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Home / Businesses / Kimski

Kimski

Bridgeport · Korean-Polish Fusion Community-sourced, unverified
📍 960 W 31st St, Chicago, IL 60608

Kimski almost didn't happen — Won Kim turned down Mike and Ed Marszewski's offer to run a kitchen inside their Bridgeport bar five separate times before finally saying yes on the sixth, launching in 2016 as a Polish-Korean mashup that sounds like a joke until you taste it working.

The Cheesy Beef Sandwich (bulgogi, cheddar, blistered shishitos, gochujang mayo) and Maria's Standard sausage sandwich — Polish-Korean fusion from a chef who turned down the gig five times before finally taking it.

Kim's own path to the stove ran through his mother's kitchen as a teenager, a stint as a graffiti artist and DJ, and formal training at Le Cordon Bleu — which is where he met the Marszewski brothers in the first place, the same two who co-own Marz Community Brewing and the Maria's Packaged Goods & Community Bar that Kimski still operates out of today. The menu reads like Kim's whole resume at once: Maria's Standard (house sausage, soju mustard, krautchi, scallions), a Cheesy Beef Sandwich stacking bulgogi and cheddar under blistered shishitos and gochujang mayo, spicy rice cakes, Polish sausage with krautchi. It's walk-in only, counter service, 21-and-up in the back room where it shares space with Maria's full bar — and when the pandemic hit, Kim turned the place into a pay-what-you-can Community Canteen, kept his staff paid at $15 an hour through the winter, and covered the gap by selling his own art.

That work earned him a 2021 StarChefs Chicago Rising Stars Community Chef Award, and ten years in, Kimski marked its anniversary with a 12-hour block party pulling in chef friends from four cities. The Infatuation calls it a 'Great' 8.0 and a legitimate Cheap Eats pick. No happy hour confirmed for the kitchen itself — but the whole menu is already priced like one.

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Specials at Kimski

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Kimski

BridgeportCommunity

Hours

Wed-Sat5-10pm
Sun3-8pm
closed Mon-Tue (per ma.to and the Toast ordering page)
📅 Reservations not available 🥡 Takeout unconfirmed 📞 (773) 823-7336

Amenities & accessibility

🚶Walk-in only, no reservations
❔Takeout: unverified
❔Wheelchair access: unverified

Location

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