Pizza, Cookies, MacarOns and Cheese Rolls

This past week was one of the best that I've had in terms of finding delicious gluten free food. It all began on Monday evening when my mother and I went to CVS and were greeted by the glowing "we have gluten free pizza" sign in front of Planet Pizza a few doors down. We hurried into the store, where my mother proceeded to ask the manager if it was really gluten free and then harass him about cross contamination. He assured her it was 100% safe and that we would not get sick. We took home two pizzas for dinner (they are small, four pieces per pie); one plain and one with vegetables. They were both delicious and did not crumble upon the lightest touch. 
Planet Pizza has eight locations in Fairfield County including: Westport, Darien, Greenwich, Norwalk, Ridgefield, Shelton, Stamford and White Plains, NY.
Do not be deceived by this somewhat dinky looking pizza joint... they have very tasty food.
http://www.planetpizza.com/100329-new-site/locations.html


Wednesday contained another pleasant surprise. I entered Stew Leonard's and was immediately met by the mouth-water-inducing smell of the bakery department. I was discouraged, like always, that I would never again taste one of these items that smelled so incredible. I tried to walk through the section quickly, avoiding eye contact with the delicious pastries and homemade bread, but I was stopped in my tracks when I saw a sign hanging from the ceiling that read, "gluten free cookies." They are chocolate pecan cookies and they are absolutely delicious. When checking out, the cash register rang up the cookies and commended me on my "good choice." I asked her if she was gluten free and she looked in a way that implied she had no idea what that was. I tasted the cookies and they were really wonderful. I'm not a fan of nuts, but they were completely scrumptious. 

Stew Leonard's Danbury, CT 99 Federal Road Danbury, CT 06811 (203) 790-8030	Stew Leonard's Newington, CT 3475 Berlin Turnpike Newington, CT 06111 (860)-760-8100
Stew Leonard's Norwalk, CT 100 Westport Avenue Norwalk, CT 06851 (203) 847-7214	Stew Leonard's Yonkers, NY 1 Stew Leonard Drive Yonkers, NY 10710 (914) 375-4700

Two other great things happened on Friday: MacarOns and Portuguese cheese rolls from Purple Elephant Cake


MacarOn Café has two locations; 485 7th Avenue on 36th Street, and 625 Madison Ave on 59th Street.
They have an extensive menu (http://macaroncafe.com/dailymenu) full of salads, sandwiches, breakfast options and... macarons. A macaron is somewhat of a sandwich, meringue on top and bottom, filled with delectably flavored almond paste and 100% GF. The flavors range from chocolate to vanilla, to nutella to passion fruit. While they are expensive ($2.25 each), they are more than worth it. They are truly the best dessert that I have ever tasted, even pre-celiac disease. 


Purple Elephant Cake is a "cake boutique" on Lexington Avenue between 82nd and 83rd Street. The majority of their items contain gluten, however, on friday they were advertising their Portuguese cheese rolls. They kind of tasted like Cheese-Its but in the form of a roll and were a real treat. 


I definitely recommend checking out any of these places and tasting their amazing GF treats!


- C

GF Edinburgh

I also apologize for not posting in a while. I was home, until about two weeks ago, when I traveled to Edinburgh to perform in the Fringe.

Sidenote: If anyone has the opportunity to perform in the Fringe or go to it, DO. It was amazing.

At any rate, I was on high alert for gluten-free food while there.

The UK is generally good about gluten free eating. Pret A Manger, a sort of high quality fast food place (it's honestly not that, but I'm having a mind blank on how to describe it at the moment), has been known to occasionally carry packaged gluten free sandwiches. On top of that, they always have the allergens listed clearly on the front of their label.

Other places in the UK are tolerant to a celiac diet as well, having random little sidenotes on the bottom of the menu saying things like: "Ask your server for a gluten-free menu!" or "Any of the above dishes can be made gluten-free."

Even if the menu isn't that helpful, often the server, or someone the server can call over, knows a lot about the diet and can help.

But back to Edinburgh.

