Armitage Ave · Lincoln Park

Polish street food.
Totally spoko.

Zapiekanka fresh from the oven, smoked kielbasa, crispy schnitzel, potato pancakes and hand-spun shakes — the food of Polish street stands and milk bars, from the family behind Pierogi Kitchen and Wurst Behavior.

What We Make Order Online
Lineup of fresh zapiekanka open-face baguettes on wooden boards at Spoko, Lincoln Park Chicago
Zapiekanka fresh to order◆ Beer garden◆ Hand-spun shakes◆ Dine-in · Takeout · Delivery

Prosto z pieca — fresh from the oven

What we make.

Zapiekanka is the headliner — Poland's beloved open-face street baguette, toasted to order — backed by the classics of the Polish street stand.

Classic zapiekanka with mushrooms, melted cheese, green onions and ketchup at Spoko Chicago

Zapi · The classic

Original $12

The one every Polish street stand is judged by — mushrooms, onions, melted Swiss, green onions, ketchup. Vegetarian.

Zapiekanka with figs, prosciutto, blue cheese and arugula at Spoko Lincoln Park

Zapi · Gone uptown

Prosciutto $14

Mushrooms, melted Swiss, prosciutto, arugula, figs, Gorgonzola, truffle honey aioli.

Maczanka — Kraków-style pulled meat sandwich with house chips at Spoko

Kraków street legend

Maczanka $15+

Kraków-style pulled meat sandwich dipped in bone broth — pork or beef brisket, five ways.

Crispy breaded schnitzel with sautéed mushrooms, coleslaw and fries at Spoko

Klasyka · The cutlet

Kotlet Schabowy $22

Breaded pork loin fried crisp — fries and creamy cucumber salad.

Whole trout with grilled lemon, coleslaw and fries at Spoko Chicago

Z rusztu · Off the grill

Whole Trout $23

Fried whole with grilled lemon — fries and coleslaw. Lake-country eating.

Hand-spun milkshakes with whipped cream and cherries at Spoko Lincoln Park

Na słodko · Sweet

Shakes $6.49

Nine flavors from vanilla to tiramisu — add M&M's, Oreo or Reese's. Gofry waffles too.

W prasie — in the press

One of the city's best.

Named one of the best Polish restaurants in Chicago — "fresh, hot, crunchy" zapiekanka on "a fashionable Lincoln Park corner." As the reviewers put it: "Even Mary, who usually disdains zapiekanka, liked this one."

Chicago Sun-Times — Best Polish Restaurants Quest, 2025

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"The name 'Spoko' comes from the Polish word 'spokojnie,' which means 'calm or cool,' and that sums up this hip, new Polish restaurant" — with kiełbasa smoked out back and a rich żurek "made with soured rye flour."

Chicago Sun-Times

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"We are going back to our roots and showcasing our culture and our food scene in a big way" — a modern take on Polish street food, from the zapiekanka to the maczanka.

Eater Chicago

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"Kebab places are taking over street food in Poland… we're incorporating the current street food trends happening in Warsaw and bringing it here — with that local Chicago flavor."

Block Club Chicago

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"Spoko is a gift to the Lincoln Park neighborhood."

— Third Coast Review

SPOKO

Uliczne jedzenie — street food

The zapiekanka is Poland's original fast food.

Born in the 1970s at little private street stands — one of the few businesses allowed in communist Poland — the zapiekanka fed a whole country from windows and kiosks: half a baguette, mushrooms, cheese, run under the broiler until molten, finished with a stripe of ketchup and eaten standing up. After 1989 it became legend, from Kraków's Plac Nowy to every late-night corner in Warsaw. Spoko brings that tradition to a Lincoln Park corner — toasted to order, from the classic to versions the old kiosks never dreamed of.

Spoko is the third act from husband-and-wife restaurateurs Chef Artur Wnorowski and Gosia Pieniążek — after Pierogi Kitchen in Wicker Park (Chicago Reader's Best Polish Restaurant 2024, First Runner-Up) and Wurst Behavior in Irving Park. The idea came home with them from a summer trip to Warsaw, where kebab stands and zapiekanka windows have taken over the streets — and every zapi and maczanka here is built on bread from Chicago's own D'Amato's Bakery. Pierogi, sausage, and now the street food: the whole Polish table, spread across three neighborhoods.

1970s
Zapiekanka born
3
Polish restaurants
Daily
Fresh to order
Patio table at Spoko with zapiekanka, beet salad, Polish beer and a negroni, Lincoln Park Chicago

Co to jest zapiekanka? — what is zapiekanka?

Poland's street food, explained.

Ask anyone who grew up in Poland about zapiekanka and watch their face change. It's half a baguette, split lengthwise, piled with sautéed mushrooms and cheese, toasted open-face until the cheese bubbles, then striped with ketchup — simple, cheap, perfect. It emerged in the 1970s from the small private food stands that were among the few permitted businesses in the People's Republic, and after 1989 it became the national street food: the late-night line at Kraków's Plac Nowy, the kiosk by every train station, the taste of being seventeen with a few złoty in your pocket. Alongside pierogi and kielbasa, it completes the holy trinity of Polish comfort food — and it's the heart of the menu at Spoko.

Spoko — Polish slang for "cool, no worries" — is the third restaurant from Chef Artur Wnorowski and Gosia Pieniążek, the husband-and-wife team behind Pierogi Kitchen in Wicker Park (Chicago Reader's Best Polish Restaurant 2024, First Runner-Up) and Wurst Behavior, the sausage house and beer garden in Irving Park. Where those two tell the story of the Polish table and the Polish smokehouse, Spoko tells the story of the Polish street: zapiekanka toasted to order in classic and chef-driven versions, smoked kielbasa sandwiches, crispy schnitzel, potato pancakes with sour cream and apple sauce, beet salad — and thick hand-spun milkshakes, because street food should end sweet.

You'll find Spoko at 723 W Armitage Avenue in Lincoln Park, with a beer garden patio, Polish beers, cocktails, and ordering for takeout and delivery. If you're searching for Polish street food in Chicago, zapiekanka near you, a beer garden in Lincoln Park, or simply the newest chapter of one of the city's most interesting Polish restaurant families — this is it. Wpadnij — drop by. It'll be spoko.

Good to know

Frequently asked.

Everything you need before your visit.

Come hungry

Find us.

Location

723 W Armitage Ave
Chicago, IL 60614
Lincoln Park

Hours

Open daily
11am–9pm

Contact

312-526-3271
Order online
@spoko_chicago