In 1949, Paulina Market opened in a very different world. The United States had just won World War II, Chicago’s ethnic neighborhoods were extremely strong, and American culture was beginning to homogenize. Chicago’s urban fabric has changed drastically during the past seven decades, the culture has swung from left to right and back again (multiple times), and the homogeneity that was established in the 1950s is beginning to crumble.
Paulina Market is an ethnic market
Unusually, one area of the culture that has largely resisted diversification is food. Not food in the “fine dining,” “casual,” or even “fast casual” sense. These scenes long ago shook off their supper club and French brasserie roots and splintered into a million different camps, each with its own flavor. The food shopping experience has remained stagnant over the years. You can either shop at hyper-local markets, like farmers markets, or you can shop at hyper-generic chains, like grocery stores. Unfortunately, there isn’t much in between.
Paulina Market is the only exception
The first thing one sees upon entering the store is a wooden pig head that feeds counter tickets from its mouth, a church pew that can hold an overflow crowd, and the smell of dozens of different meats (smoked and raw). Truly, this is the work of a butcher. Originally a German deli – the distinction is crucial – on Chicago’s North Side, Paulina has maintained its roots while evolving with the times.
We will always strive to get the best product. Anything less than the best will be discarded. Bill Begale, the owner of the market, replied, “We send it back.”. Begale has been working for Paulina since 1984, except for a brief stint with a cheese business, and has owned the market since 2006 when he bought it from the sons of the founder, Sigmund Lekan. The property was also purchased by him in 2009.
Because this used to be a German neighborhood, this used to be a strictly German market. “However, I saw a German deli not too far from here go out of business because they wanted to stay strictly German. Asked about Paulina’s long-term success and sterling reputation, he cited consistency, “and always trying to keep up with the times.”
Consistency and being open to change seem to be contradictory concepts at first glance. Visiting Paulina Market, however, proves otherwise. Attention to detail is what makes Paulina so lauded, so popular, so well-known, and so respected, both for its products and for its customers.
Paulina is currently
Paulina currently offers a huge selection of meat, the core of its business, that can be bought fresh, frozen, or smoked. Almost all of their suppliers are Midwestern (though not exclusively), and the meat is mostly dressed in-house. Fresh meat includes almost every cut imaginable, Begale said, including Wagyu (newly added due to customer demand), tomahawk steaks, tenderloins, T-bones, eye of round, top sirloin, prime New York strip, skirt, flatiron, and oxtails, as well as multiple cuts of veal, lamb, and pork. There are also chickens, ducks, and turkeys available.
A wide range of smoked meats are available, including sausages and sausage “stix,” brats, jerky, links, and beef chips. There are a variety of frozen meats at the store, including ostrich patties, buffalo patties (rib eye or ground), rabbit, pheasant, elk patties, and wild boar patties. Until recently, Begale offered alligator burgers, but they aren’t available anymore. The store has a small beer and wine section, condiments section, and candy. Not much produce is available, but this is a butcher shop, not a grocery store.
There are several markets in Paulina
The Paulina Market is both a remnant of the past and a symbol of the future. It is important to know Chicago’s meatpacking history and how its rise and fall have shaped our industry today in order to understand where it came from, why it’s important now, and where it’s going. In 1865, the Union Stock Yards opened in Chicago, initiating a long and storied history of meatpacking in the city. In a 2017 article for Chicagoly, historian Richard Lindberg wrote about the Stock Yard’s origins: “In this growing city where manufacturing and transportation had transformed a sleepy frontier garrison (Fort Dearborn) into a new and emerging metropolis of the mid-continent, livestock and meat-packing had to be reined in and consolidated through the use of sound business principles.”
