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Category: Meat Shops [Edit]
Neighborhood: AvondaleBelmont (Blue)
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The best route from Lincoln Park to Kurowski's is over the Fullerton entrance/exit to the Kennedy stay right (don't get on the Xway) exit onto Western and IMMEDIATELY get into the left lane and make a SHARP (almost a U) turn onto Logan Blvd. You can haul on Logan all the way to Milwaukee. Take a right on Milwaukee and go up like 7 blocks.
This is a 10-15 minute trip any other way will take you 30-40 min.
I buy Pickles, ham, sausage, saurkraut, perogis.They will give you free soup bones with a purchase.Try to get a soup bone ANYwhere any more. I go here when I'm making Big Party food, Jambalaya, Sausage & Saurkraut, Cassoullette. You can feed 40 people for 30 bucks.
If you love meat, you have to go there!
Their selection is not the biggest but still quite large. Compared to Wally's market in Mount Prospect, it is smaller but sausages taste better.
I love the head cheese, and smoked pork sausage.
It is the best, EVER!
They just gave me a bonus m'f'n chocolate bar with my $15 grocery bill, for Easter. That's moving.
Just tried the chocolate bar. The wrapper says "Czekolada Mleczna Orzechowa." I'm not sure what an Orzechowa is, but it's pretty darn good.
I like my encased meats as much as anyone, but there's something a little gruesome about the display… Read more »
This is more or less the same as Rich's Deli in Ukrainian Village, with the same delicious selection of fresh bread, cheese, and sausages, imported Polish jelly and kraut, candies, homemade pirozhki, pasta, juice, and produce. I love it. The lines are kind of ridiculous but it's well worth it.
...I'm taking away one star because this location doesn't sell booze like the other Rich's. I want my 60 ounce plastic bottle of Baltika 9 lager!!! I want honey pepper Nemiroff!!!
I moved to Logan Square within walking distance of this gem of a Polish Grocer in Chicago.
All I have to say is YOU MUST GO HERE ONCE.
Even if you don't live in or near Logan Square, you have to experience Kurowski's for yourself.
Even if you don't speak Polish, you have to experience Kurowski's for yourself.
If you have even a light love or desire for any amazing Polish foods in Chicago, GO TO KUROWSKI's!
When I first moved in, I spent 20 bucks and walked out with 4 bags of groceries, fresh produce, meats, a pierogi/dumpling assortments, and some AMAZING sausage.
All my friends did that entire weekend was bust out a pocket knife and took hunks.
I also suggest asking for "POLISH DELIGHT" cheese.
It's the Polish equivalent of that Mexican Queso cheese but with a little more creaminess and not as salty.
Don't forget to get a FRESH LOAF of rye while yer at it.
This place is as good as it gets for your Chicago-dollar.
Oh hey, you want to have some secret BBQ that will melt faces?
Take some time to learn a little bit of Polish online or find somebody to help you.
Get some of the straight polish sausage and char-grill that shit up.
Serve on a kaiser bun with caramelized onions brewed in beer.
I grilled the remainder of my sausage (mid winter YEAH-a-YEAH) and had a feast and a half.
JUST OUTSTANDING flavor.
REMEMBER: Their sausages have a shelf life of only so many days so make sure you only buy what you are going to eat.
Don't go that frozen route either, that's just bad form.
I have to admit - when it comes to pierogi, this is the place to get them. I enjoy a good pierogi and unfortunately if I want to purchase some to cook at home, the selection at most places is very limited. Jewel offers some low-quality frozen boxes of Mrs. T's, but even on sale it's not a great deal. Some places carry Kasia's pierogis, but the higher quality still results in much-higher prices than I prefer.
Enter the Kurowski.
The variety of frozen handmade pierogis is astonishing. I was discovering pierogi fillings I never knew existed. Luckily, the descriptions are in Polish and English, but even if I didn't know which contained meat, potato, cheese or fruit - they'd still be delicious. My favorites are the sweet cheese because they're as close as you can get to blintzes without actually eating a blintze.
