(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — Local products, fresh produce, house-made salad, and imported foods, mostly from Europe. But the star of the show at Gene’s Sausage Shop and Delicatessen is the meat.
“Fourteen different flavors of bratwurst are the ones that sell the best.,” Co-owner Derek Luch said.
Luch is the son of Gene, the shop’s namesake founder.
“We have customers coming in here that are like, ‘Hey, is Gene here?’ You know, asking for my father.”
Photo credit Gene’s Sausage Shop and Delicatessen
Gene came to Chicago from Poland when he was 18-years-old. He found work in the city’s storied meatpacking industry, a choice made after being raised on a farm. Poland never left his heart, and he sent his Chicago native kids to his home when school was out.
“We spend our summers there. They would drop us off at the airport. Our grandparents would pick us up in Poland.”
Gene shared his craft of smoking meats as a natural preservative, rather than relying on chemicals.
It’s really an art doing this and my father amazes me every day.
The business started as a 25 by 25 foot sausage shop in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood 53 years ago. Over the decades, the shop moved and expanded, finally settling in its Lincoln Square location in 2009.
The building itself is a nod to the past. Before it was Gean’s, it was Delicatessen Meyer, a grocery store staple of the community.
Gene was able to preserve the original bricks, a fitting tribute to their philosophy of preserving the best from the past
“The stuff that we do here, we do it with pride, we do it the old fashioned way. A lot of hard work and that, but we are truly, truly happy with the end result.”
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