Category: Restaurant

Gluten free Pasta Freska in Seattle, WA

Pasta Freska has great reviews in FindMeGF app, but I was skeptical since there’s no menu. But, the experience was as described: chef and waiter both talk to you about any dislikes, allergies, etc so you can be up front and say “Gluten free from celiac, and I won’t eat fish”. Tasty 5 course meal (in our case, 6) ensues. Note though – it took about 2.5 hours from start to finish, so plan accordingly to expect a leisurely dining.

First up: best GF bread we’ve ever had at a restaurant. Crumb pictured because I gobbled it.


Also: salad with goat cheese. Basic but fine.

Second surprise: some kind of egg-based lasagna dish? Like an appetizer or tapa, a few yummy bites.

The entree/third course: gf pasta with a meaty tomato sauce. Flavorful and some of the best gf pasta sauce I’ve had.


Fourth course: I had a small piece of chicke stuffed with goat cheese, pine nuts, spinach in a brown Marsala-like sauce. Scott had a different chicken dish with a creamy tomato sauce. Both good.


And then: I had two pieces of well seasoned tender steak. Nom. Scott got white fish that he thinks was good.

Bonus course: prawns in a tomato based sauce.

Dessert plate: gelato, flan, flourless chocolate chunks with a berry sauce.


Tl;dr New favorite date restaurant. Feels safe to eat at even when gf.

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Gluten free bakery 5b’s in Concrete, WA

HIDDEN GEM ALERT! this place is about ~45 minutes east of Mt. Vernon. Crazy to have such an amazing gluten free bakery tucked away out in the middle of nowhere. 

http://5bsbakery.com/

Favorites include:

  • Cinnamon roll or sticky bun
  • Sausage calzone
  • Chicken or beef pot pie
  • Apple caramel hand pie
  • Cinnamon sugar “duffin” (aka weirdly shaped donut hole)
  • Apple fritter
  • Every cookie they make

They also do breakfast and lunch, and everything we’ve ever had there is amazing. 

Pro tip: they’ve started delivering batches of baked goods to a few places around Anacortes/Mount Vernon/etc. 

Even better pro tip: at holiday time, you can put in an order for pies, 4 packs of cinnamon rolls, packs of regular bread rolls, stuffing cubes, or most of their breads, and they’ll deliver to those shops in Mt Vernon for you to pick up there. Win! 🙂

Gluten free at Cactus in Seattle, WA

Cactus is one of my favorite local GF spots – clearly marked GF menu, multiple yummy options.

Some favorites:

  • Blue enchiladas 
  • Steak fajitas (they do fresh made corn tortillas – yum)
  • Chicken tortilla soup 

Multiple locations in Seattle, too. 

http://www.cactusrestaurants.com/

Gluten free Chinese/Asian/European at Marco Polo Global Restaurant (Salem, Oregon)

Yum. So many amazing gf options! Our table had gf Kung pao beef, gf orange chicken, gf garlic shrimp, and gf teriyaki. All incredibly amazing – better than any gourmet Asian cuisine I’ve had in Seattle. Also tried gf pineapple orange cake – so light and amazing. (And someone from the table nearby leaned over and said the cake was why they come to Marco Polo, when we were asking the waitress which of the THREE gf cake options (also chocolate caramel and chocolate mint) she’d recommend).

GF Kung Pao Beef, GF garlic shrimp green beens, and GF orange chicken:


GF beef teriyaki:


GF pineapple orange cake:


marcopolosalem.com/glutenfree

Gluten free crepes in Salem, Oregon (Oregon Crepe Company)

Context: I usually avoid crepe places, because I’ve never had crepes and the level of effort required to do gf if they’re not marked as place that does gf already is likely not worth it..
This is not one of those places 🙂 menu clearly marked with all the gf options (gf crepes, toast, French toast, etc) and they have notes on menu about separate area and equipment for GF.

We had: gf Black Friday turkey crepe; gf breakfast crepe; and gf French toast.  I was pitching for third slice of French toast but completely gave it up in favor of more crepe!

GF French toast: 

GF Black Friday Turkey crepe:


GF Breakfast crepe with eggs, bacon, and goat cheese:


http://oregoncrepe.com/

Gluten free in Munich, Germany – Gasthof Obermaier

I had a hard time finding a lot of things in FindMeGF for Munich, or via Googling. Germany/Austria have good allergy labeling laws so most menus are marked, but it can be hard because sometimes the English menus don’t have it but the German ones do. Gashof Obermaier, though, was AWESOME – their website makes it clear they do GF and do it well, even for us English speakers :). It’s worth taking the train and walking to this place from whatever part of Munich you’re in.

gasthof-obermaier.de

Gluten free Picazzo’s Healthy Italian Kitchen (Phoenix, Arizona)

Picazzo’s has a ton of great gluten free options. They’re not 100% gluten free, but their menu is primarily GF and the options are so good even my non-GF husband was impressed. Amazing GF place with oodles of options – pasta, pizza, great entrees, salads, appetizers. It’s a chain, so check for other locations around the Phoenix/Tempe/etc area.

picazzos.com

Gluten free at the Grand Canyon – Plaza Bonita

I was expecting a hard time finding GF options at the Grand Canyon. I was not expecting to find an AWESOME mexican place that has wayyyy more than the usual taco/enchilada options! Plaza Bonita has their menu clearly marked with GF options, and lots of Mexican dishes I’ve never been able to try are GF. It’s in the Grand Canyon Village.

casabonitaaz.com

Gluten free Rise Bakery (Washington, D.C.)

This place is brand-new to me: a 100% gluten free bakery THAT HAS CROISSANTS.

I repeat: GLUTEN FREE CROISSANTS! Ham and cheese croissants..chocolate filled croissants…plain croissants…all gluten free. Plus they have eclairs, or cupcakes, or cake, or cookies, or breads, or bagels… worth schlepping across the country for, let alone getting across D.C. for.

riseglutenfree.com