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After my morning visit to the Farmers' Market, my lovely shopping companion and I went up to Lincoln Square to check out Gene's Sausage Shop, which recently opened in the old Meyer Delicatessen space in Lincoln Square. The place was hopping, so I took a quick walk through the place, snapped a few photos, and decided that I'd come back to do some real shopping when the place wasn't quite so busy. I had never been in the Meyer as it closed before I moved to Chicago, so I don't know what the space looked like before, but Gene's is incredible on the inside. The space is open, features a massive skylight in the middle, has beautiful wooden display shelves with marble counters and the old-style library ladders running along them. The butcher's area (see the photo below) has awesome windows allowing you to see the hanging carcasses and butchers working away.

I was disappointed to see a rather limited selection of fresh sausages in the case, though a huge variety of smoked sausages were hanging behind the butchers' counter. Packages sausages from other vendors were also available in one of the refrigerated cases.

The meat selection (what I could see through the crowd) looked good, but I didn't spot anything beyond basic beef, pork and chicken selections. No heritage breeds, local and/or organic options from what I could tell.

Wide open space, great light

The old Meyer sign is prominently displayed and lit up at the top of the staircase that runs up the middle of the room.

The butcher's case

Taken from most of the way up the staircase.

Butcher's area

A little tough to make out in the photo (click through for a larger image), but this is an enclosed area behind the main butchers' counter where they're breaking down the carcasses.

Definitely a welcome addition to the neighborhood and I look forward to exploring more when the place isn't quite so packed.

-Dan

Gene's Sausage Shop
4750 N Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL 60625

Is this any relation to the one at Belmont and Long?

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The clown is down!

I'm really happy Gene's finally opened, but I want to take this opportunity to give a little plug to Lincoln Quality Meat Market, just down the street, which offers a decent selection of quality beef, pork, and free range chicken, plus a small but interesting selection of Balkan sausage and charcuterie, and European dry goods.

LQMM served the neighborhood well after Meyer tanked and Joe the Sausage King retired. I'd hate to see it forgotten now that Gene's is open.

Lincoln Quality Meat Market
4661 North Lincoln Avenue
773.561.4570

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The Food Chain—the Chicago Reader’s food and drink blog

Thanks for the tip - I've never been, but will definitely check it out now.
-Dan

Same owners.

Even though the owner is not German, Lincoln Quality Meat Market does a good job on the German sausages as well as the Balkan sausages noted by m'th'su. Paulina Market's Polish founder and long-time owner also shows that a non-German can produce good German sausages.

The new Gene's is on the same land as Delicatessen Mayer but is a totally new building with a VERY different design from the foundation up. It is not in the same space.

I miss Meyers so . . . ach the German ladies in the paper bonnet-y things who served you so briskly and I adored their insanely great and relatively cheap German chocolates around the holidays. Anyhow, looking forward to checking out Gene's, I am wondering if they have house-made cold cuts/sandwich meats.

I do want to echo the props for Lincoln Square Quality Meats. When Joe the Sausage King closed I started going there for cevapccici. They do a gorgeous version, nice and garlicky, and they will even split their pre-packaged portions if say, you don't need 36 sausages (which I often don't). The owner is a warm and engaging guy and I feel like he's doing everything to merge his ethnic background (Croatian maybe?) with the old Germans and the new families in the hood.

So Lincoln Square has two meat shops in two blocks. What a dream.

bjt

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"eating is an agricultural act" wendell berry

I was drawn to Gene's on opening day just like the rest of Lincoln Square, it appeared. I was lucky enough to stand in the checkout line behind one of the original white-bonnet-wearing Meyer
ladies. She also expressed concern for the longevity of the small sausage shop down the street. Lucky for me I was privvy to her recs for kraut and a luscious sourdough bread coming from Canada sometime this week. Go visit Gene's!

Meyer was not a traditional butcher shop that competed with Lincoln Quality Meats, which I agree is good. What I found special about Meyer was not your ordinary meats, but the German specialties like the matjes herring, german potato salad, the leberkase, the home-made bockwurst, veal bockwurst, kaiserfleisch, pretzelwurst, german style bread, sonnenblumenbrot, landbrot, quark, german alpine butter, spaetzel mix, dumpling mix, a wide selection of honey (clover, wildfower...), compotes. They carried German holiday items like stollen, chocolate ornaments, marzipan. For the tiny shop that it was, they had an amazing assortment of things. For a while, Kuhn's in Deerbrook was an almost acceptable alternative, but that is closed now too!