(Small warning: if you get the sweet cheese, they have liquid inside and a tendency to squirt when biting. Same applies for blueberry, but add staining power.)
I wasn't in the mood for sausage, but I did pick up some bigos (hunter's stew) for my girl. It looked as though they were going for $1.99/lb on the signs, but almost all the labels read $2.99/lb. Luckily, I found a couple containers with the proper $1.99/lb label and price because I don't speak Polish and wouldn't have been able to explain that the sign said one thing and the container said another. One of the problems with language barriers and preferring to be non-confrontational, I suppose.
Also, the rye bread is excellent. Picked up a loaf and I think it's the first time I've ever bought a loaf of bread and none of it was sacrificed due to moldiness because it takes so long to eat a loaf of bread. This stuff was gone pretty quickly, almost all in the form of delicious toast.
If you enjoy pierogi like I do, but want a good variety and good price at the same time - I highly recommend this place!
My Grandfather was Polish, So I grew up on a lot of the foods you find here. i love polish food, and this place offers some of the best. I have been to many different polish deli and this one is my favorite.
Make sure you know what you are looking for when you go in here because most of the staff don't speak English, Which i feel is part of the charm of this place. Sometimes if you are having a lot of trouble you'll run into a customer who can help you.
Items I recommend are: the smoked sausage, the BBQ sausage(which is liked the smoked but just extra smokey cook it in sourkraut its fantastic!), the raw sausage, the potato pierogies, the blueberry pierogies, the rye bread that has poppy seeds on it, the packzis(when they have them), the Bigos, (i've had bigos from about six different places but this is the one i keep coming back to) the giant veal wieners, and the kabonosy. I have also had their blood sausage, but I didn't care for it, I think blood sausage is an acquired taste and not one that I want to acquire.
They have great prices too. I once picked up a whole weeks worth of food for thirty bucks!
Went there the other night when an out of town guest requested pierogis.
Saw the older woman people mentioned, but mostly talked to the guy. He brought us out a lot of everything. We had to box it up.
We had potato pancakes with apple sauce and sour cream
mix of pierogis (chicken, cabbage and potato and cheese) I liked the cabbage and potato ones the best. Chicken was good, it tasted like a chicken pot pie or chicken noodle soup. I wanted the more simple pierogie. Also brought out some cabbage rolls. Liked those a lot, and a pitcher of some kind of beet juice. I surprisingly liked the juice.
Place was quiet, they closed that night at 7:or 7:30, there were 3 regulars single guys eating dinner and watching Dancing With the Stars.
I need to go back and try their soups and the fruit peirogis
This is a great Avondale deli just up Milwaukee from Logan Square. The selection is mainly sausage and pork (very Polish) so this is not the place for steaks. However, when it comes to other Polish items (bread, cheese, pickled vegetables, and European tea and coffee you can't go wrong). It is always busy and Polish is the primary language. I have had some difficulty with the older deli clerks, but they are nice when I say "English please." A real neighborhood gem, and I am happy that it is so busy.
When I first moved to Chicago and saw prices for deli meats at Jewel and Dominicks, I almost cried. Luckily I found this place.
Full of surly Polish women manning the deli counter, it is by far one of the largest selections of hams, sausages, and cheeses you can find in Chicago. Most of their selection is about $3-4.00/lb. for the finest in meats. Then there is the rye bread which is intensely amazing.
Bakers take note, you can also get live yeast here for cheap. It'll give your bread anything else you bake that needs rising a robust flavor.
If decide to come here on a weekend, learn Polish numbers because their call system isn't as fast as the ladies calling out numbers. The Polish patrons will help you out should you ask them and translate for you should you be helped by someone who can't speak English.
Try to come here on a weekday morning or late evening when it's slow so you can sample their meats. They'll also explain to you about the more obscure meats unique to Polish food like the veal/mushroom meatloaf or the why there are over 20 cuts of cured pork.
