Tag Archives: new jersey

River Edge Pizza Kitchen

13 May

Chicken Parm HeroWe were back on the East Coast recently to see a pediatric allergist for our daughter. While there, we found an amazingly gluten-free friendly spot called River Edge Pizza Kitchen. The owner, Francine, has three celiac grandchildren so she has taken it upon herself to have safe Italian food for them to eat. I had the chicken parmigiana hero – something I haven’t had in 11 years. Eating it brought back so many great memories. I also had the cheesy garlic bread since it would have been wrong to not order gluten-free cheesy garlic bread.

Cheesy Garlic BreadI inhaled these during the short walk from the restaurant to our car. They did not disappoint. As good as this place was, it was a reminder that there isn’t a place in Santa Barbara for safe gluten-free comfort Italian food.

Speaking of reminders, GFSB will be meeting at Lilac this Sunday at noon! For more information or to RSVP, visit our Facebook page.

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A Mano Pizza

27 Aug

Fresca SaladWe have just gotten back from a family trip to Iceland and Italy. There will be plenty of posts coming your way soon. This first one was our meal prior to leaving from the East Coast. In Ridgewood, New Jersey, there is a pizzeria called A Mano Pizza where they fully understand cross contamination. They make their gluten-free pizzas in a separate oven and with separate utensils. I started with the Fresca salad which had baby arugula, shaved parmigiano, cherry tomatoes and balsamic. I then had a GF Margherita pizza with garlic.

Margherita Pizza with GarlicAll of the ingredients in the pizza were very fresh and flavorful. It was a great way to start our vacation!

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Tre Piani

19 Jun

Penne with Tomato SauceThis past weekend, I was in New Jersey for a family wedding. The night before the wedding, they had a dinner at Tre Piani in Princeton, New Jersey. Lucky for me (and my celiac brother), they had gluten-free pasta available. I ordered the GF penne with basil, garlic and mozzarella. Even luckier for me, I sat next to my brother so I could eat his dish which was tastier than mine.

Penne with Spinach and Goat CheeseHe had ordered the GF penne with spinach and goat cheese. This had a lot more flavor than my dish. It is always nice to have GF options when out of town!

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Brunch at Home

22 Mar

Bagel and LoxI was able to get away from work for a couple of days to squeeze in a quick trip to New Jersey to see my grandparents. There is nothing like hanging out at the house, playing 500 and feasting on bagels and lox. I used Joan’s bagels. They are a little tricky to bake, but the taste of them is worth it. We got our lox from Fairway Market where the guy there was able to slice it paper-thin. Later in the day, when we were ready for another snack, we made some corn dogs that we found at the market. Corn DogsThese were made by Applegate and were found in the frozen section. There is just something about eating food on a stick that makes it so much more fun.

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Thanksgiving 2012

28 Nov

I hope everyone had a great holiday full of family, friends and GF food! This year, I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my family in New Jersey. To start our meal, we munched on some shishito peppers. There was gluten-free cornbread and cheddar biscuits on the table as well.

One of the best things about being home for Thanksgiving is that my mom labels everything to ensure we know which items are gluten-free or vegetarian for those who have dietary needs. Each dish also had its own serving spoon as to avoid cross contamination.

There was really tasty gluten-free stuffing. My mom used Udi’s bread to make it.

The stuffing turned out great. I also was a huge fan of the brussel sprouts that we had. They were really simple, but really delicious.

The whole meal was a success.

Miraculously, I had enough room for some dessert which was a good thing. We had GF apple and pumpkin pie!

I had a lot to be thankful for this year…. including YOU! So thank you, for reading glutenfreeinsb, and for coming out to the Gluten-Free Santa Barbara meetups so that we may continue to grow this gluten-free community!

 

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P.F. Chang’s

27 Nov

Holy moly, where does time go? I just returned from the East coast where I spent the holiday with family in New Jersey and Baltimore. This means there will be some travel posts coming your way to make up for the inactivity over here! The night before Thanksgiving, we headed over to P.F. Chang’s for some Chinese food. This is one of my favorite chains because they offer a Gluten-Free menu, take several steps to ensure there is no cross-contamination and offer really tasty food! I have always found their staff very knowledgeable about the GF menu. You will also find that the GF menu items are served on a plate with their logo on it to ensure that it stays GF from the kitchen all the way to your table. I started with Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps.

These consisted of wok-seared minced chicken, mushrooms, green onions, and water chestnuts served over crispy rice sticks and served with crisp lettuce cups. Additionally, our waiter provided me with my own GF soy sauce to adjust to my own taste preferences (spicy!). For my main dish, I had the GF Beef á la Sichuan.

These flank steak strips were cooked until they were crispy and then were tossed with julienne celery and carrots. I loved this dish as it had a little kick to it. The table also shared a side of the gluten-free garlic snap peas.

At the end of the meal, I was stuffed. Perhaps it is a good thing that there is not a P.F. Chang’s closer to Santa Barbara than Thousand Oaks!

 

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Varka

21 Jun

On our last night in New Jersey, we ate at Varka a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant located in the town of Ramsey. Our table shared a Greek Tomato Salad which had tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, olives and feta. We also split the Green Salad. For my main dish, I had the Dover Sole.

This was incredibly fresh and tasted great. I made sure that they did not dust the fish with flour, which they didn’t. The fish was served with the vegetables of the day which on this day were green beans, tomatoes and onions.

We also ordered the Gigantes to share. They had a nice flavor to them and were finished quite quickly.

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Sicilian Sun

21 Jun

One of my favorite things to do while home is to order in from Sicilian Sun and play cards with my grandparents. I always start with the Tossed Salad which has a light and tasty vinaigrette. They also offer gluten-free pizza. This time, I had a cheese pizza with garlic that had a nice and crisp crust.

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Janice a bistro

20 Jun

One of my favorite places to go when I am in New Jersey is Janice a bistro in Ho-Ho-Kus. Fun fact: Ho-Ho-Kus is the only double hyphenated town in the country! Janice’s has always been incredibly gluten-free friendly with items on the menu clearly marked if they can be prepared GF. This visit, I had the grilled chicken sandwich with cheddar, avocado, bacon and chipotle mayo. I also got a side of their parmesan garlic fries since they are made in a dedicated fryer.

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Simply Vietnamese

13 Jun

While in New Jersey, we discovered a Vietnamese restaurant that was incredibly gluten-free friendly. Right on the menu of Simply Vietnamese in Tenafly, it had items starred that they were able to prepare GF! I had gluten-free vegetable dumplings which were really good. We then split two dishes, the spicy pad thai and the crispy tofu with vegetables.

The pad thai had a subtle heat to it and had a nice flavor. And then there was the crispy tofu…

There was the choice of putting it with a garlic or spicy sauce. Since I could not have the garlic sauce, the waiter offered to do it with a spicy curry sauce. This was SPICY, but in a good way. There was loads of flavor and I have a feeling I will be thinking about this dish for months to come.

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