The older we become the busier we get — busy building our careers, busy taking care of children, busy trying to make every thing work.  Time for yourself slowly becomes a distant memory and all you ever hope and wish for is “more time in the day”.   All you want is to come home to a nice dinner and the only option of a restaurant around the corner has become bland.  Yet lack of time always seems to stand in the way – no time to organize a list, no time to run to the grocery store, no time to deal with lines and traffic.   

When Lior from Artizone approached me a few months back with an idea to launch an online artisan shopping community in Dallas I knew he was on to something BIG.  Though we live in a city with the most restaurants per capita than anywhere else in the United States, sometimes all we want is a home-cooked meal.  It’s the intimacy of being able to cook something in your own home, to work and experience your food firsthand, and being able to taste, pick and adjust the entire way through before serving your final culinary masterpiece to your family or friends. 

That’s where the beauty of Artizone comes in — they’ve searched far and wide for the TOP artisans that Dallas has to offer — VGs Butcher Shop for highest quality meats, Scardello for their vast gourmet cheese selection, FM1410 for the tastiest herbs and freshest produce, Flavors from Afar for the best Italian imports, JJ&B for gourmet jams, jellies and butter and of course last but not least, La Duni for the most decadent desserts.  If it’s one thing that I constantly reiterate time and time again when it comes to the keys of successful cooking is good quality ingredients, Artizone has not only found them but has launched a way to deliver the products from these top artisans all in one package to your doorstep. 

As celebration of the launch of Artizone, all the vendors came together in the back of Tom Spicer’s garden (from FM 1410) for a celebratory feast.  Pictured above is Tom’s beautiful salad and herb garden, a lot of products featured in Tom’s store is picked fresh from his garden and ends up on your table that morning or afternoon.  It was refreshing to finally taste vegetables and herbs that truly captured the essence of “fresh”  opposed to what you find at regular grocery stores, where the produce sold is at least 3-4 days old. 

Tom was the head chef for the night and boy did he have a spread!!  We had steaks, salmon, fresh salad greens, grilled chicken, fresh asparagus, freshly shelled beans, potato salad with sea beans — the list goes on forever, it was hard to take pictures of everything and not get hungry.  I think my favorite dish of the night had to be the salmon dusted with the fresh fennel pollen — I’ve never tasted anything like it but as a result I have now fallen in love with fennel pollen

It was exciting to see all the vendors gathered together, sharing their passion and stories that made them into the successful artisans they are today.  To truly be defined as an artisan, one must be highly skilled in a craft — it takes much practice, dedication, patience and most importantly, heart.  It’s heart that makes their products special, you can taste the love and attention that went in to each and every item.   We all deserve to be spoiled all the time every once in awhile, and these artisans will leave you feeling like a king (or queen!). 

Imagine, after a long hard day at work you come home to neatly wrapped boxes of goods from the top artisans in Dallas — vegetables, oils and vinegars, meats, jams, cheese and even dessert, top quality and always in perfect condition.  It’s literally an instant “pick me up”, a culinary high-five, a giant bear hug of all the best food you could imagine.  No need to deal with traffic or lines and finally being able to find that moment to have for yourself — to unwind and relax, open up a bottle of wine and cook a dinner that tastes better than most restaurants you’ve been to.  What honestly could be better? 

Artizone brings you the luxury of that convenience — what once was a mere dream has now become a glorious and fabulous reality.  Plan a dinner, a party, or even a wine and cheese pairing  a couple nights before and have the ingredients delivered either in the morning from 10-12 or in the afternoon from 6-8.  I’ve used the service for the past week as part of the trial run and I’ve been absolutely blown away by the organization, efficiency and of course the phenomenal quality of the products that I ordered. 

Pictured above is Tom Spicer from FM 1410 and Alex Zeltcer, CEO of Artizone toasting to new beginnings, success of the Artizone company and bringing a revolutionary concept to the city of Dallas. Artizone has brought together a strong team of artisans, the best in the city to help you achieve your culinary dreams and desires. In less than a few weeks, Artizone will open their doors to their first online shoppers and soon you will be able to experience the beauty of Artizone.  In the meantime sign up so you can be posted on new developments and most importantly, the grand opening of the site — www.artizone.com  You won’t want to miss it!

We ended the night with Tom playing a little Kalimbass, an instrument designed by Tom himself (is there anything this man can’t do?)  As we listened to the beautiful tones and rich melodies flowing through the Kalimbass I could feel the energy and the excitement surrounding the crowd — I think we all knew this was something that the people of Dallas would use and love. This was just the beginning to a truly wonderful story. 

 Artisan Quality.  Artizone Convenience.