If you're an anti-social fiend that might feel the urge to kill just by walking up to the counter, take heart because in the back there are prepackaged cuts of meat. Read the labels because they look similar but a lot of them are different. Fish, and some sausages are also in the back. Good Polish chicken noodle soup too.
Also they have a selection of Polish imported groceries like chocolates, soda, and juice. You may recognize some labeling, but keep in mind that food manufacturers change recipes to adjust for regional preferences so chocolates are richer, sodas are spicier, and the juice more creative while everything also has less sugar. I highly recommend the carrot apple juice with the little bear on it.
FREE SOUP BONES. I'm not a fan of Purdue or most supermarket butchered meats and still opt for an actual butcher. They offer up the bones from their butchered meats for free should you purchase any meat at their counter. They have some of the best chicken and cuts of pork in the city. I can only think of a few other butchers with better tasting meat or non-yellow chicken.
They have one of the LARGEST selection of jellies should be the type that refuses to eat anything without jelly. Everything from rose hips to strawberry. The currant flavored jellies are fantastic on scones.
Super busy on the weekends but the selection is OUTSTANDING. Unfortunately I don't speak any Polish and my boyfriend only speaks a little bit, but it's enough to get by.
Try any of the sausage, it's tasty!
Are you looking for the best big spicy scrumptious juicy sausage in the world? Well then head on down to Kurowski's, not the bars in boystown. This place is a love/hate relationship for me. I am polish, but lack the tongue wizardry it takes to speak it. Speaking English in this joint can be a handicap.
Again, finger pointing and face making really speak wonders here. They have an assortment of sausages, breads, chocolates, candy and other food/items...all from the motherland.
Go on a Sunday morning when the bread is freshly served. But go EARLY!!!! Once St. Hyacinth churhc (down the street) lets out, it's every man for themself.
DO pick up some sausage and you must pick up a rye bread. I have family in Wisconsin, and every visit, polish rye bread and sausage are demanded!!
God I need some sausage...
Authentic Polish deli and bakery that was just bursting at the seams with people today! The food brings back memories of my trip last year to Poland. Look for the individual pieces of smoked salmon- at under $10 lb- don't tell the owners- it's a steal. Fresh baked bread- got as far as the car when I opened a little triangled shaped roll- bursting with seeds - tasted as good as it looked. Christmas comes but once a year - and with it a sweet little concoction made of honey, poppy seed, raisins, and bulgar- an acquired taste, but once acquired- memorable!
Great selection of smoked meats. Definitely worth the trip.
A hands down winner in terms of price and quantity of food. unfortunately, if you don't speak Polish, you're probably not going to get too much help as far as recommendations are concerned.
This Polish grocery has it all. I didn't know there were so many different kinds of kilbasa. If fact, I don't even think I spelled that word correctly! But at $1.50 a pound for delicious polish sausages, I'd be willing to try just about all of them.
The breads and cakes are wonderful here as well. I am told that going to Kurowski's early in the morning is your best bet at getting the freshest breads and cakes. I went later at night and everything I bought was still really good and still really fresh.
This is a winner, winner, sausage dinner for me!
This place rules!!
The bakery is great (Rich's) and the paczkis we got were incredible! Just what I was craving. They had lots of flavors: peach, plum, custard, chocolate, etc. Definitely get the baked goods at this place.
The sausage selection also looked intimidating to me, since I have no clue where to start to try to take on the world of encased Polish meats. But it was huge and when I have a guide, I will be coming here to explore it.
The grocery store was nice also. Everything was fresh (produce, vegetables, etc.) and the selection was large. Lots of stuff you couldn't get outside of neighborhood delis like this. Also helpful staff.
I'd say whether you're going to explore a whole new culture or you're an old-timer from the Old Country, this place would probably appeal to you either way. Definitely check it out.
I have no idea what most of the things Kurowski's sells even are, and I fear I wouldn't want to know what the ingredients in most of the stuff they sell are. You can't even talk to the staff to ask them what things are because nobody speaks English.
