At long last, Orange has its dog day.
After more than a year in the works, Jim’s Original, a Chicago hot-dog staple since 1939,opened in Orange on Saturday, June 13, following a soft opening Thursday.
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The new Tustin Street location was met with a line out the door, with food selling out shortly after opening. Third-generation co-owner Jim Christopoulos, whose grandfather, Jim Stefanovic, founded Jim’s Original 85 years ago, called opening day “chaotic, but good.”
For the first few days, Christopoulos said the restaurant will be open from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. He added that he hopes to shift to regular hours of 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. as soon as the Tustin Street spot gets its footing.
Jim’s restaurant in Orange pays homage to its hot dog history with a black and white wall display. It just opened a restaurant in Orange. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
While food sizzles on the grill, on Monday, June 15, 2026, workers hustle to feed the lunch rush at Jim’s, a Chicago hot dog institution, which just opened in Orange. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Sausages, sauteed onions, and pork chops sizzle on the grill at Jim’s, on Monday, June 15, 2026. The Chicago hot dog institution just opened its second Orange County restaurant in Orange. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Jim’s Original, a Chicago hot dog institution, opens its second restaurant in Orange. The lunch crowd packs the restaurant both inside and out on Monday, June 15, 2026. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Menu-wise, the dog that put Jim’s Original on the culinary map is the Maxwell Street Polish, a circa-1943 creation conceived by Stefanovic. The famous item (it even has its own Wikipedia page) features a grilled or fried Polish sausage topped with grilled/caramelized onions, yellow mustard and optional pickled sport peppers.
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Eater Chicago, writing about the famed frank in 2023, said that “the sweet-hot-garlicky-meaty mélange has earned generations of fans.” The Chicago Sun-Times, meanwhile, lauded it as one of “the classic foods synonymous with Chicago,”
Other menu items include a bone-in pork chop sandwich (recommend by the late Anthony Bourdain), cheeseburgers, Italian beef, a chicken sandwich, a fish sandwich and grape, orange, root beer and strawberry sodas.
Christopoulos chose Orange as the famed hot dog joint’s second location in order to remain closer to his Orange County home following the pandemic. “I thought, why don’t I look for a place near me? Somewhere I can get to easier and something that’s for myself?” he explained in a 2025 interview.
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Find it: 214 N. Tustin St., Orange,