Edinburgh is a beautiful city. It's metropolitan, with modern restaurants, tourist shops everywhere with kilts, and slick bars and pubs which often have base music pounding from within. But the thing that distinguishes it from most cities is that while it is modern, they have procured little slices of the older days. From tons of vantage points around the city, one can see the magnificent Edinburgh Castle. It's very odd seeing a huge, vibrant city, and then looking up and seeing a castle keeping watch over everything. Also, there are cathedrals, dungeons, and other historical monuments all over the city.

The food in Edinburgh was pricy. It's just how the city is. But while there, I managed to find cheap (relatively), edible food. Here are some of the gluten-free gems I found in Scotland.

I'm going to try to do these chronologically, by the times that I went first to each.

Vittoria (19 George IV Brdige, Edinburgh |0131 225 1740| www.vittoriarestaurant.com/onthebridge/)
Vittoria is a fairly simple Italian place that looks relatively small on the outside but has a quite large downstairs (and ground floor, for that matter). Great for either casual eating or fancy dinners. Most notable for having gluten-free penne pasta.

I got the Penne Funghi Crema, £8.50. It was very creamy, and delicious. Enough to fill a teenage boy's stomach. ★★★★✩

Pros:
-Fairly cheap, for the type and quality that it is (pastas ranged from about £8-£10)
-The pasta I had (Penne Funghi Crema, £8.50) was really good and fairly big
-The atmosphere was not loud, but loud enough to have fun
-Many of the waiters are actually Italian
-Convenient location (fairly close to the Royal Mile)
-Great ice cream :)

Cons:
-Waiters can be slightly stubborn, regarding substitutions, etc
-Meats and most non-pasta things, including appetizers, are expensive.

Auld Jock's Pie Shoppe (24 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh)
Auld Jock's Pie Shoppe is a chain, I believe, with various sized restaurants in Scotland. Some are only meat pies and drinks, while others have a moderately sized menu. The one I like was about 3 doors down from where I was staying. While they didn't have any special GF menu, or items, it was easy to find a meal.

I had the Scottish breakfast, without the haggis and black pudding (call me crazy, but that's not exactly what I like to wake up to). It was only £4.50, and was definitely filling, with beans, mushrooms, an egg, two sausages, bacon, and hash browns. I'm not sure how amazing the quality was, but it was really what I was looking for at the time. ★★★✩✩

Pros:
-Great service (I was friends with the waitress)
-Comfortable coffeeshop atmosphere
-Interesting drink selection, with ginger beers and partially fermented lemonade (non-alcoholic, of course)
-The best hash browns I've ever had (I'm pretty sure the waitress checked, and they were GF)
-Fast and cheap

Cons:
-Probably so-so quality meat and eggs
-Slightly grungy

Mamma's American Pizza (3O Grassmarket, Edinburgh | 0131 225 6464 | www.grassmarket.net/mammas.asp)
Mamma's was a pleasant surprise. We did a bus tour of Edinburgh, and as we drove through the Grass Market (where people used to be killed, now square with stores and restaurants), someone shouted, "Johnny! It says gluten-free pizza!" Later, I wandered back there, and 10 minutes later, I was eating a gluten-free pizza.

I got a 9" pizza with 4 toppings- you can choose out of about 15 toppings for your pizza. It was warm, tasty, and so easily customizable. There isn't a menu online as far as I know, but I think it was about £8-£9. ★★★★✩

Pros:
-Pizza was great. The crust tasted normal, and the toppings were good.
-Very friendly service
-Pizza was ready quickly
-Lots of available toppings

Cons:
-I got take out, so I don't know how the restaurant itself was.

Rocco (192a High Street, Edinburgh |0131 226 1241)
Rocco is an Italian restaurant right on the Royal Mile. We went there for our last meal in Edinburgh, and it was quite nice. We had a table for 22, which they easily accommodated. I definitely would recommend this for large parties. They also had gluten-free penne pasta.

