Tag Archives: pasta

Chuflay Restaurant at Splendido Mare

4 Sep

Minestrone di Verdure alla Genovese, al Basilico Chuflay Restaurant at Splendido Mare is located in the heart of the harbor of Portofino. We ate on their outside terrace which gave us the perfect vantage point for people watching. After placing our order, my brother and I received a gluten-free bread basket. It certainly didn’t hurt that the bread was served warm! I started with the Minestrone di Verdure alla Genovese, al Basilico. This Genoese vegetable soup was very good but it was also extremely filling as it was packed with beans and veggies. For my main dish, I had the area’s specialty, the (gluten-free) pasta with the traditional Genoese pesto.

Pasta with traditional Genoese pestoOut of all of the pastas I had in Italy with pesto, this one was my favorite. This was probably due to the fact that I could taste the plethora of cheese in the pesto!

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Ristorante San Marco 1957

3 Sep

Four Cheese PastaAfter our time in Iceland, we headed to Italy to warm up. One of the days, we chartered a boat for a half day to explore the coastline. We stopped in a little area called Sestri Levante where we ate at Ristorante San Marco 1957. After showing the waiter the gluten-free travel card, I ended up getting their four cheese GF pasta. This was very heavy. The noodles were such a good consistency though… something I found a lot of in Italy. I also had a mixed salad.

Mixed SaladItaly is a pretty amazing country for celiacs. This was the first of many spots that were fully aware of what “senza glutine” meant. I ended up having a carb fest the whole time there!

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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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S.Y. Kitchen

22 May

Tomato SaladLast night, we decided to head to Santa Ynez for a change in scenery. First, we stopped at one of my favorite boutiques, Ladybug, to check out their latest merchandise. Then we headed down the street to try the new restaurant in Santa Ynez, S.Y. Kitchen. I started with the special tomato salad which had tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and olives along with fresh goat cheese. The ingredients were very simple but it was very fresh and flavorful. For my main dish, I had gluten-free pasta with a duck ragu that had tomato, thyme and porcini mushrooms.

Duck Ragu PastaI usually avoid any and all dishes that have the word mushroom in the description. However, the people next to us were eating this dish and it looked amazing. The waiter assured me that they cook the gluten-free pasta in a separate pot and use a clean colander and utensils. This dish was so hearty that I found it difficult to finish. We also shared an order of the sauteed spinach.

Sauteed SpinachThe spinach was very good and was finished quite quickly. There was a gluten-free dessert on the menu that I was thinking about ordering. But the waiter didn’t come by for 25 minutes after dropping off the dessert menu, so by the time he did, I had decided against it. I really liked the feel of this restaurant. It had a rustic farmhouse vibe to it. I also love the drive along the 154, so I can definitely see us returning!

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Papa Lennon’s

30 Apr

Pasta PrimaveraAfter getting my hair done today in Ojai, I decided to get some lunch at Papa Lennon’s. They have gluten-free pizza available and even make their own crust. However, after asking some questions, I found that they use the same surface and utensils for the GF and regular crusts. They also have gluten-free pasta available. After confirming that the pasta would be cooked in a clean pot and with clean utensils, I ordered the Pasta Primavera. This had sauteed seasonal vegetables, freshly grated parmesan cheese and a pesto cream sauce. It was hearty and warm which was appreciated as it was quite overcast today.

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Tre Lune has GF Pizza!

3 Jan

Tre Lune PizzaThe whole family was in town for New Years to celebrate my brother’s birthday. One of the restaurants we visited was Tre Lune as it has always been a family favorite. As I was getting ready to order my usual order of GF pasta, the waiter let me know that they now serve a GF pizza! After asking all of the details (same oven, different surface, different utensils), we decided to get one for the table. I am so happy that we did. This is definitely my new favorite spot in town for GF pizza as the crust had a good consistency and the ingredients of the pizza were great too. For my main dish, I had the usual Spaghetti alle Lenticchie which had lentils, spinach and roasted tomatoes.

Spaghetti alle Lenticchie

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Park City Pizza Co.

23 Dec

Park City Pizza
One of most gluten-free friendly places we found in Utah was Park City Pizza. On their gluten-free menu, they have the following paragraph:

We feel for you, we really do… we know how hard it is to find yummy GF food! Our resident celiac and owner Jeff lives this way, our manager Alyssa has major gluten intolerance! We also know how scary it can be to eat out and not know whether or not you are being poisoned (a little dramatic but you get the picture). That is why we had our kitchen certified by the gluten free institute and our co-workers trained to do the very best we can to ensure your food won’t make you sick! We hope you enjoy (and tell all your wheat-free friends!)

I just love how aware the restaurants here are about cross contamination! We ordered a cheese pizza.

Cheese PizzaThis was a good basic cheese pizza. We also ordered the baked ziti since that used to be my go-to order back in the gluten eating days.

Baked ZitiIt was warm and gooey which was fantastic after a cold day of skiing. AND… it came with garlic bread!

Garlic Bread

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Montecito Wine Bistro

29 Oct

This evening, we decided to try Montecito Wine Bistro. I started with the Nova Scotia Mussels Arabiata. These had roasted garlic, chili flakes, tomato, pinot grigio and saffron. For my main dish, I was intrigued by the Gluten Free Brown Rice Spaghettini. Rather than order that though, I got the Red Quinoa, Sprouted Mung Bean and Stir Fried Organic Kale.

This had grape tomatoes, roasted corn, red onion and avocado with a cilantro lime vinaigrette. I really enjoyed this dish. It felt very healthy but was quite filling at the same time. I could barely finish the entire thing. We weren’t going to order dessert but then we saw the dessert menu which had the following item: Gluten-Free Brownie and Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae with McConnells Bistro Neapolitan Ice Cream.

This was an unexpected treat. My only complaint for this dessert was that the strawberry was overwhelming. I think it would have been much better without it! I asked where they got their GF brownies and cookies, and apparently they make them there.

On a totally unrelated note, I have lots of family and friends that are in the path of Sandy back East. I hope everyone is staying safe! It may have been 75 and sunny here in Santa Barbara today, but we were thinking of you!

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Riccardo Trattoria

6 Sep

The first night we were there, we dined at Riccardo Trattoria with my cousin and her soon-to-be husband. The brother of the owner used to own a restaurant in NYC that we always went to, so we were excited to try this place. I called ahead of time to let the know that I was coming and to ensure that they would have GF pasta on hand. We all shared a couple of dishes to start. The first was the Fava Beans with black truffles and Tuscan pecorino cheese. We then had the Eggplant and Zucchini Timbale au gratin Parmigiana.

After our waiter assured me that there were no breadcrumbs in the preparation of this dish, I dug in. I am such a sucker for dishes that are gooey and cheesy. I then had the arugula salad which was prepared with artichokes and shaved Parmesan.

This was simple and light with a lemon vinaigrette. For my main dish, I had their special pasta dish which had lobster meat in a spicy tomato based sauce.

The flavor on this dish was so wonderful. Our first dinner in Chicago was a success!

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Grano Emporio

27 Jun

In the wonderfully quirky neighborhood of Hampden, which is in the northwest area of Baltimore, there are two great options for GF pasta. Grano Emporio and Grano Pasta Bar are located just blocks from each other. If you are a party of two or less, I would recommend dining at the Pasta Bar which is a charming, casual option for dinner. For more than two people, head over to Grano Emporio which has a more extensive menu. This time, I started with caesar salad which is topped by GF plantains. I then had the Farfalle con Piselli e Pancetta with GF pasta.

This had peas, pancetta, caramelized onions and lots of flavor!

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