WTF Food: Bone-in Pork Chop Sandwich, Jim's Original

The bone-in pork chop sandwich is said to have originated at
Jim’s Original, at Halsted and Maxwell, at the original location of the Maxwell Street Market http://www.jimsoriginal.com/.

When I tell people about the sandwich, which as the name implies, and as you probably know, comes with the bone still in there, they usually repeat what I just said as a question, “The bone is still in there?”

Yes, yes it is.

The trick, of course, as C2 once taught me, is that you grip the bone through the bun and gingerly eat around the bone while gripping it tightly to avoid painful dental consequences.

In Mount Airy, North Carolina (where I was once brought to the town hospital, half-conscious after flipping an ATV), there’s a place called Snappy Lunch, whose claim to fame is that they were mentioned on “The Andy Griffith” show. The owner of Snappy Lunch, Charles Dowell, is said to have invented the Pork Chop Sandwich.

“But back then, the pork chop had a bone, and Charles knew he had to get rid of the bone. ‘I have people who come into Snappy Lunch with no teeth who can still eat my pork chop sandwich,’ he liked to say.
https://www.ourstate.com/snappy-lunch/?fbclid=IwAR1KaDENSs9kXb6Hjc84edohFpiaALl42yh2yJ4d8eikJdndHLvtzWxpCrw

I don’t understand how someone with no teeth could eat through a pork chop, with or without a bone. But there’s so much I don’t understand about Carolinian culture.

Whatever.

The bone-in pork chop sandwich at Jim’s Original is a tasty damn thing, tenderized by a few hours of brining, griddled until crisp on the outside, draped with translucent onions, steaming, with a brown sweetness very complementary to pig meat, sparked up with a house-cured serrano pepper – a sport pepper – that is one of the more incendiary bites I’ve had in the past decade or so.

The case could be made that the meat is tastier at the bone, or that the bone holds in some of the juices as the chop sizzles on the grill, but I have a feeling that at Jim’s Original they continue to cook the pork chop with the bone because that’s the way they’ve always done it.

Corrected: My brother just sent me a link to a Serious Eats article about the bone-in pork chop sandwich.

Jim’s Original pork shop sandwich was noted here back in 2004.
https://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=15137#p15137

scottsol wrote:Jim’s Original pork shop sandwich was noted here back in 2004.
https://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=15137#p15137

True, but that was a thread devoted to pork chops in general; this is a thread devoted to one of the chop's stranger incarnations.

David Hammond wrote:

scottsol wrote:Jim’s Original pork shop sandwich was noted here back in 2004.
https://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=15137#p15137

True, but that was a thread devoted to pork chops in general; this is a thread devoted to one of the chop's stranger incarnations.

I thought people might be interested to see its original mention on LTH, the intention was not to negate the value of this thread.

Reading your description, Dave, really makes me want a pork chop sandwich. It sounds fantastic. Personally, I would cut the bone off before eating or serving it, but as you say, it's probably just the way they've always done it.

Katie wrote:Reading your description, Dave, really makes me want a pork chop sandwich. It sounds fantastic. Personally, I would cut the bone off before eating or serving it, but as you say, it's probably just the way they've always done it.

Glad you feel that way, Katie. It's such a simple thing, and I even ate it a few hours after I picked it up at Jim's, but I found it very enjoyable, if a little weird. I suspect that the reason this sandwich is so good is that the chops are cooked on a very hot griddle by guys who know what they're doing, and those sweet onions are such a good match for the chop, helping to balance the acidity of the mustard.

the most important thing about the bone is that you throw it on the ground when you're done, so passerbys know that a place that sells bone-in sandwiches is nearby.

(i'm kidding, do not litter.)

Katie wrote:Reading your description, Dave, really makes me want a pork chop sandwich. It sounds fantastic. Personally, I would cut the bone off before eating or serving it, but as you say, it's probably just the way they've always done it.

Nooooo! Eating around the bone is part of the experience. Squishy bun, delicious pork, griddled onions and nuclear (IMO) peppers. Gnawing those final bits of pork off the bone is a real treat.

