Joseph’s Finest Meats founder with his sons Ben and Sal and the rest of the quality butchers at his old-school shop

Joseph’s Finest Meats: The Best Sausage in Chicagoland

By John Kass

Wednesday June 18, 2025

You know how to grill a great Italian sausage for summer?

Just show up at the Sicilian Summer Block Party on Sunday June 29, in the Dunning neighborhood at Adison & Nordica.

Right outside Joseph’s Finest Meats, at 7101 West Addison Street you’ll see a wonder. The grills will be fired up with glowing live coals, and the grill masters will be sweating in the sun. Only in America. And the people in the street will come to remember their past, and their family’s past, all of it bound up together with great food.

And there you’ll see Benedetto (Ben) Camarda and his brother Salvatore (Sal)outside the family butcher shop that offers the best Italian sausage I’ve ever had in my life.

You might even see the old geezer with the cane (me) and his Lovely Sicilian bride (Betty). They’ve been married for 39 years. Her family comes from Montemaggiore Belsito. She loves Joseph’s. She’s a serious cook and demands quality. She’s not about marketing gimmicks and spin. She doesn’t give a fig about sipping a Fivebucks coffee when she shops. When she’s shopping for our family, she’s all about the food.

And I think she’ll be there at the Sicilian Summer Block Party.

I grew up in a butcher shop on the Southwest Side, an old-school place with sawdust on the floor. It was there working with my father from a young age that I learned to appreciate the butcher’s craft. Grinding sausage in the cooler while outside in June, July and August the heat and humidity were stifling. And my brothers Pete and Nick working alongside, the family together.

Sal Camarda is a butcher’s son, too. He joined WGN radio’s Jeff Carlin and me as our guest on this week’s Chicago Way ™ podcast. We talked about the ways of the old-school butchers in Chicago. And I put the link so you may listen right here.

So why Josephs? I’ve been supporting them publicly on the podcast and written about them for years. Why?

Quality.

It’s selfish. Simply put, I love peppers and sausage the Sicilian way, and though there are thousands of meat markets and butcher shops in the Chicago area when we want sausage, we drive.

Many of you who’ve been reading me for years know that when it comes to food, I care about quality. I know what quality is, and I’m spending my money and so I demand it.

We drive north passing the shops of Northwest Indiana, and the decent meat markets of the Region and the Southland. We drive past all the butcher shops of the South Side and south suburbs.

And then past all the good butchers on the West side and western suburbs, and up near O’Hare we get off the tollway cursing Gov. Fat Boy for the construction hell on the Tri-State and head to the Northwest Side to the Dunning neighborhood.

Sometimes the drive takes us 1.5 hours. Sometimes two. We don’t care. We talk, listen to podcasts, maybe Frank Sinatra hits or the Music of the Baroque, and open the sunroof on a good day together.

She is a beauty, yes, and we’ve been blessed.

I love it when she wears those big Jacky O style sunglasses given to her by her future daughters-in-law. How many good days are left to us?

Who can say? We don’t want to waste any of them.

And I can’t abide wasting my time on tasteless sausage. So, we drive.

What’s in it? Good Heritage pork shoulder, and secret spices. Fennel, yes. But other spices too.

“We hear this a lot when people walk in, they’ll look at our counters and be like ‘wow, this looks way better than a grocery store (supermarket),” said Sal.

“And the reason why is because everything’s clean, everything’s natural. We don’t deal with food dyes, preservatives, fillers, or any of that stuff. You’ll never find an ounce of that anywhere near here because we do not believe in that, we’ve never believed in that.

“We cut to order. We’re one of the few places left that still deals with swing cattle, which is essentially, you know beef hanging on hooks in the cooler dry aging.”

I grew up that way. So did Sal and Ben. The meat delivery trucks and the half cattle swinging on hooks overhead and right into the meat cooler.

“Good luck finding a butcher in a grocery store, they don’t really exist that much. Most people don’t know how to break cattle, let alone pork or lamb or anything like that. So, we take a lot of pride in what we do and how we do it.”

If you enter Joseph’s Finest Meats, you’ll see a glimpse at the door of quality. You won’t find it at a supermarket, not even a fancy supermarket that’ll eat your whole paycheck. Quality is right there.

And because of the quality, I’m bringing Ben and Sal two “No Chumbolone Zone™ ball caps to wear when they’re grilling.

So, how do you grill that sausage?

First, don’t be a chumbolone.

On a two-zone fire. Use a dry chunk of cherry or apple wood. Put the sausage in the cold zone, then cover the lid.

Don’t put it directly over the heat, or the casings will split, and the sausage won’t be juicy.

Buon appetito!

And special thanks Joseph’s Finest Meats, sponsors of JohnKassNews.com and of the Chicago Way podcast.

