Welcome to Restaurant Fridays - my weekly review of the gluten free restaurant options in Boston and the surrounding areas.
Legal C Bar
I recently went down to Dedham, Mass to check out bride's maid dresses with my maid of honor and two of my bride's maids. After an uneventful visit to a local dress shop, we decided to get dinner at the Legal C Bar, (Legal Seafood's trendy sibling). I had heard that they had a gluten free menu and was all on board. The restaurant was fairly busy, but we were able to be seated right away. I asked about the gluten free menu and the hostess said she'd bring it right over.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Gluten Free Maine - Acadia Road Trip
Every year since we started dating, Mike and I have gone camping/ hiking in Acadia National Park in Maine. This year was our third year making the trip. Each year we get up early on a Thursday morning and drive up to the Kittery Trading Post, buy way too much stuff and grab some breakfast. This year we decided to try a local place.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Restaurant Fridays - XYZ Southwest Harbor, Maine
Welcome to Restaurant Fridays - my weekly review of the gluten free restaurant options in Boston and the surrounding areas.
XYZ Restaurant
This past week we were on our yearly trip to Acadia National Park for four days of hiking, camping and of course our new tradition of dinner at XYZ restaurant. If you read my article about Mexican Food in Maine from last year or you've listened to me rave about it, you've already heard about XYZ Restaurant. We stumbled upon this place last year while visiting Southwest Harbor/ Seawall for the first time. I had dumbly typed "nachos" into the yelp app on my phone and was very pleasantly surprised with an authentic Mexican Restaurant on a back road off of 102A.
XYZ Restaurant
This past week we were on our yearly trip to Acadia National Park for four days of hiking, camping and of course our new tradition of dinner at XYZ restaurant. If you read my article about Mexican Food in Maine from last year or you've listened to me rave about it, you've already heard about XYZ Restaurant. We stumbled upon this place last year while visiting Southwest Harbor/ Seawall for the first time. I had dumbly typed "nachos" into the yelp app on my phone and was very pleasantly surprised with an authentic Mexican Restaurant on a back road off of 102A.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
North Conway, NH - A GF hiker's delight!
It's that time of year again when my parents rent a little cottage in New Hampshire and spend their days hiking with the dogs and roasting marsh mallows over the fire pit. Last year, Mike and I decided to join them for one of the weekends they were there. Surprisingly, North Conway has a great selection of gluten free options.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Restaurant Fridays - Barlow's Restaurant
Welcome to Restaurant Fridays - my weekly review of the gluten free restaurant options in Boston and the surrounding areas.
Barlow's Restaurant
Barlow's restaurant is a fairly new restaurant on A Street in the Fort Point area of Boston. It opened up in December 2009 and has been steadily growing in popularity. It's situated next to the Channel Center, has nearby public parking and a great outdoor patio. Mike and I decided to try Barlow's for dinner because it's close by and seemed to have a nice bar.
Barlow's Restaurant
Barlow's restaurant is a fairly new restaurant on A Street in the Fort Point area of Boston. It opened up in December 2009 and has been steadily growing in popularity. It's situated next to the Channel Center, has nearby public parking and a great outdoor patio. Mike and I decided to try Barlow's for dinner because it's close by and seemed to have a nice bar.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Gluten Free Northern California
Better late than never... this is a continuation of this article.
After a week of conferencing in Vegas, I headed up to Concord, California to see a friend of mine from college , his fiancee and their one year old son.
I took a US Airways flight from Vegas to Phoenix and then from Phoenix to Oakland where I rented a car and drove up to Concord. The flights were pretty painless and they had Starbucks right next to the gate in Vegas so I got a soy latte and a huge bottle of water. I landed at about 3:30pm and made it to Concord around dinnertime Friday. We decided to try Guadalajara Grill for dinner. It was a huge painful disaster. We ordered take out and I got the Chilies Relleno and a taco combo. I've had Chilies Relleno before. It's a Chile stuffed with cheese and covered in more cheese. I ordered over the phone and asked the guy if the Chilies were deep fried, he said no. I asked if the corn tortillas were made of only corn. He haughtily answered 'no, what else would be in corn tortillas?!' I said that sometimes people put wheat flour in them, to which he responded 'there's no wheat in what you're getting'. I should have hung up the phone and tried another place, but it was late and I was tired and hungry. We finished placing the order and then went and picked it up. I opened up my container back at home to find the tip of a taco and a sea of cheese. The dinner supposedly had one chili relleno, one taco, beans and rice. All I saw was cheese and a taco screaming for help underneath. I preemptively dug around a little bit and found the rest of the food. After eating most of the chili relleno I found an unexpected texture in my mouth... mushy bread. There was a huge hand sized piece of bread under the chili.... hiding from me under all the cheese and sauce. Needless to say I was sick later that night... Moral of the story... Don't trust people that won't politely answer your food allergy questions.