I haven't yet been to Gene's, but my wife and I have been eagerly anticipating its return. I am hopeful, but skeptical that it will be a replacement for what Meyer was.

anyobody know if Gene's carries leberkase? Meyer used to have it hot which is damn delicious on a roll, really miss it.

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"By the fig, the olive..." Surat Al-Teen, Mecca 95:1"

Gene's is a Polish family, no? Not they can't/won't carry leberkase or other German specialties, but I was thinking the food would be more Polish than German overall.

bjt

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"eating is an agricultural act" wendell berry

Business today at Gene's was brisk, but not nearly as crazy as things seemed to be on the weekend. I'll try to answer some of the questions posed upthread. (Full disclosure: my Mom and my Godmother were both original white bonnet, white uniform Meyer's ladies.)

Today Gene's had leberkase (looked like Koenemann's brand). They also had some (but not all) of the same types of lunch meat that Meyer's carried, such as the Stieglmeier brand (tan casing with the blue and white checkered Bavarian flag design), including Alpine sausage and gelbwurst. They had many varieties of Gene's lunchmeat in the counter (including about 6 different kinds of headcheese ). One of the men in the deli mentioned that they will have sandwiches soon. They were generously providing free samples of just about anything in the deli case upon request. They also had sliced up sausages on the deli counter for sampling. I did not try any, so I can't comment on those.

Other items mentioned upthread that I saw: mayo based potato bread, honey (mostly domestic, not as wide a selection as Meyers), lots of different types of bread (mostly from Polish bakeries), marzipan, chocolates, including chocolate Santas.

Other items mentioned upthread that I did not see (doesn't mean they don't or won't have them, I just did not see them today): german potato salad, matjes herring, kaiserfleisch. While there was one chocolate Christmas tree ornament at the register, they weren't stocked for sale.

My impression is that for grocery items, Gene's prices were comparable to or slightly higher than prices at other Polish delis, but lower than grocery prices at Paulina Market.

First impressions after my brief visit on Monday around 1:00 PM:

The place is nicely designed, very attractive, and well organized. The upper floor is entirely dedicated to (mainly) imported more or less fancy food and grocery items, lots of them of Polish origin, beer, liquor, and wines. Yes there are several German brands. But the wine selection in not very impressive.

The street level has several sections: Bread and pastries (cakes and tortes in the German and East European styles). Fresh meat (good looking steaks, and fresh pork items, inluding nice ground pork).
Sausages, both dry and fresh. The German selection is very minimal compared to what you find at Paulina .
Delicatessen and various prepared salads. They looked rather "plain" and on the heavy side. More Polish than German to me.
Frozen prepared foods. Small selection.
Fresh vegetable and fruits. Nice but nothing to write home about.

I bought some traditional wieners and pork and veal sausages that can be used as hot dogs.
They look good and where more than 50% cheaper ($ 2.99 a pound each) than what I pay at Paulina's market for the same kind of items.
The wiener was fine but the salt content was a bit high and the smoky flavor a little overpowering for my own taste.
The much larger pork and veal sausage was much milder and is quite pleasant after a short slow pan-heating session in butter.

Employees are very friendly.
The whole feeling is rather pleasant. I'm sure that this store will fare well with the new younger client base that populates the Lincoln Square area nowadays, but much less with the older customers who are still nostalgic of Kuhn's and Meyer's and are looking for a real German Metzgerei.

The management is cooperating in providing info about other products that they may have in the near future.

Made my first visit to Gene's/Deli Meyer today, and not only will it not be my last visit, it won't even be my last visit this week! CDC and another couple are coming for an offbeat early T-giving dinner on Sunday, so I was there to scout for charcuterie and all the accompaniments for our pre-dinner conversation nibbles, but I also found today's dinner, Italian sausage for the soup course, fresh herbs - AND a half gallon of Seedlings Mutsu-only cider. And I didn't even get upstairs (which is fully handicapped accessible, much to my relief).