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About the author: John Kass spent decades as a political writer and news columnist in Chicago working at a major metropolitan newspaper. He is co-host of The Chicago Way podcast. And he just loves his “No Chumbolone” hat, because johnkassnews.com is a “No Chumbolone” Zone where you can always get a cup of common sense.

Merchandise Now Available: If you’re looking for a gift for that hard-to-buy for special someone who has everything, just click on the link to the johnkassnews.com store.

Where else would you find a No Chumbolone™ cap or a Chicago Way™ coffee cup?

Because I know this about you: You’re not a Chumbolone.

Comments 25

    1. How could I not know about Josephs!? And it’s not far from me. I’ll be paying them a visit soon. Thanks for writing this. For some reason I don’t recall previous columns about Joseph’s.

  2. Pat, I mentioned my love of liverwurst on Father’s Day to my progenies, and they did not have a clue what I was talking about, they are truly a lost generation.

    1. I also love liverwurst. My dearest ones screwed up their faces, after being told about liverwurst. You’ve got to hunt in the big store to find it. Same with summer sausage. Well, this is Florida, where they put gravy on biscuits.

  3. Wander up to Rogers Park some time and visit Romanian Kosher Sausage Co. (but never on Saturday). 7200 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60626-2416. No pork, of course, but the last of the old-time Kosher butchers in Chicago.

    You won’t be disapointed.

  4. Well it’s never too early to think about a delicious Italian sausage. Or a good liverwurst for that matter (fried with eggs, oh my).

    One of the side blessings of growing up in Chicago has been my exposure to all the various and delicious ethnic foods I’ve over enjoyed in the melting pot I was born in.

    Thanks John.

  5. John,
    When grilling your sausage in the cold zone, do you leave your sausage still partially coiled, or are you pre-cutting to sandwich size prior to grilling? I personally always pre-cut, but I’ve never cold zone grilled them, only directly, but lower heat and constantly turning them as to not pop the casing. I consider myself a pretty good griller, but am always open to a different approach. Appreciate your work.
    Jeff

  6. John,
    Yesterday in your podcast you mentioned duck blood soup (Czarnina). On Saturday mornings, my parents would go shopping at the Jewel near Archer and Kedzie. I would go once in a while and sit in the tavern next door with my dad while mom was shopping. I would play a few games on the old bowling machine that had actual mini bowling balls, while dad got a little snockered. When mom was finished shopping, dad would go to the butcher shop near 45th and Kedzie and get fresh duck blood in containers similar to those used for Chinese take-out. I remember the sawdust on the floor and I believe they slaughtered the ducks in the back of the shop.
    Dad would spend that afternoon cooking that soup and the whole house reeked of that smell.
    I’m not a fussy eater, I tried it but I never could get past that smell.
    Just one of my childhood memories.

  8. My dear Kass,
    And also you correspondents, whose names are now familiar,

    Our youngest son brought me up here for Father’s Day and I’m on the Texas Eagle, back to “home” later today. It’s been a romantic, nostalgic and full six days. He and his wonderful bride wanted to show off their new home and I hadn’t seen them since their wedding two years ago (yesterday!). Erik knows his way around a grill and he smoked a pork shoulder Sunday. Stephanie’s family came out and an epic afternoon ensued.

    Our daughter squired me around the west side Monday. I was able to sneak into soon to close St. Catherine of Siena church, kneel in my family’s pew and regale the grandsons with stories of my “A&W boys” misadventures in the mid 60’s. Maguire Hall dances and parking lot “rumbles” and Father Riordan’s lightning fast Masses. I pointed out “stops” on my Tribune route from Madison to Lake. (John, I had 101 Tribunes and THREE SunTimes on that route) and when Kristen had heard enough she packed us “boys” in the car. Columbus Park, the Oak Park YMCA, the “mud hole” at Austin and Lake, Mr. Reback’s Rexall pharmacy, a nine year old kid delivering drugs on his bicycle, making time on the Congress Street Expressway under construction, only the big Palumbo equipment all the touchstones of a happy childhood…..

    All this self indulgent (and weepy! when did the waterworks become a response to emotional moments? I MUST be getting old?) blather of mine gets tied up now, as I prepare for Amtrak and return to my trophy wife, a pretty colleen from Trinity and my part time gig at Hirsch’s Specialty Meats in Plano, Texas. Ahhhh….. there IS a point to these scribbling and your wondrous column!

    I wear my No Chumbolone cap at work and it puzzles everyone who sees it. They’ll ask what happened to my Old Style cap and off I go on a Tribune/Kasso/Royko rant that amuses some and not others. Gary and Nancy Hirsch have brought their Detroit meat mark vibe to north Dallas for 32 years. It’s your kind of place, Kass, clean as a whistle, bright white and everything available cut to order. His Mother’s kielbasa recipe is available fresh and smoked and at Easter and Christmas he’ll offer extra garlic. It’s pretty good eating.