It's ethnically-correct places like this that make me so happy I live in Logan Square. The fact that everything's in Polish doesn't bother me as long as I can walk to the refrigerator case and pick up some pre-packaged sausages made of ingredients unknown, then go home and cook like I'm Paul Zakopane Harna.
Kurowski's: I love you. Your cheap produce and my ignorance of the Polish language assure I'll be surprised with whatever I buy... For better or worse.
Chodze tu juz nie wiem ile lat.
As you see I'm polish and have been going here for years.Only con is it always had so many customers.
Great Polish grocery. They have an excellent selection of pierogis, sausage, smoked meats, Polish candies, and delicious bread.
The produce is always fresh, the store is clean, and the staff try to help, even if you don't speak polish.
It's best to go to Kurowski's on a weekday, though, as the place can get quite crowded on weekends.
A great Sunday afternoon for me is strolling down N. Milwaukee Avenue and stopping into the Polish deli's, restaurants, and retail shops. And Kurowski's is not to be missed!
Not only is there a deli full of smoked meats, cheeses, and prepared Polish specialties such as stuffed cabbage (golabki) and pierogies, but also Rich's Bakery attached next door. You can buy a whole Sunday dinner of rib-stickin' food and then head home to laze over the newspapaer or watch the game!
Millions of tasty sausages and meats. Great rye bread, smoked fish and assortment of root vegetables. Excellent prices.
Saturdays are so crowded that you cannot move around at all, people pushing and elbowing. On weekdays is better. You might catch attitude if you do not speak Polish, it is assumed you are if you shop there. Quick bike ride from Logan Square.
Great prices on sausages and smoked fish. Ahhh! You can't miss that lovely smokehouse aroma wafting all over the area- definitely an asset to the Avondale neighborhood worth checking out, no matter what language you speak!
When the Gods feed on sausage, they come here.
This place fascinates me and makes me want to spend hours exploring it. It is basically a grocery store with an immense meat section and bakery. The produce is well priced and they have a selection of delicious soups that they make. The prices are really reasonable. If you didn't grow up in a Polish neighborhood, you are likely to find this store captivating.
Name says it all! I come here time to time great selection check out the hidden room on other side of deli. A little slow at the deli and cramped but hey what the heck am I complaining about great value! Will be back when on the North side!
My polish grandmother (who was born and raised near this place) sent me here to get her blood sausage a few years ago and it became one of my go-to places for Polish Sausage and other fresh meats. The prices and quality can't be beat. It sure would help if you speak Polish or have a Polish friend to bring along to help you order at the counter.
I was brought here while visiting a friend and as a tourist destination alone, this place is fantastic. I have never seen so much hanging meat in my life!
I -heart- Polish delicatessens.
i think this place is owned by the same folks who run rich's deli on western, because they have a lot of the same stuff...especially the blueberry crumb cake which is just about the best thing ever and half the reason i've gained 15 pounds since i moved to chicago.
I've heard about this place getting lines out the door before Easter and Christmas. I came by on a regular weekday while passing the shop mid-morning - not a holiday, and I found the deli was packed with customers. Their deli counter runs deep through the whole store. You have a vast selection of deli meats, sausages, hams, and cheeses to choose from. I like the small BBQ sausage which are vacuum-packed in their refrigerated area. For many of their products, they have packaged stuff ready to take instead of taking a number and waiting in line. Located int he heart of Chicago's Polish community known as "Jackowo," everyone in the store speaks Polish, so don't be surprised if they start talking Polish to you as well. Though it's also a bakery, the selection is pretty limited. I got some nice rolls to go with the sausages. They have a variety of Polish breads and other hard rolls to choose from. Great stuff at great prices. I'd dare anyone else to find a place where you get 4 fresh smoked sausages & 4 rolls for $4.
Neighborhood: Avondale
Category: Grocery
Neighborhood: Ukrainian Village
Category: Delis
Neighborhood: Ukrainian Village
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Category: Grocery
Neighborhood: Ukrainian Village
Category: Delis
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