I sampled all manner of meats - Westphalian ham, a unique cured pork belly roll stuffed with a savory mix of chopped veal, pork, pickles, and such, and a house-made pork pate - which will all be coming home with me on Saturday. Nice selection of good cheeses, too; I picked up some good Swiss Emmenthaler for a song, and noted a jalapeno Havarti than will surely end up in the basket, too. The service was faultless, informed and very friendly, to put it mildly; the young man who sold me a fully trimmed pork t-loin and the Italian sausage, a former Fox & Obel employee, outlined their plans for the meat department, specifically for expanding the natural poultry selection and the high-end beef, specifically grass-fed and prime beef. He also cheerfully told me that he'd happily move right into the store, if they'd let him. (I think that my CDC would happily join him, too. )

I'm already looking forward to Saturday - and to Christmas browsing, as well. You should go. Now!

Antonius wrote:


I was in the new Gene's late Monday afternoon. Anyone looking for a worthy replacement for Delicatessen Mayer pre-Hans will be sorely disappointed. The selection of German goods was about where it was when Hans had the business about 3/4 of the way down the drain. German sausage selection was minimal. The German wine selection is token. Forget the house-roasted lunch meats. Boar's Head and ordinary supermarket brands are what they carry.

I bought some grilling bratwurst, which they claim is all veal and made in-house albeit probably at the other store. They were out of the veal and pork bratwurst, which are made by an outside supplier. Then this morning I stopped in Lincoln Quality Market (closed on Monday) and bought some veal bratwurst. We marked, parboiled one of each and then grilled over charcoal. The sausages were easy to tell apart once sliced as the spicing was quite visible in the one from LQM. Gene's was very lightly spiced and quite bland in comparison to LQM's, almost as bland as my memory of the only package of bratwurst I ever bought from Bobak's.

My impression on the assortment of goods is that it is a mile wide and an inch deep. There is a little bit of everything but no depth of anything. Many of the Polish foods in glass are Cracovia, which has impressed me as being second tier in quality. I do not know why they included a produce section with minimal selection and high prices. It is typical of departments aimed at people who do not go west of the Chicago River or even Western Avenue to HarvesTime. The fresh meat section appears to be the one standout.

This store will probably be pretty successful among the yuppies. I will be surprised if many of the old Mayer customers from the suburbs will make repeat trips.

As an aside, the Hereford above the door is definitely a steer. The view from the second floor window is unequivocal down to little plastic scars.

A question has been running through my mind. There have been many comparisons of the new Gene's to the late, lamented Delicatessen Meyer and the conclusion seems to be it is no Delicatessen Meyer. It's not trying to be, is it?

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-Mary

The owners are trying to have it both ways. Their advertising keeps pushing the Delicatessen Mayer connection. Two artifacts, a sign and a windowed divider, are from the old store. That is about the extent of the connection as the new store is very different in almost every other way.

I will at some point go thither and check out Gene's version of Meyer's when they've had a chance to settle in but the reports so far are living up to my rather pessimistic expectations regarding the elementum teutonicum and the limited extent thereof. I have a couple of especially favoured Polish places I visit already, so I'm not particularly in need of another one to go to, and the only thing worse than no German food is pseudo-German food.

Once in a great while, I make the grand trek out to Kuhn's in Des Plaines, which has a fair number - though by no means all -- of the German products I long for and used to be able to procure on Lincoln Ave in the good old days, between Meyer's, Kuhn's and the other Meyer's across from Kuhn's. Kuhn's in Des Plaines is worth a visit for fans of German food, without doubt. And one of these days, I think we might take a meal in there at the 'café' -- they have a nice menu of the usual basic dishes one finds in German restaurants in this country. Food looked good the last time we were there, some weeks back.

Borussia semper...

Antonius

Kuhn's Deli & Café
749 W. Golf Road, Des Plaines, IL 60016
800.522.9019
kuhnsdeli@cs.com

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Alle Nerven exzitiert von dem gewürzten Wein -- Anwandlung von Todesahndungen -- Doppeltgänger --
- aus dem Tagebuch E.T.A. Hoffmanns, 6. Januar 1804.
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Na sir is na seachain an cath.

I love Kuhn's. I've underutilized the deli, but my mom lives a 10-minute walk from there so we often eat "in the back" when neither of us feels like cooking--the food and space are equally comforting. When I'm in Des Plaines, Kuhn's is also usually where I go for my European candy fix because it's walkable.

