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Jim's Original

Jim's Original — Chicago street food, now in Orange, California

Jim's Original — World Famous Since 1939

Chicago Street Food Hot DogsSausagesChopsBeefsCheeseburgers& Breakfast

Orange, CA — 7 AM – 11 PM, seven days

Breakfast 7 – 10:30 daily · Drive-thru · 214 N Tustin St

See the menu Directions

The Original Maxwell Street Polish Sausage Stand™ · Chicago since 1939 · Orange since 2026

How to order

Pick your style

Everything comes one of four ways. Say the style, and the crew knows exactly what to build. Fries come with every sandwich, in the bag — free, since 1983.

At the Chicago stands, everything is Maxwell Street Style. Orange adds SoCal Style and the Chicago dog.

Pick your sandwich

  1. Maxwell Street Style

    Maxwell Street Polish

    A sandwich, usually a Polish Sausage, made with yellow mustard, sweet grilled onions, and pickled hot peppers, served on a soft white bun. At our original Chicago stands we serve everything Maxwell Street Style, from Polish Sausages to Chicken Sandwiches.

  2. SoCal Style

    A California style take on our classic cheeseburger. This sandwich, usually a cheeseburger, is made with thousand island dressing, lettuce, raw onion, and tomato served on a soft white bun.

  3. Chicago Style Hot Dog

    A steamed all-beef hot dog on a soft white bun, “dragged through the garden,” topped with 7 ingredients: yellow mustard, diced onions, relish, tomato, a pickle spear, hot pepper, and celery salt… and we never add ketchup.

  4. Bone-In Pork Chop Sandwich

    Beware of the Bone

    A 7 oz., bone-in pork chop served in a soft white bun with yellow mustard and sweet grilled onions. Be careful not to bite the bone when you eat it. The trick is to find the bone before your first bite, hold the sandwich by the largest piece of bone and bite into the meaty parts…

    Beware of the Bone!

Original Chicago Street Food — the story since 1939

Jimmy Stefanovic at the stand, Maxwell & Halsted, 1940s
Jimmy Stefanovic at the stand, Maxwell & Halsted, 1940s
Maxwell Street, 1955
Maxwell Street, 1955
The sign, 1997
The sign, 1997
The stand in the street, 1985
The stand in the street, 1985
W Maxwell St, 1997
W Maxwell St, 1997
Inside the corner, 1997
Inside the corner, 1997

We are Original Chicago Street Food

Jim's Original is the longest continuously operating hot dog stand to have once done business on Maxwell Street. People still identify the Old Maxwell Street Market with the sweet smell of onions that emanated from Jim's stand.

Third generation, same family, the same recipe and taste since the 1940s. And now, for the first time, a stand outside Illinois — with the sausages shipped in from the same Chicago supplier.

  1. 1939

    Jim Stefanovic lands in New York with seven dollars — “Lucky seven” — gets to Chicago, sells taffy apples on Maxwell Street, and goes to work at his aunt’s hot dog stand at Maxwell & Halsted.

  2. 1941

    Jim buys the stand from his aunt.

  3. 1943

    Jim creates the Maxwell Street Polish Sausage Sandwich: grilled onions, mustard, a specially prepared polish sausage.

  4. 1947

    The Pork Chop Sandwich, “with the bone on a bun.” A hamburger joins the menu the same year.

  5. 1976

    Jim passes away. His family takes over the stand.

  6. 1983

    French fries are added — free with any sandwich. Still are.

  7. 2001

    After 62 years on Maxwell Street, UIC’s expansion moves the stand a block north and east, to Union Avenue.

  8. 2026

    The first Jim’s outside Illinois opens at 214 N Tustin St, Orange, California. Same sausage, shipped from the same Chicago supplier.

The Chicago stand on television

  • The Layover with Anthony Bourdain · Travel Channel, 2012
  • The Sandwich King · Food Network, 2013
  • Chicago’s Best · WGN, 2015
  • Driven By Food with Andrew Zimmern · Travel Channel, 2016
  • Streets by Vice: Halsted Street · VICE, 2016
  • Bizarre Foods: Delicious Destinations · Travel Channel, 2018
  • Check, Please! · PBS / WTTW, 2018
  • Somebody Feed Phil · Netflix, 2020

Three stands

The corners

Now open

Orange, California

Opened June 13, 2026 — the first Jim’s outside Illinois

214 N Tustin St

Orange, CA 92867

(657) 822-1474

Hours
7 AM – 11 PM, seven days
Breakfast
7 – 10:30 every morning
Order
Counter, patio, or drive-thru

On Tustin Street just north of Chapman. Small lot, and the drive-thru lane wraps it at lunch — if the lot is full, the drive-thru is the faster line anyway.

Directions @jimsoriginalorange

Since 1939

The Original · Chicago

1250 S Union Ave

Chicago, IL 60607

(312) 733-7820

Open 24 hours, every day

  • Southwest corner of Union & James Rochford
  • On Maxwell & Halsted, 1939 – 2001
Directions

The second stand

Northside · Chicago

2775 N Elston Ave

Chicago, IL 60647

(872) 206-5279

Hours: call the stand

  • Southeast corner of Diversey, Elston & Western
Directions

Free fries
with every
sandwich.

Since 1983, at every stand. A bag of fresh-cut fries pressed into the sack with your sandwich. Want a pop? Grape, like Jim's day.