After 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.
Tag Archives: pizza
Papa Lennon’s
30 AprRed Brick Pizza
15 Feb
Happy day after Valentine’s Day! Yesterday, we headed down to Ventura to look into buying a piano. After receiving some sticker shock, it was time to fill our bellies. After doing some research online, we decided to stop at Red Brick Pizza. At this restaurant, a portion of every gluten-free pizza sold supports scholarships for children on gluten-free diets, celiac disease research, support and awareness programs. How cool is that? I was also comforted by all of the Celiac Disease Foundation literature that was present. We ordered the Roasted Garlic Chicken Pizza but had it without chicken, bacon or mushrooms. I found the crust of this pizza really good. It was a thin crust but it had tons of flavor and held up to all of the ingredients. We also split a Vegetarian Fhazani Sandwich.
I loved this sandwich as it was fire-baked yet still safe for me to eat! It almost seemed as if the bread was the same as the pizza dough. It was the perfect consistency and tasted great!
Tre Lune has GF Pizza!
3 Jan
The 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.
Park City Pizza Co.
23 Dec
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.
This 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.
It was warm and gooey which was fantastic after a cold day of skiing. AND… it came with garlic bread!
SOL Food Festival
29 Sep
Today was the Santa Barbara Sol Food Festival. The Sol Food Festival was a one day community created festival to raise awareness of the sustainable, organic, and local food systems of Santa Barbara County. I was especially excited since their “Garden of Eatin'” promised gluten-free items! The first thing I tried was the Organic Kale Salad from Soho’s stand. It had tomatoes, toasted seasame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and avocado. It was mighty good. Then I sauntered over to the Sol Food Kitchen stand which featured Fairview Gardens. They had a veggie jambalaya with brown rice and gluten-free cornbread crouton.
This dish was nice and hearty. How cool was it that the cornbread was GF?! Next. I walked by the Pizza Guru stand and couldn’t resist a slice of gluten-free pizza.
The featured pizza was “Ebby’s Homegrown”. It had roasted organic heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and bell peppers. They topped it with some fresh goat cheese and basil. This was good but it had been pre-made so it wasn’t as fresh as the first two items. I thought I was done eating, but then I walked by this appealing item.
Made-to-order Potato Chips in their own, dedicated fryer? Yes please! I also stopped by the Simply Pies stand where they had run out of their gluten-free miniature 3″ pielets. That was totally understandable as their pies are that fantastic! Don’t forget, you can sample their gluten-free offerings at our meeting on Wednesday (shameless plug)!
Lou Malnati’s
7 Sep
Get a good look at that deliciousness. When I hear “Chicago”, I think deep dish pizza. Then I remember that as a Celiac, it is unlikely that I will get a taste of that goodness. We visited Lou Malnati’s while in Chicago, and saw that they have a gluten-free option! Instead of a flour based crust, they use sausage! I really enjoyed the bulk of the pizza with the thin layer of sausage and then heaps of cheese and sauce. The edges were a little too much for me though with tons of sausage.
The Farmer and the Cook
22 Jul
Just about a 35 minute drive from Santa Barbara is a special spot called The Farmer and the Cook. This all organic, vegetarian cafe get most of their produce from their nearby farm. More importantly, on weekends, they have gluten-free pizza! I started with a special salad that had sweet corn, green beans, avocado, lettuce and a barbeque tomato vinaigrette. I then ordered the GF Mexican Pizza.
This pizza had caramelized onions, goat cheese, summer squash, red peppers, jalapenos and pesto. The crust of the pizza was predominantly garbanzo flour and had a really nice consistency. One of my fellow diners also got a gluten-free pizza.
This one was the Yukon Gold Potato and Rosemary Pizza. It had potatoes, parmesan, mozzarella, red pepper, caramelized onions, garlic and rosemary. All of the ingredients used were so fresh and full of flavor. There is a small market inside where you can purchase produce and packaged goods, many of which are gluten-free! Additionally there are baked goods including a GF peanut butter cookie that was calling my name.
The First Guest Post: Keste Pizza
9 JulNote: I have a very supportive group of people in my life that I am lucky to call “family”. It is impossible for me to try every GF friendly restaurant that I would like to, so sometimes it is nice to send my family to try these places on my behalf! So without further ado, the post below is from my wonderful father who loves trying new restaurants even more than me!
Tonight I fulfilled a promise I made to my daughter and went to Keste Pizza on Bleecker Street in New York City. This was a return trip for me and the object was to taste their Gluten Free Pizza. Keste has had many rave reviews for their pizza, including being called “one of America’s 10 Best Pizza Parlors” and the “Most authentic Pizza Pie in New York”. Since 2010 he has been building upon this reputation by adding Gluten Free pizzas to the menu.
We started the meal with the Rustica salad which is made with a spring mix, prosciutto di parma, artichokes, gaeta olives, lemon and extra virgin olive oil. It was the perfect light start to a wonderful meal. All of the salads seem to come with bread so you need to request that none is added to the plate. We ordered two pizzas so that we could taste the Gluten Free one against the regular pie. The menu has a special section for the Gluten Free pizzas (see picture) and we chose the Margherita, tomato sauce, homemade mozzarella, pecorino romano, basil and extra virgin olive oil. Keste Gluten Free pizzas are all made with Caputo gluten-free flour (a combination of rice starch, cornstarch, potato starch, soy flour, and sugar) and cooked in a specially designated electric oven.
The regular pizza had a wonderful charred look to it. The blistered dough managed to be light while maintaining a satisfying elasticity and chew. And the Gluten Free pizza? It appeared thinner but had that same wonderful charred look (see picture) as the original. When biting into the crust the taste profile was very similar to that of the original, although, perhaps a bit denser. But absolutely satisfying. The other ingredients just added to the overall experience.
Even if the Gluten Free pizza was all that was served here, I would return again for this tasty crust. This is the first one that gives the Gluten Free eater the opportunity to have a truly Neapolitan style Pizza. This is obviously the work of a master pizzaiolo.
True Food Kitchen
30 Jun
We went down to Santa Monica to do some furniture shopping for the day. After working up an appetite, we found a place called True Food Kitchen which is also known as my new favorite restaurant. I started with the Cucumber Refresher which was incredibly refreshing. I then had the gluten-free sundried tomato and corn pizza. It had poblanos, goat cheese and a kale pesto. This was unbelievably delicious. Every day since I had this pizza I have found myself daydreaming about it. It was that good. My husband ordered the mediterranean salad.
It had cucumber, olives, cherry tomatoes, quinoa, feta, marcona almonds and a lemon oregano vinaigrette. This was also really good.
gluten-free in sb 