Stores & Markets in Naperville

Named Best Gourmet Market in 2011 by the Chicago Reader, Fox & Obel runs the gamut of culinary needs, bundling together gourmet catering services, bistro fare, a European-style café, and a full-service food store. Working with high-quality artisan ingredients, caterers offer snacks and entrees for pickup or delivery to an office party or hot-plate-enthusiasts' convention. The general catering menu includes portions of bacon-loaded quiche lorraine ($19 for up to 8 servings), dessert items such as the cookie-and-brownie combination platter ($36 for 8–12 servings), and trays of poached salmon anointed with cucumber dill crème fraîche ($18/filet).

Inspired by their own quest to find locally grown, organic food to serve their kids, Irv and Shelly decided to start their own network of independent farmers and deliver their produce to Chicagoans’ doorsteps. Drawing on their backgrounds in economic development and nonprofit environmental activities, the two connected with suppliers such as Jack Erisman of Goldmine Farms in Pana, Illinois—where beef has been raised USDA-certified and organic since 1993—and Harmony Valley in Viroqua, Wisconsin, where 30 years of experience is put to work cultivating high-quality vegetables and berries. As Irv and Shelly deliver the yield from their partners, they choose the most efficient route so as to reduce their carbon footprint. This means they can’t promise specific delivery times, but most orders arrive in the afternoon in boxes whose client-customized bounty is kept fresh by ice packs.

Each week, Brown Box Organics' staff updates its menu to showcase the freshest in-season fruits and vegetables. The crew works with local farmers to source certified organic produce from carrots to kiwis to avocados. They also supply artisanal breads and local, organic meats and dairy. All goods arrive at customers' doors via free delivery.

Farmer's Pride staffers stock shelves with a wide selection of brand-name, never-prepackaged, and locally made edibles. Sliced cheeses, juicy steaks, and Boar's Head meats escape the deli counter via shopping baskets, and a wall of organic apples and oranges guard stockpiles of fresh avocados, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes. During shopping trips, a café supplies stomachs with sandwiches and house-made soup to prevent hunger pangs from crying out for a cartload of malted milk balls.

Fed up with Schaumburg's lack of halal meat dealers, My Halal Meat's proprietors, Ayaz and Hanif, set about founding a store to meet the needs of their underserved community. After entering the shop, guests gaze through the glass display cases brimming with dioramas of scenes from Frasier and 100% halal-certified meat, from lamb chops and chuck shanks to ground goat and barbecued chicken.