I got the gluten-free Penne Bolognese. It was fine. I don't remember how many pounds it was, as I didn't pay, but I remember it wasn't too expensive, relative to Edinburgh. I'd give it 2 stars because while it was good, it wasn't anything special. ★★✩✩✩

Pros:
-Pasta was good, very basic
-Restaurant was spacious and nice
-Service was moderately fast, considering we were a party of 22

Cons:
-Not very many interesting, yummy sounding pasta options
-Service seemed slightly annoyed through the whole dinner
-Slightly on the expensive side

Hula (103-105 West Bow, Old Town, Edinburgh | 0131 220 1121)
Hula is a little restaurant on the way to the Grass Market from Chambers St. I went in a rush, to get a quick bite of breakfast before we went to the airport. It was good for a quick bite. I'm not sure how great it is of a sit-down place. I was very excited to see they had a few packaged gluten-free baked goods.

I got a chocolate-y fudgy type thing with some crunchy parts. It was good, considering that it was packaged and free of a lot of allergens. I also got a smoothie. It was fine, nothing special. ★★✩✩✩

Pros:
-Had something that was clearly labeled as gluten-free
-Variety of fruit smoothies
-Fast service
-Very nice people
-Open really early

Cons:
-Not many options for gluten-free beyond the smoothies and the little pastries
-Not wildly cheap

Anyhow, that was my trip to Edinburgh and the gluten-free-ness there. Thanks for reading!

-J

GF Yale/New Haven

Apologies to our eight faithful followers for our lack of posts this past month. We'll do our best to post more consistently from now on! I have spent the last five weeks at Yale University, where I was (obviously) constantly on the lookout for anything gluten free. I was pleasantly surprised with all that I found and can honestly say that I never felt deprived of anything!

Here is my informal "Gluten Free Guide To Yale/New Haven, CT"

Restaurants:

While there are many restaurants in the area that have gluten free options, I only dined at two, due to their close proximity to the university and recommendations that I had received from others:

Georgie's Diner (427 Elm St., West Haven, (203) 933-1000, georgies-diner.com) -- Classic diner style, with many gluten-free options, including, sandwiches on GF bread, chicken parmesan with GF bread crumb.. (http://www.georgies-diner.com/GLUTMENU.pdf)

Pros:

-It's an exit or two before Yale on 95

- The food was decent

- The service was fast and the people were nice

Cons:

- The bread tasted like cardboard.

Claire's Corner Copia (1000 Chapel Street, New Haven, (203) 563-3888) -- All organic and vegetarian restaurant with gluten-free, and vegan options. Their menu ranges from omelettes, to delicious salads and sandwiches, to pizza, to Mexican entrees such as quesadillas and burritos.

Before eating at Claire's about three weeks ago, I hadn't had a quesadilla for four years. Suffice to say, when I saw "gluten-free quesadilla" listed on their menu, I knew exactly what I wanted. I ordered the Roasted Organic Vegetable Quesadilla and it was truly everything I could've asked for. The tortilla was crispy and the vegetables were fresh and it actually felt real. I've since tried their salads (incredibly innovative and tasty concoctions such as the "Puebla Salad" (organic black beans, onions, mixed greens, corn kennels, organic bell peppers, chopped tomatoes, organic cucumbers, feta cheese, red onions and corn chips) and their desserts.

Yes, desserts.

Everyday they are sure to have their double chocolate or regular macaroons (extremely delicious, but slightly too sweet).

I've also been lucky enough to indulge in their GF Lithuanian Coffee Cake and their GF chocolate chip cookies.

http://www.clairescornercopia.com/20100714-CLAIRESmenu.pdf

Barnes and Noble/Starbucks/The Yale Bookstore (77 Broadway, New Haven, (203) 777-8440) I spent a large majority of my time at Yale inside this store. Not only is it a great place to study, and find books for a research paper or to read for a study break, there is a Starbucks too, to satisfy any caffeine desire. While these two stores, merged into one, is a fantastic creation, seen in many states across America, the Yale Bookstore has even more. There is also a clothing shop, full of Yale apparel, necessary at any college or university, there is a basement floor where they sell items such as blankets or fans or rain boots or pens, pencils and notebooks. But still, despite the large scope of necessities already listed, this store has more. Next to the Starbucks there is a small convenience store, carrying things such as medicine, soda, gum and snacks. I was delighted to find Larabars, Breakaway Snack Bars, Food Should Taste Good Chips and Glenny's Soy Crisps, among the other gluten free potato chips and snacks.

