History

The Polish Boy was popularized at Virgil Whitmore's Bar-B-Q in Mount Pleasant in the late 1960s and 1970s. Whitmore, a Texas migrant, combined Southern barbecue with the local Polish kielbasa to make a stacked sandwich that became Cleveland's unofficial signature. The format spread to lunch counters across the East Side; Freddie's Southern Style Rib House and Hot Sauce Williams now anchor the modern Polish Boy circuit.

Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 30 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 large kielbasa links, about 600g total
  • 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut into thick-cut fries
  • Neutral oil for frying, about 1 litre
  • 4 long sub or hoagie rolls
  • 300g sweet coleslaw, drained
  • 120ml sweet-style barbecue sauce
  • Yellow ballpark mustard to finish
  • Sea salt

Method

  1. Heat the frying oil to 165C and blanch the fries until soft but pale, about 4 minutes. Drain and rest 10 minutes.
  2. Raise the oil to 190C and fry the rested fries a second time until deep gold, about 3 to 4 minutes. Drain on paper and season with salt.
  3. Score the kielbasa lengthwise and grill or pan-fry over medium-high heat until charred and heated through, 6 to 8 minutes.
  4. Split each roll, lay in one kielbasa link, top with a generous fistful of fries, then a heap of slaw.
  5. Squeeze barbecue sauce in a heavy zig-zag across the top, finish with a stripe of yellow mustard.

Tip from the editors. Don't skip the double-fry; soggy fries collapse the stack and the sandwich becomes a slaw cup.

Where to eat polish boy

Polish Boy in Cleveland

Mt Pleasant Bar-B-Q ★ 4.2

Street food$mt-pleasantMon-Thu, Sun 13:00-21:30, Fri-Sat 13:00-22:00

Mt Pleasant Bar-B-Q on Kinsman Road in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood, a family-run sit-down rib house and Polish Boy counter, runs the city's archetypal.

Try: Polish Boy and Texas-style barbecue ribs

12725 Kinsman Rd, Cleveland, OH 44120

Seti's Polish Boys ★ 4.6

Street food$ohio-cityFestival, ballgame and private-event schedule, see Facebook for current dates

Seti's Polish Boys is Cleveland's longest-running Polish Boy food truck on the festival circuit, with the canonical kielbasa-fries-slaw-BBQ stack on a bun.

Try: Polish Boy: grilled kielbasa, fries, slaw and BBQ sauce on a bun

Cleveland, OH (mobile food truck across Northeast Ohio)

Prosperity Social Club ★ 4.4

Modern Polish$$tremontMon-Thu 16:00-00:00; Fri-Sat 16:00-01:00; Sun 10:30-22:00Until Mon-Thu 24:00, Fri-Sat 01:00

Prosperity Social Club on Starkweather Avenue in Tremont, a 1938 tavern with wood-paneled walls, runs late pierogi and tavern fare on weekends to 01:00.

Try: Pierogi, kielbasa and tavern fare

1109 Starkweather Ave, Cleveland, OH 44113

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