Cleveland's defining sandwich: a grilled kielbasa link in a bun, piled with hand-cut french fries, sweet coleslaw and a slap of barbecue sauce.
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.
3 editor picks for Polish Boy in Cleveland, ranked by editorial score. All Cleveland signature dishes · Polish Boy across every city.
Seti's Polish Boys ★ 4.6
ohio-city · Cleveland, OH (mobile food truck across Northeast Ohio)
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.
Mt Pleasant Bar-B-Q ★ 4.2
mt-pleasant · 12725 Kinsman Rd, Cleveland, OH 44120
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.
Prosperity Social Club ★ 4.1
tremont · 1109 Starkweather Ave, Cleveland, OH 44113
Prosperity Social Club on Starkweather Avenue in Tremont, an Eastern European tavern open since 1938, runs pierogi, cabbage and craft beer with karaoke.