Whereas I would usually have to ignore the grumbling of my stomach while studying inside of a Barnes and Noble, it was really amazing to be able to stand up, walk over to the shelves full of food that I can actually eat and choose something. Having options is more liberating then one would think.

Blue State Coffee (276 York Street, New Haven, (203) 787-9929)

Another favorite study place of mine, Blue State had absolutely incredible coffee and an amazingly nice staff. They also, on occasion had GF brownies...

Durfee's Sweet Shoppe (200 Elm Street)

Located next to the Yale Women's Center, this little convenience store tons of gluten free items including Amy's frozen dinners, Gluten Free Café frozen dinners, Glutino pretzels, Enjoy Life cookies, and K-Toos sandwich cookies.

hope this is helpful for the next time anyone visits New Haven!

-C

ps. Chelsea Clinton had a GF wedding cake?!

http://www.examiner.com/x-33455-Boston-GlutenFree-Food-Examiner~y2010m7d31-Kelloggs-cereal-recall-now-includes-Corn-Flakes

Too Close For Comfort

I literally jumped for joy at the sight of gluten-free brownies at the Bread Garden Market in Iowa City. It is so rare to find something homemade and gluten-free somewhere that isn't a designated gluten-free restaurant or bakery. It was therefore so surprising and even more exciting to see these delicious looking brownies as I entered the market to purchase yet another dull salad.

At first glance, I shrieked, "look guys!" to my friends who did not appreciate the sight as I did. I stood in front of the counter, staring at this beautiful vision, deciding if I should buy one or two (save one for later of course).

While I stood, I realized that my elation had clouded my eyes. The gluten-free brownies were awfully close to the non gluten-free pastries...

I looked even closer and saw that there were crumbs on the brownies as well. Not dark brown crumbs, but beige, light-brown crumbs; a very similar color to the peanut butter cake or the Linzer Tart. Should I really have to worry that every time someone ordered one of the other pastries my little piece of heaven (I'm assuming that the brownies are delicious/I'm going for drama) would be poisoned? Is it really so hard to separate the gluten from the non-gluten?

Yes, the gesture was wonderful and I love feeling like I can go into a random market and eat a brownie, but the truth is, until the world understands cross-contamination like us Celiacs do, we're doomed.

-C

Umm, I'll Take the Peach

Yesterday for lunch, I headed back to the camp kitchen, and waited awkwardly (surprise!) for a few minutes.

Soon enough, one of the female chefs, a rather plump woman whose name I believe to be Gail, entered from a side door.

Gail and I are basically best friends. Ok, so I met her yesterday at breakfast, and we don't know anything about each other. But we will be best friends one day. At least, this is what I was thinking as she strode over to me. Then she spoke.

"So, what would you like?"

I was used to entering through the back to be greeted by a chef and a tray of cellophane wrapped (surprise!) food. An empty tray awaited me this time. Was she expecting to make something as I stood there and stared? I knew she had work to do, and this wasn't likely. I said something along the lines of "I don't know..."

There was a slight pause, before she said, "Well, do you want some fruit?"

I said, sure, and we headed for the fridge. There was a sad looking bowl of strawberries, a dish of watery melon, and a peach.

I did the reasonable thing, and said, "Umm, I'll take the peach, I guess."

She said, "Great!" and handed it to me.

There was another pause. She said, "Anything else?"

What was I going to say? Yes, some shrimp dumplings would be nice. Sure, I'd love a fried quail egg!

I just said, "No, I'm fine...thank you!"

She smiled innocently, and I left, tray empty except for a lone peach.

I ended up getting more tacos. Hoorah!

-J

Iowan Images

Every good gluten-free person is familiar with lugging a bottle of tamari soy sauce (pictured above, center) to every Asian restaurant they go to. We were happy to find this little market called Bread Garden in Iowa City, which is stocked unbelievably well with lots of gluten-free products, including homemade GF brownies. It's a must.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the Honey Rice or Multigrain Puffins cereal, which are the only gluten free ones. Don't be decieved.

