Artizone Brings Chicago’s Best To Your Home

One of the hurdles with all of those visiting family and friends over the holidays is the traffic. Unless you want to really be aggressive, stopping by all of your favorite places can be daunting, to say the least. But yesterday, I had Bang Bang Pie biscuits and a slice of maple bourbon pecan pie straight from Logan Square, Lucila’s Homemade alfajores, two pounds of mussels from Dirk’s Fish from Lincoln Park, some artisan sausage from Big Fork, a couple of savory pies from Pleasant House Bakery in Bridgeport and a jar of strawberry-rhubarb preserves straight from La Fournette in Old Town. Total time? About 6 minutes online, via a relatively new shopping service called Artizone.

The service is essentially a Peapod for local artisans. You click what you’d like, fill out payment details, then choose a two-hour window for delivery. The choices are pretty impressive. From Deerfields Bakery on the North Shore, to Black Dog Gelato in the city; Jaafer Sweets in Albany Park, Stephanie Izard sauces and rubs, Great American Cheese…I counted a hundred vendors in all. There is a strange emphasis on sweets for some reason, but you could easily put together a meal from the proteins and fresh produce too. As I compared prices, there didn’t seem to be any upcharge either, at least at Bang Bang Pie. You’ll pay the same $5 per slice/$26 per pie or $15 for six biscuits as you would at the store. There’s a nominal delivery charge, but when you think about the time you’ll save driving/parking/paying for parking, it’s worth it. By the way, those six Bang Bang biscuits I bought arrived frozen, so they’re sitting in my freezer right now, just waiting for an excuse to pull them all out and bake them off.