A wide street lined with shops and buildings in Evanston. Photo: Eric Fredericks from Rancho Cordova, CA, United States / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0
A bagel shop on Dempster Street started serving produce from its owner’s own farm in the late summer of 2014. Bagel Art, at 615 Dempster St., began using tomatoes, arugula, cucumbers and chard grown by owner Nancy Depondt at a farm in Michigan.
Depondt bought the shop in 2004. She and her husband purchased the farm in 2010. The vegetables went onto bagel sandwiches and into the soups the shop makes from scratch. Depondt said she still filled gaps with farmers market produce when needed, and that lettuce from the farm was nearly finished for the season.
What was on the counter
The shop sold seeded bagels baked fresh, organic cream cheeses, and sandwiches made to order with sliced meats or nova lox. Coffee was Intelligentsia, with an organic French roast brewed daily. Cookies, scones, macaroons, banana bread and pound cake were baked in the shop.
Bagel Art also offered free wifi, a community bulletin board for local promotions and events, and a take-one, leave-one book shelf. Employees of nearby businesses and Northwestern Wildcard holders received a 10 percent discount.
The corner
The shop sits on the corner of Dempster and Sherman, near the Main-Dempster Mile shopping district, according to a 2019 Daily Northwestern review that described its bagels, egg sandwiches, salads, pastries and Intelligentsia coffee. A 2008 Chicagoist item had already named Depondt as the owner, when the shop was at a different address on Chicago Avenue.
Sources: Daily Northwestern, May 29, 2019; Chicagoist, Feb. 13, 2008.
Rachel Lindqvist covers community life, the lakefront, dining and the arts for The Evanston Edge.