    Please let Ben and Sal know I’m representing with your hat as well. And thank you Kass for indulging me this ramble. And, as they say down there, “y’all”, treasure the lost Chicago of such a short time ago, neighborhood butchers and magnificent Churches, Rexall pharmacies and paper boys.

    Thanks for your columns and for this forum.

    Hansen
    (A&W Boys = Austin and Washington; the tough guys were Emmet School, Lotus and Harrison and, especially, Riis Park. Those guys broke radio antennae (!) off and used them as whips in the rumble; we were such innocents, such “chumps”!)

  9. Tasty column, the peppers perfect. Long ago I unwisely fled Chicago northward. Here, people believe sausage should be “bratwurst.” Worse, they cheer for a football outfit whose colors look like spoiled meat.

    Maybe I’ll brave the drive back to my old Irving Park Road neighborhood on the 29th, miserable 94 made bearable by “Summer Wind” and “Let’s Get Away From It All.” If I see a cane-sporting legend in the company of a Lovely Sicilian, I’ll introduce myself and tell Ben to put your Italians on my tab.

    Then I’ll hustle out of town before Brandon shows up and promotes a mostly peaceful riot.

  10. Guess what I’m having for dinner? Yes, you guessed it, sausage and peppers.
    John, thanks for a fun article.
    Tom, formerly of Old Town, right up the street from the Twin Anchors.

  11. Need to get their sausage…..nothing like the smell of a perfect Italian sausage on the grill in the summer.

    I used to go to Apple Market on Clark/Fullerton. He ages sides of prime beef and breaks them down. Last time I was in Chicago, I brought a suitcase full of frozen meat back to Las Vegas with me. My daughter lives near there, so I will be bringing an empty suitcase every time I go now. I am glad he is still in business.

    When I told him I was moving out here in 2020, he told me, “There is no good meat west of the Mississippi”.

    We don’t have many butchers here in Vegas. No fish markets either. There is a new craft one, Featherblade. Snout to tail and “know your farmer” type butcher. They do things right, and I had a wonderful tasting hot dog there the other day. Vegas doesn’t have good hot dogs or pizza either, no Italian beef. Featherblade breaks down whole animals. Their pork is pretty good, and the beef isn’t bad. They have an exile from Chicago who works there. His eyes lit up when I ordered some bone-in filet, which no one orders except people from Chicago-because we know bones mean flavor.

    As an experiment, I bought one of their bone-in ribeyes (Creekstone Farms) and cooked it side by side with the prime dry-aged bone-in rib-eye from Chicago. Dry brined, reverse seared, then seared on my extremely hot charcoal grill. Turned out perfect.

    The Creekstone steak would have been considered excellent, had the Chicago steak not been there.

  12. What about Paulina Market in Lakeview? I’ve been several times (as an out-of-towner) and have been happy with everything I’ve bought (and later eaten).

  14. D’Andreas in Berwyn at the Cermak Plaza had the Italian sausage that I grew up on. Too bad they closed. Freddie’s is good.

    Are non-Sicilians not married to a Sicilian welcome at this event? It’s a public event, right?

    I’m Northern Italian. 😎

  17. Noted on the steaks Dr. Rudd. Been looking for something on par with Peter Lugers. Wife and I will attend – she quickly acquiesced. Although it was a tough call, Joseph’s or the Pride Parade.

  19. I used to live by Barry/Sayre. Always went to Joseph’s Finest Meats. They are the best! Joe always knew us by name. Ben worked there part time as he was going to college. We asked if he was ever going to take over. He didn’t know back then. Last year we went to Chicago from our home in NC to stock up on foods. We visited Joseph’s & Ben remembered us by name. We even took a photo of him. When we moved to Grayslake we still came down to the city for meat. We used to go to Otto’s in Lincoln Square prior to Joseph’s but he retired. Butcher shops were dying but they are thriving now thanks to the younger generation discovering or remembering where their parents shopped for meat. Every neighborhood had a little Mom & Pop type store with a butcher. Ours was Royal Blue on the 4300 block of Kamerling in the 60’s/70’s. What great times. They made a decent living, God knows how. Continued success to Ben & his brother & the entire Camarda family

  20. How could I not know about Josephs!? And it’s not far from me. I’ll be paying them a visit soon. Thanks for writing this. For some reason I don’t recall previous columns about Joseph’s.

  21. Know it well John,growing up in the Shabbona Park neighborhood.Only place my grandmother would shop!
    They supplied whole pig for many July 4th roasts. Long live the Sausage!
    George Becker,Manistee Mi.

  22. Another good one John,
    “Sausage is Life”
    Thank you for sharing the Joseph’s Butcher Shop story. Making a road trip soon to get some. I will stock up for my return to Florida because you can’t get good Italian sausage in Florida.

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