In a previous life I and my coworkers had to work during scheduled "downtime" so that meant ~10 PM Saturday to ~4 AM (or later) Sunday. Part of the tradition was dispatching someone to Jim's (original Maxwell location) and scoring Polish sausages and pork chop sandwiches for everyone. Was quite the rite of passage for some of my coworkers (yeah, send the guy from Naperville, hehe). Nothing like chowing down on onion-laden pork chops and Polish after we'd turned the machines over to our vendor for their IVP tests.

I still fondly remember a friend/vendor making his maiden voyage and getting home at O-dark-thirty and falling into a dead sleep. His wife used the same vehicle that morning to take the kids to soccer or some such and came home and asked him if his customers complained about his B.O. as the car had been permeated with the fragrance (or odor, YMMV) of a couple dozen Jim's Polish and Pork Chop sandwiches.

Bone-in pork chop sandwich from Jim's (or Maxwell St Express), count me a fan.

During graduate school, there was nothing quite like going with a friend or two to pick up pork chops and polish from the original Jim's on a summer weeknight around 1am. Drive east on 18th over the bridge to get a great skyline view, then drive up Michigan to the Wrigley building. Double-park in the little alcove and eat "al trunko" while admiring the views and talking about whatever project was stumping us.

I don't quite get it, but to each his own. Of course the meat by the bone is best but bones in a sandwich..........eh. Maybe he had dentists in his family when he formed the menu.

Puckjam wrote:I don't quite get it, but to each his own. Of course the meat by the bone is best but bones in a sandwich..........eh. Maybe he had dentists in his family when he formed the menu.

I think their choice is related to affordable meat for their clients. Now it is expected and there are people who like it that way.

If I ate there more often and could get over the siren call of the Polish, I might get an occasional pork chop sandwich. My Mom is the one most likely to order the pork chop sandwich.

Regards,
Cathy2

Puckjam wrote:I don't quite get it, but to each his own...

Hence the title "WTF?"

It’s not Wonderful Topnotch Food?

David Hammond wrote:...and those sweet onions are such a good match for the chop, helping to balance the acidity of the mustard.

Is there a word in the English language that means, "being pretentious about an
extremely unpretentious subject?"

These sammiches are "chops."

"Lemme git a chop wid everything."

Counterperson to grillperson: "CHOP!!!"

seebee wrote:Is there a word in the English language that means, "being pretentious about an
extremely unpretentious subject?"

PrEATentious. Jimshuistic. Phostentatious?

seebee wrote:Is there a word in the English language that means, "being pretentious about an
extremely unpretentious subject?"

Actually, now that I think about it, most ppl use the word, "a**h*le."

Why would they use all hale?

Cathy2 wrote:I think their choice is related to affordable meat for their clients. Now it is expected and there are people who like it that way.

If I ate there more often and could get over the siren call of the Polish, I might get an occasional pork chop sandwich. My Mom is the one most likely to order the pork chop sandwich.

Regards,
Cathy2

According to current owner Jim Christopoulos, the Polish is far and away the big seller, and it'd be my first choice as well. About the pork chop sandwich, "there are people who like it that way" probably because it's such an odd thing, kind of like Malort, only tastier.

Off chop topic, but on Jim's– does anyone know if they use a pork or beef Polish? (I could probably discern but its been a few years)

scottsol wrote:Why would they use all hale?

If we were on Wheel Of Fortune, I wouldn't be in any big hurry to use my Free Spin.

Jefe wrote:Off chop topic, but on Jim's– does anyone know if they use a pork or beef Polish? (I could probably discern but its been a few years)

The beef Polish is a separate item on Jim's menu.

Thanks!

I was 99% sure they had a beef version of the Polish, but their website menu does not confirm this.

Cathy2

The regular Polish is mix of beef and pork. The beef Polish is all beef, which Christopoulos told us he doesn't like that much because "it tastes too much like a hot dog."

Last time I was there, I took a nice Norwegian Jewish lady who raved about the beef Polish, swore she would bring her whole family to enjoy it.

I prefer the regular Polish and will do so until I finally convert to Judaism.

On my ‘short list’!
-Richard

seebee wrote:

scottsol wrote:Why would they use all hale?

If we were on Wheel Of Fortune, I wouldn't be in any big hurry to use my Free Spin.

Not gonna happen, I’m strictly a Jeperdy guy.