First Look: Dose Market
By Roger Kamholz in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 6, 2011 4:20PM
The River East Art Center in Streeterville teemed with stylish young people on Sunday for the debut of Dose Market, a new monthly gathering of indie merchants offering up a host of chic, vintage, artisanal and otherwise cooler-than-thou products, all falling under the broad categories "Food + Fashion." According to the Dose website, the organizers "aim to bring you the city's best purveyors in one space, one Sunday a month."
Edibles included chocolates from truffle truffle, snow cones from Jo Snow Syrups, sliced meats from Old Town Social Charcuterie, tasty coffee from Crop to Cup, truffle oil and bourbon-barrel-matured maple syrup from BLiS, and lunch fare from X-Marx, the roving pop-up caterer/restaurant. Several vintage clothing, jewelry and furniture shops brought out their wares, while local florist and garden store Sprout Home offered up some organic decor. You could even snag a set of sweet speakers made from repurposed luggage by Gentleman's Boombox.
We overheard a few patrons politely questioning the $10 door fee ($8 discount tickets were available in advance). We couldn't help but sympathize; although a host of vendors - all talented, artistic and delicious, for sure - packed the main hall of the Art Center, the price seemed somewhat outsized given that the market was easily perused and consumed in a matter of minutes. Nonetheless, we're looking forward to future installments of the market; we had fun browsing the smartly curated mix of merch and want to see what else the founders will uncover. The next Dose is scheduled for July 10.
The Dose Market is located at the River East Art Center, 435 East Illinois Street.