1 polish or hot dogs??? Yum!

The World According to Noelle
Allergic Girl’s Guide to Life
«Bobak’s is your one
stop shop for Polish
food and groceries.»
~Noelle W.
When I think of organic food I think of Whole Foods. When I think of the best Polish grocery store I think of Bobaks. From the outside it looks like a regular grocery store. Once you step inside you might feel like you’ve been transported to Poland. They have an excellent meat section with a plethora of sausages and freshly cut meats all done on site. There is an excellent hot foods section– where we picked up some potato pancakes and perogies. Looking for authentic baked goodies they have them here.
We purchased:
Hot Deli Foods
Makowiec (Traditional Poppy Seed Cake)
Krowki Milanowskie Milky Cream Fudge
The cream fudge was out of this world delicious! I make perogies from scratch but there is another alternative– purchasing them. If you’re looking for that almost homemade taste try Alexandra pierogies– I’m sure you’ll love em! I absolutely love the selection of everything at Bobaks. Bobaks is really a one stop shop for everything Polish! Not only do they have a great selection of everything they have warm and friendly customer service :)
Noelle’s Notes
One of my favorite
grocery stores.

It’s a Polish food supermarket! Awesome!
When the weather is cold, I crave gooey, fattening, Polish food, but have to make all of it myself now. Very few Polish dishes are originally meat and dairy free (so no trips to Szalas or other Polish restaurants for me). I have to «veganize» them. However, I can still buy Polish style pickles, Polish kraut, dark chocolate (Wawel dark chocolate is sooo good, among the best dark chocolate I’ve had so far since giving up dairy) grains, and even some of the bread for reasonable prices. Yes, they do sell bread (rye and graham comes to mind, amongst several others) that is made without any animal products.
If you’re not dairy-​free, I recommend the apple pancakes, potato pancakes (they’re on sale a lot) and blintzes from the deli. Pastries are delicious of course too, but I never ate a paczki or kolacky I didn’t like. Poppy seed bread is alright, but I had a better one from another local bakery (whose name escapes me, sorry).

A sausage fest abounds! (snicker) Literally.
You may not be entirely familiar with Bobak’s but if you’re a fan of Boar’s Head you might enjoy a local family fare.
This place is SO big and chock full of meat, sausages hanging above, Polish cookies, European chocolates and little cakes. A wonderful selection of cakes and finger foods. You’d be surprised at how delicate some of the foods coming out of this place looks considering it’s a deli/​meat shop.
It’s a shame it’s so far from home but it’s such a great selection and so amazingly cheap. I wish I was a poor college kid-I’d be in heaven.

A Polish superstore – what more could you want?
Sure, I love the varieties of sausages, meats, pierogies, and other homemade Polish goodies, but what I was *truly* amazed at with Bobak’s were their prices.
I couldn’t believe some of this stuff was so cheap! You go to these hipster ethnic food stores in the heart of the city and you realize 1.) how limited their inventory is, and 2.) what a total rip-​off everything is.
Bobak’s also has a hefty selection of German chocolate bars for a low, low price. Last time I was there, Milkas were on sale 4 for $ 1.00. And I know Milka is pretty much the German equivalent of some crap American brand (Palmer, maybe?), but they taste better than any American chocolate bar I’ve ever had. And let’s face it, the Poles suck major butt-​cheeks when it comes to the dessert arena, so they need to borrow a little help from their Ottoman neighbors.

The restaurant has been closed for about two months now and its not coming back. It has been replaced by a carryout hot food table in the middle of the store, priced at $ 4.99 per pound. There are about a dozen tables in front of the store where you can sit down and eat. The food is classic Bobaks although a more limited offering. The choices included different chicken, beef and pork dishes; blintzes, pierogi and potato pancakes and salads. They also sell make-​your-​own hotdogs and polish sausages at $ 2.00 each.
The store is a typical bigger Polish supermarket. Deli and meat excel, bakery is good and the fruit and vegie selection looks to have been scaled back. The deli is probably one of the best in the city. It includes even some German lunchmeats. It looks like they no longer sell packaged alcohol — a negative for me.
Tastewise, the food in the carryout, albeit limited in choice, is still good but a definite deterioration in the atmosphere when compared with the restaurant.
Update ⁰⁵⁄₀₈: Upgrading a star for prices and quality. On a return visit I got Bobak’s ham (similar to Krakus) for $ 1.69 lb and turkey breast for $ 2.69 lb. I got some big fresh apricot paczkis — YUM. The do-​it-​yourself buffet was really good today — it was a Sunday and stuff was turning over quickly so everything was fresh and tasty. They had boiled new potatoes sprinkled with dill — who needs the meat…