Tag Archives: travel

Rafael in Lima, Peru

18 Aug

One of my favorite meals of our trip was at Rafael in Lima, Peru. The restaurant made me feel like I could have been in NYC. My brother and I shared a bunch of dishes while we were there. We started with the roasted vegetable stew with asparagus cream and basil pistou. This was perfect for the day as it had been overcast and rainy. Our second appetizer was the roasted beetroot carpaccio with goat cheese, almonds and organic sprouts.

This dish was nice and light. I just think that goat cheese makes any dish that much better. Our third appetizer was the Tuna Tataki.

This was prepared with Buffalo Mozzarella and Sicilian Pesto. When this first came out, each tuna was on a piece of bread, but our waiter quickly remedied that by making us a new one. It was then time for our main dishes. The first was the Grilled Angus Flank Steak with braised juices, parsley pesto, accordion potatoes and a smoky salad.

The meat was very tender and flavorful. The other entree we ordered was the Char-Grilled Yellow Fin Tuna.

This was served with roasted shrimps, Pistou emulsion, salad provence and potatoes. Everything was really wonderful here, including the Pisco Sour I had to go with the meal!

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Chicha in Cuzco, Peru

17 Aug

One of the nights we were in Cuzco, we walked through a couple of beautiful plazas to Chicha. My brother and I shared two starters. The first was the Chupe 5 Sabores which had quinoa, ulluco, squash, tofu and chinese bean sprouts with a spicy curry with had coconut milk and lemongrass. It had a really nice flavor to it and was plenty to share. We also had the Humitas Chicha which consisted of two tamales.

There was one yellow tamale and one green tamale, each served with a sauce. The green tamale had one with onions and peppers and some oil, and the yellow tamale had a sort of creole sauce. For our main dish, we shared the Kapchi casserole.

This was a generous potion of an already hearty dish. The casserole was made with fava beans, potatoes, andean cheese, milk, egg, rocoto pepper and fine herbs. It was served with some rice. I liked the dish but would have preferred it to have a bit more spice to it. For those that are dining with someone that can eat gluten, word at the table was that the bread they served was fantastic!

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Dinner at Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco, Peru

16 Aug

For one of our nights in Cuzco, we decided to stay at Hotel Monasterio and have dinner at their El Tupay restaurant. I am so glad that we did! As they served the regular bread, they gave my brother and I a slab of GF bread that was good. I started with the grilled shrimp.

This was served with a yellow chili salad, roasted pepper, quinoa and a citrus foam. It was nice and light. For my main, I had the creamy corn.

It was prepared with herbs, grilled veggies, sprouts and smoked oil. I loved this as corn is one of my favorite vegetables. It almost reminded me of mac and cheese in a strange way!

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Astrid y Gaston in Lima, Peru

14 Aug

Our first night in Lima, Peru, we had dinner at Astrid y Gaston. After presenting our GF Spanish travel cards, my brother (who also has Celiac) and I ordered two starters and two main dishes. The first starter we had was the trio of ceviches. My favorite was the one in the middle which had a little heat to it. We also had the “La Procesion de la Papa”, a selection of three native potatoes topped with meat and fish.

This was a hearty appetizer. For our main dishes, we ordered the duck and the tuna. The duck, or El pato en su garbanzal, was served with chickpea sticky rice and traditional radish salsa.

I loved this, but it was very rich. I would have a hard time eating the entire thing myself. The tuna was served with sweet potatoes and was fantastic.

There was a balsamic sauce that it came with that complimented it perfectly. I found our meal here to be very enjoyable!

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Lunch at Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco, Peru

14 Aug

I apologize for things being a bit quiet over here. I just returned from a family vacation to Peru and Turks & Caicos! This is the first of many posts on restaurants that were accommodating as we travelled the past couple of weeks! When we were in Cuzco, Peru, we stayed at the Hotel Monasterio, a former monastery and national monument dating from 1592! They had a beautiful courtyard that we had lunch in. I provided them some Spanish cards found online that I printed. These listed what I could and could not have. I started with the Creamy Andean Potato Soup.

They just had to omit the garlic chips that this dish typically came with. For my main, I had the grilled grouper.

This was served with a creamy quinoa with vegetables and a warm tomato vinaigrette. I loved this dish as it was light but incredibly flavorful.

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The First Guest Post: Keste Pizza

9 Jul

Note: 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.

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Flying Avocado

29 Jun

There aren’t too many places for GF sandwiches in Baltimore. That is okay though when you have a place like Flying Avocado to go to. I usually order the Roasted Turkey and Pesto sandwich. This comes with sliced turkey breast, pesto, roasted red peppers, goat cheese and field greens.

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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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Cinghiale

24 Jun

We lived in Baltimore City for three years and came to love the area. There are so many great options for GF dining there and it is just a city with a lot of personality. We had a great time visiting our old stomping grounds while taking in the Blue Angels flying over the area in celebration of “Sailabration“, an incredible event that the city put on to commemorate the Bicentennial of the War of 1812. After reminiscing and catching up with friends, we headed over to one of our favorite restaurants, Cinghiale. This spot offers GF pasta and the servers are always knowledgable about what is safe to eat. I ordered the gluten-free pasta with the Cinghiale Ragu. Even though I don’t have a picture of it, trust me when I say that it was wonderful.

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Tu-Lu’s Gluten Free Bakery

24 Jun

When I found out there was a gluten-free bakery just a 1.5 mile walk from where we were staying in New York, I knew that I had to go. Tu-Lu’s Bakery is located in the East Village and is now one of my permanent stops for anytime I return to the city. I tried one of the mini-cupcakes since it was just so darn cute.

A lot of times, frosting is kind of crusted over when I try cupcakes. However, this consistency was wonderful, tasting like it had just been prepared moments ago. I also ordered a cinnamon sugar donut for obvious reasons.

I don’t even think I ate donuts before I was diagnosed with Celiac, but if they all had tasted like this, I would have indulged much more often. The third item I ordered was my favorite… Coffee Cake.

This was unbelievably good. If only they could open a bakery in Santa Barbara so that I could eat this everyday. If you are in New York, I insist that you go to Tu-Lu’s. While you are at it, bring me back some coffee cake!

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