This about sums up Iowa in a photo.

Won't find us eating here.

Iowa

Iowa. State of corn, white trash, and writing. Also, apparently, state of sketchy cafeteria food. Looking around the first time we walked into the dining hall, this is what we saw.

Breakfast: Waffles, pancakes, cereal dispensers, bagels, toast, and a helluva a lot of pastries.
Lunch: Pizza, pasta, sketchy could-be-mashed-potatoes-but-probably-are-thickened, thick soups, and sandwiches.
Dinner: All of the things listed in lunch, plus pan-fried Asian noodles, marinated meats, and an assortment of flaky desserts (titled "baked goods").

Fuck.

We were told by a very enthusiastic woman, about 6 feet tall with excited eyes, that we should go back, "behind the scenes," to the kitchen. The sights of giant mixers, huge soup pots, and similarly large chefs greeted us, as we stood awkwardly, waiting for someone to notice that we were waiting. Occasionally, someone would glance over, but then go back to cleaning dishes, or even pretend like they were doing something.

It's a bonding experience, actually, waiting for the same goal, while the occasional cook took a look at us. (how's that for assonance, right?) We waited until John, a down to earth guy with a grey mustache greeted us warmly, and gave us the trays we were wondering if we should take.

A rubbery chicken (which tasted like it looked), salad (which we'll get to later), and some bland microwaved vegetables grimaced at us from the plate. Yum.

We took our trays over to some other kids in the same program, whose plates were filled with pasta, pizza, and basically an arrangement of the above-mentioned dinner items (it's buffet-style).

People stared at our cellophane wrapped "food." We stared at theirs. For different reasons.

We learned soon enough that we could get by on the buffet that was out. The taco meat was gluten free, as were the shells, (for J, C doesn't eat red meat), the salad bar was fairly well stocked, and there was a few sad looking bananas lying in a bowl. So we could get by.

Apparently, though, the chefs are worried (understandably) about cross-contamination. We'd both eaten at buffets before, and weren't very worried. So we ate that.

The next day, the chef planned a salad for me. He said, "I'll be right back" and I watched him as he scurried over to the salad bar, threw some lettuce on a plate, and hurried back. He handed me the "salad" (lettuce, two tomatoes, three carrots and a slice of cucumber) and asked if I needed anything else. I lied and said that was fine. I wondered, however, why the chef was able to make a salad at the salad bar and magically avoid cross-contamination, but I, apparently, was unable to. Letting me get my own salad would allow me to feel like a normal student. It would prevent stares from fellow classmates and teachers as I made my way, behind the taco station, through the kitchen door.

I, on the other hand, was lucky enough to be born with an aversion to lettuce, and was presented with a Caprese salad (which deserves a post of its own...it will happen sometime. I promise.) My first odd experience was with tacos. One of the chefs asked me if I liked tacos. I said sure.

Living in LA, I eat a lot of good Mexican food. I was soon to learn that cafeteria tacos are nowhere near the legitimate, stir-fried samples of deliciousness I was used to. Not so. He gave me three hard taco shells (covered in cellophane), a bowl of monochromatic taco meat (also covered in cellophane), and a fork and knife (surprisingly not covered in cellophane). I thanked them a lot, and went out to put tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream on them (that is, the tacos, not the chefs, although THAT sounds like an interesting way to spend a day). Looking at the taco bar, I noticed that the meat and the shells looked exactly like the ones I had (though not covered in cellophane).

The next day, I inquired as to the meat. The man said, "Oh, yeah, the meat and shells are the same."

What? So I went through the buffets, through the door, into the kitchen, waited awkwardly for 5 minutes, and back out (OK, so it wasn't that long of a trip, but I'm going for drama here), all for nothing? I could've just eaten the tacos that were out, not looking like a weirdo?

So far, I have eaten 6 meals where the main dish was tacos. I'm ready to vomit. But I still eat. The joys of being a growing teenage boy.

Anyhow, be ready to hear more about Iowa and our adventures with celiac.

- C & J