Tag Archives: travel

Pappardella

23 Jun

We were going to meet a friend in Central Park after a race, so we headed to a place called Pappardella since I had read that they were gluten-free friendly. They had a GF menu with tons of exciting Italian offerings. I was still pretty full from lunch, so I took it a bit easy. The first thing I ordered was the Bruschetta with tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. I then ordered the GF garlic bread served with marinara.

This was amazing. Seriously. I am still not sure that it was GF because it was that good. My last dish was the carpaccio di manzo. This was all right. The entire time I was eating it, I was contemplating ordering a second portion of the garlic bread. This restaurant was a great find with GF pizza, pasta, panini and more on the menu!

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Risotteria

22 Jun

I have a tradition every time that I go to New York City. Once I take the train in from New Jersey, I head right to Risotteria for some gluten-free goodness. Located in the heart of the village, this is a special spot us GF folk. As you peruse the menu, you are served unbelievably wonderful GF breadsticks. This particular visit, I started with the caesar salad.

Any place that serves salad with crispy gluten-free croutons is all right by me! We then split two items. The first was the Mozzarella, Tomato and Pesto Panini.

This panini was amazing. The bread was perfectly crisp and the ingredients were simple, but flavorful. We also had the Mozzarella Pizzette with garlic.

Their crust is very thin and crispy. One of my favorite things about Risotteria is there is a little flag that perches in your GF food when it is served to you.

As a celiac, there is sometimes that moment when you get served something at a restaurant and you are not sure if it is truly GF or not. Being served your food with this flag takes away the fear that there might have been miscommunication between you, the server or the kitchen. You can stop worrying and start enjoying!

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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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Lunch at Houston’s

13 Jun

I have written about my love for Houston’s before. This time I ordered the branzino with the fries. As a reminder, for the fries, you need to have them hold the seasoning. You also need to order the ketchup for the fries without the seasoning.

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La Riviera Trattoria

10 Jun

We were back in New Jersey visiting family, so I took it upon myself to search for a new gluten-free restaurant to try. I read about La Riviera Trattoria and their GF menu online, so we decided to try it the first night we were there. We started with the stuffed artichoke with GF breadcrumbs.

I had never had a artichoke with bread crumbs (for obvious reasons), but I really enjoyed this. We also shared the fresh roasted peppers with mozzarella that were consumed too quickly for a photo opp. My husband ordered the GF gnocchi with a butter and sage sauce so that I could sample it.

This was incredibly rich and good. It is a good thing I don’t live closer to this restauant or else I could see myself eating this dish multiple times a week, and growing horizontally quite rapidly. I ordered chicken parmigiana for my main dish.

I can’t remember the last time that I was able to order this at a restaurant. It was always one of my favorite comfort foods growing up so it made me so happy to be able to have it again, bread crumbs and all. And… since I tend to overorder when given a GF menu, we also had an order of the GF penne with garlic and broccoli.

This was a lighter pasta that went well with my chicken parmigiana. I wasn’t going to get dessert but then I looked at the menu and there was a gluten-free brownie with vanilla ice cream demanding to be ordered.

Thank goodness I had my parents, grandparents and husband to help out with this since I had eaten way too much at this point. The brownie had a really good consistency and taste to it though. This restaurant was so overly accommodating thanks to the owner’s daughter having celiac. They take great pride in ensuring that there is no cross contamination in the preparation of the GF items. If you can even think about food at the end of your meal (which I personally couldn’t), they have pasta, bread crumbs and other assorted GF products available for puchase on your way out.

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Domenica

6 Apr

For our last night in New Orleans, we had an early dinner at Domenica before the game. We started with the roasted cauliflower which was served with whipped goat feta. This was fantastic. I would love to try to recreate this dish one day. We also shared the affettati misti which was a selection of meats, cheeses, olives and roasted vegetables.

For my main dish, I ordered the white truffle risotto with pancetta. I also added in some grilled shrimp for some extra protein.

This was very satisfying. It was the perfect warm dish to eat prior to heading out in the torrential rains to get to the Superdome. Domenica was a great place for food, ambiance and celebrity sightings!

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Coulis

5 Apr

Huevos Rancheros is one of my favorite breakfast items. So, when I saw it on the menu at Coulis in New Orleans, I couldn’t resist. Served with pepper jack cheese, corn tortillas, black beans, eggs over easy, creole sauce and sour cream this was the perfect way to start the day.

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