LTH,

Behind the curve on Gene's Lincoln Square shop, first visit just yesterday. Gleaming, spotless, well laid out. I was pleased and surprised at pricing, in particular for fresh meat, deli and sausage, reasonable for the neighborhood, noticeably less than Paulina Market.

One can put together an interesting shopping trip in just a block radius, Gene's, Lincoln Quality Meat Market, Provenance, PNA capped with lunch at Rosded.

Enjoy,
Gary

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

. . . .not to mention that the Lincoln Square farmers market is in the middle of it, come market season, on Tuesdays. The vendors include Seedlings and Mick Klug, among many others; there's also an Indiana vendor that has very nice field-grown heirloom tomatoes before any other market that I frequent in summer, and generally cheaper than anywhere else, too. Great access to public transportation, as the market is actually in the lot at the Western Ave. Brown Line station.

Ald. Schulter's spring newsletter notes that there will be a second Lincoln Square farmers' market on Thursdays starting at 4 pm going into evening. Location is same as Tuesday market. The first market is scheduled for June 17. This is a joint project of the alderman and the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce, not a City of Chicago market.

I would not count on accurate answers from some of the help at Gene's. Recently, my wife was buying some liverwurst and asked the clerk whether they sold calf liver. He replied that liverwurst was the same thing.

The high meat counter tops present some challenges for short people. Communication with clerks can be difficult due to sound blockage. The scales are placed quite high up and are difficult to read for a short person wearing bifocals. Clerk asks how the weight is. Customer can't read the scale or back up enough in the narrow aisle to have a chance. My wife reported that another height-challenged mature woman was also having the same problem.

LTH,

Kevin Pang's Sausage Fest piece focuses on Uncle John's custom blend hot links, but the nod to Gene's on Lincoln's dried kabanos motivated me to stop in for a snack stick. Loved the crunchy fatty deliciousness, right up there with Paulina Market's spicy lamb sticks as best 'slim jim' in Chicagoland.

A few years ago Saveur raved about the kabanos at Krakus Deli on Milwaukee Ave, culinary lemming I can be on occasion, I trotted on over. Lightly smoky, nice hit of garlic, good snap, but not all that different from Andy's, Bobak's or Gene's regular kabanos. The longer smoked/dried version at Gene's intensifies flavor while rendering out fat resulting in an airy crispy crunch.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gene's Sausage Shop
4750 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago, Il

Paulina Market
3501 N. Lincoln Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
773-728-7243

Krakus Homemade Sausage
4772 North Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60630
773-736-3524

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

Despite living close, it took me until this weekend to get to Gene's. I was surprised by how much of a full grocery store it is, with an excellent dairy case (Kilgus and Traderspoint products prominently featured), decent produce, wine and lots of good pantry staples such as high-quality dried mushrooms. Add in some terrific, downright cheap house made ham, and Gene's is the kinda place every neighborhood should wish it had. I'm glad to have finally stopped in and I'll definitely be back.

Bonus: I had long ago written off Cafe Selmarie's pastries as mediocre, but on the trip to Gene's I also picked up a date-walnut scone from Selmarie. It was flat-out fantastic.

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...defended from strong temptations to social ambition by a still stronger taste for tripe and onions." Screwtape in The Screwtape Letters by CS Lewis

Fuckerberg on Food

Had not been to Gene's Belmont since Lincoln Ave opened and Belmont seems to have stepped up their game. Memory may be fuzzy but the store seemed cleaner, bigger, brighter with a wider selection of dry goods, liquor and produce. Same wide assortment of deli meats, sausage and prepared food, selection of fresh meat was appealing, in particular pork.

Picked up 3/4 inch pork t-bone chops, perfect on the grill after a short conference with rosemary/olive oil/lemon juice and zest/salt/pepper. Punchy dill cabbage slaw and beet salad rounded out my purchases, price highly reasonable and Gene's Belmont has its own parking lot.

Enjoy,
Gary

Gene's Sausage Shop & Delicatessen
5330 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60641
773-777-6322

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Sauce on the side, always, implied, axiomatic..........never a doubt, BBQ sauce without.