After a week of conferencing in Vegas, I headed up to Concord, California to see a friend of mine from college , his fiancee and their one year old son.
I took a US Airways flight from Vegas to Phoenix and then from Phoenix to Oakland where I rented a car and drove up to Concord. The flights were pretty painless and they had Starbucks right next to the gate in Vegas so I got a soy latte and a huge bottle of water. I landed at about 3:30pm and made it to Concord around dinnertime Friday. We decided to try Guadalajara Grill for dinner. It was a huge painful disaster. We ordered take out and I got the Chilies Relleno and a taco combo. I've had Chilies Relleno before. It's a Chile stuffed with cheese and covered in more cheese. I ordered over the phone and asked the guy if the Chilies were deep fried, he said no. I asked if the corn tortillas were made of only corn. He haughtily answered 'no, what else would be in corn tortillas?!' I said that sometimes people put wheat flour in them, to which he responded 'there's no wheat in what you're getting'. I should have hung up the phone and tried another place, but it was late and I was tired and hungry. We finished placing the order and then went and picked it up. I opened up my container back at home to find the tip of a taco and a sea of cheese. The dinner supposedly had one chili relleno, one taco, beans and rice. All I saw was cheese and a taco screaming for help underneath. I preemptively dug around a little bit and found the rest of the food. After eating most of the chili relleno I found an unexpected texture in my mouth... mushy bread. There was a huge hand sized piece of bread under the chili.... hiding from me under all the cheese and sauce. Needless to say I was sick later that night... Moral of the story... Don't trust people that won't politely answer your food allergy questions.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Restaurant Fridays - Channel Cafe
Welcome to Restaurant Fridays - my weekly review of the gluten free restaurant options in Boston and the surrounding areas.
Channel Cafe
Channel Cafe is just across the channel bridge on Summer Street, which is about a five minute walk from South Station. I used to work across the street from Channel and would get my lunch there at least once a week. At the time the restaurant was under different ownership and sold the most delicious chick pea veggie burger that I've ever had, (I think it's still available during lunch). My office has since moved and I don't go to Channel Cafe as much. Recently I was looking for a place that was laid back, had good beer for Mike, Cider for me and dinner options that I could eat. We decided to try 'new' Channel for dinner.
Channel Cafe
Channel Cafe is just across the channel bridge on Summer Street, which is about a five minute walk from South Station. I used to work across the street from Channel and would get my lunch there at least once a week. At the time the restaurant was under different ownership and sold the most delicious chick pea veggie burger that I've ever had, (I think it's still available during lunch). My office has since moved and I don't go to Channel Cafe as much. Recently I was looking for a place that was laid back, had good beer for Mike, Cider for me and dinner options that I could eat. We decided to try 'new' Channel for dinner.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Gluten Free On a Budget
I'd like to start this post with a thank you to my high school classmate Tim. He inspired me to write this piece. Thank you Tim!
Friday, July 1, 2011
Restaurant Fridays - Beauty's Pizza
Welcome to Restaurant Fridays - my weekly review of the gluten free restaurant options in Boston and the surrounding areas.
Overall the pizza was pretty tasty, but the crust was fairly lack luster. I spent five years in upstate New York and am a serious pizza snob. The crust seems to be a generic gluten free crust that's used by multiple restaurants and pizza shops. I don't know who makes it or where it comes from, but I think it's just so - so. It's too thin, usually gets burnt around the ends and falls apart when you pick up a slice. Am I happy that I get to order a gluten free pizza when I go out? Heck yeah, but I still want a better crust.
A note on pizza shops and gluten free crusts:
When ordering gluten free from a pizza shop you need to remember that if they make their own gluten laden pizza dough on site, you run a fairly high risk of cross contamination, whether it be from contaminated toppings or even a contaminated crust. Where there's tons of wheat flour present it's hard to truly contain it. That's just my opinion.
This past friday, we decided to try a pizza shop as a lower cost option for gluten free dining. For a ten inch specialty pizza and a rootbeer, it cost me around 13 dollars, which isn't too bad. When ordering, I specified that I needed the gluten free crust and asked if the Pepperoni Deluxe was available gluten free, (it comes with pepperoni and ham... both of which could contain gluten). The man behind the counter assured me it was. Maybe 15 to twenty minutes the pizza shown below arrived at our table.
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| Beauty's Pepperoni Deluxe - Gluten Free |
A note on pizza shops and gluten free crusts:
When ordering gluten free from a pizza shop you need to remember that if they make their own gluten laden pizza dough on site, you run a fairly high risk of cross contamination, whether it be from contaminated toppings or even a contaminated crust. Where there's tons of wheat flour present it's hard to truly contain it. That's just my opinion.
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