Baltimore food institutions come and go and occasionally, like Polock Johnny’s, they even come back from the dead.

John Kafka began operating the brashly named Polish sausage business in the first half of the 20th century; Kafka was not actually Polish but Czech American, according to an obituary of his son.

The location: a penny arcade on The Block, long the city’s center for strip joints and adult movie houses. Over time, the spot became famous in the city for its “unburger,” loaded with a mysterious topping called “the works.” (More on that later.) Its annual hot dog eating contest was captured in National Geographic in 1975. By the time the original location shut down on The Block in 1986, there were 21 other spinoffs to choose from. Polock Johnny’s was a Baltimore staple.

Yet the business filed for bankruptcy in the 1990s, closing its last restaurant in the Baltimore area in 2013. The company, still co-owned by one of Kafka’s descendants, sold its branded sausages and signature sauce in local grocery stores and at its wholesale distribution center in Edgemere, but the stands and eateries were mostly gone.

Until Johnny Laing recently got involved. A lifelong hospitality worker, Laing met Warren Dawson, part owner of Polock Johnny’s, at the Muddy Beaver Bar in Sparrows Point, where Laing was then tending bar.

“Here comes Warren in a Polock Johnny’s shirt,” the bartender recalled. Laing, a self-described “Baltimore nostalgia fan,” asked him why the company had gotten out of the business. Dawson, he said, responded that people’s tastes had changed over the years. But Laing had planted the seed. Over the course of a year and a half, he agreed that they should go for it, adding a small restaurant to the front of the distribution center at 7216 North Point Road.

“Johnny had this idea, and I think it’s a good idea,” said Dawson, noting that in the past, customers have come in to the distribution center asking for ready-made sausages. “I think the market’s there, and we’re going to give it a run,” Dawson said. Profits have dropped during the pandemic as production costs have risen, said Dawson, and he’s hoping the new venture will help turn things around.

The business is set to open this Saturday with a party complete with a DJ spinning tunes and a “Johnny eating contest,” like the kind National Geographic captured in the 1970s. The winner, the story noticed back then, ate 21 “unburgers” over the course of an hour, chased down with four seltzers. This weekend, said Laing, “The winner gets a Polock Johnny’s Championship wrestling belt.”

“When people walk in, it’s going to be like going down memory lane,” Laing said of the eatery, which he is opening together with his son, James McKenney. Decor will include items from the earlier restaurants, like a slightly creepy, larger-than-life hot dog pouring mustard on itself.

A top attraction will be the signature sausage with the works, which Laing said will sell for $5.

The recipe for “the works” appears to have changed somewhere down the line. A 1986 article in The Baltimore Sun describes it as “onions, peppers and sometimes sauerkraut.” When I tried it atop a sausage that Laing handed me the week before the restaurant opened, it tasted primarily of ketchup and relish. It’s also sold in 16 ounce to-go containers. The ingredients list includes tomatoes, vinegar, corn syrup and cucumbers, but definitely no sauerkraut.

“The sauce is good for everything,” said employee Steve Kritil, sitting behind the counter. “Some women use it in crab pots.”

The ingredients for the sausages, too, have undergone a transformation. In the ‘80s, according to that Sun article, the dog was all beef. Now, it’s a mix of pork and beef.

What hasn’t changed is the name, which is a variation on the word “Polack,” a derogatory term for people from Poland. Laing says it’s meant as a celebration of the owners’ Eastern European heritage. Still, there have been some complaints through the years. One customer recently suggested they change the name to “Johnny’s Polish.” Laing passed.

“I’ve been here for 10 years almost. If anything people come in, and they’re proud,” Dawson said. The name is meant not as an ethnic slur but to mean a Polish man.

Or perhaps they could go with the “Polish Jonathan.” That’s the name local caterer Eric Smith gave to the Polish sausage he sells through his own business as a tribute to the long-running Baltimore restaurant. The item is also on the menu at Carroll & Son Fine Foods.

The Jonathan has “done really well” with customers, said owner Jon Carroll, whose restaurant is located in Hampden’s UNION Craft Brewing. “It’s been on the menu now for about three weeks and it’s going to be a constant item.”

Eric Markey got used to eating sausage with the works from Polock Johnny’s as a mid-shift snack back when he was a Baltimore police officer. After the last restaurant shut down, he thought he was out of luck. “For years I was trying to find it,” he said. Then, his nephew alerted him that you could buy them at the company’s warehouse. (There’s a hot dog stand in Ocean City called Polock Johnny’s, but it’s not affiliated with the parent company, Laing said. And Crazy John’s, which operates on the same seedy stretch of Baltimore Street that Polock Johnny’s called home for years, sells Polish sausages today).

On a recent Friday, Markey drove about 40 minutes from his home in Kingsville to pick up some sausages and sauce in Edgemere; his nephew stopped by a few minutes later. Both are looking forward to having a restaurant where they can buy them cooked to order.

Laing was happy to hear that Markey had come so far in the quest for sausage. He’s hoping for a similarly enthusiastic response from others in the area. He’s also a bit nervous. “I’m scared to death if I’m being honest with you.”

This article has been updated to reflect the origins of the "Polish Jonathan."

christina.tkacik@thebaltimorebanner.com