Low & Slow

Gene's on Lincoln recently opened a rooftop patio with food and drinks (I think it is open Thurs-Sun). We ate here for breakfast on Father's Day and had a really good time. The menu was small (like 3 breakfast sandwiches, a couple entrees and sides, beer, wine, mimosas) but everything we had was really enjoyable. My husband and I each had a breakfast sandwich - the bread had just been baked fresh when we ordered - and our toddler had potato pancakes with applesauce, which he loved. The space is really nice and we plan on returning. Would be fun with a group of people.

They had some interesting gelato flavors when we were there this weekend. The vanilla ginger went great with pie. This one (created with Gene's sausage), however, wasn't so tempting...

Went in for the first time last Wed. It was only a brief visit as I had a bored child in tow. Certainly the space is appealing and impressive. Reminded me of a stage set for some late 19th c. bourgeois Viennese comedy.
The help behind the meat counter was energetic, friendly, and seemed knowledgeable, though I can't say I tested them rigorously.
I picked up some breakfast sausage, Chicago brats., Hungarian brats., and a couple of pounds of skirt steak.
Noticing the very low prices on slabs of bacon (peppered, Danish, etc.) and salamis, I wondered what their provenance might be, but didn't have time to ask.
Was also surprised at signs proclaiming the beef to be "hormone free" and "grass fed" while not seeing any price tags over $9.99/lb. Perhaps the signs applied to very particular cuts and I just missed the prices on those. My skirt was $5.99/lb. I did it very plain: some cumin-coriander-salt-pepper rubbed on, then just grilled hot. Served up with homemade chimichurri (Gourmet's version.) It was delicious. Really tender.
I liked the breakfast sausage, which had a nice mild flavor, and was not over-black-peppered, as I find some to be.
The Chicago brat was a med. coarse grind and mild. Didn't make a major impression on me one way or the other. The Hungarian had a nice cayenne bite to it.
Also got a packaged chicken-pork liver pate. Very smooth and spreadable, but so mild as to barely make an impression. They also carry Schaller and Weber, which I have liked in the past, but not tasted in a very long time.
Overall, I was happy with the whole experience and eager to try some more.

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"Strange how potent cheap music is."

Stopped in here last Saturday while I was in Lincoln Square (I'm moving there on Jul 1, so getting a lay of the land). I have to say, the market section of this establishment is superb. Their selection of everything was pretty overwhelming, not to mention while perusing their candy section I found knoppers, one of my favorite german candies that I have not been able to find anywhere other than the internet where you have to buy an entire box. Also the people working there were all quite helpful and friendly. Color me impressed.

After buying a bunch of knoppers and perusing the various meats and cheeses available, I decided to head up to the rooftop patio to eat some of this business myself. Unfortunately, my enjoyment of the rooftop was a little bit lacking. First of all, people have complained that the line moves pretty slow, which I would have to agree with. I didn't have to wait too long, about 10 minutes, but there were also only about 3 people in front of me, so I was confused as to why it took as long as it did. I ordered a weissbrat and some German potato salad, then sat down in a stool beneath an umbrella and waited for them to call my number. When they did, I grabbed my food and got ready to chow down, however I was kind of annoyed that the roll they give you to eat with your sausage is not pre-sliced, you have to do it yourself. Normally, this would not be that big of a deal, but the only utensils available at this place are those eco-friendly knives that are made out of balsa wood or something, and they look like they'd have trouble slicing through hot butter. Then I realize that they didn't give me potato salad, but rather the cabbage salad, so I had to go up to explain and exchange, which again was annoying.

The food itself wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Perhaps I should have ordered something else, but honestly there wasn't much selection, only about 6 items, 2 of which are a brat and schnitzel, which seem to be wastefully ordinary to order from a place like this that specializes in specialty sausages/meats. I also did not get a beer for the same reason, the selection was pretty pedestrian. Add in the fact that the sausage + a piece of bread costs 6$ and the smallish serving of potato salad 3$, and I wasn't too happy with my visit. This is not an outrageous price, but when you see how much it costs to buy at the market downstairs, you realize you should just do it yourself. You're paying for the patio (which is quite nice) and the service (which I was disappointed with), so overall I didn't feel it was worth it.

I am certain I will frequent this market all the time once I'm in the neighborhood, but I don't think I'll be back to the patio.