The Gluten Free Blog

Freidman’s pastrami sandwich and sweet potato fries

Friends of GFB, Wendy and Paul, recently made their annual pilgrimage to the amazing city of New York and Wendy, being gluten intolerant, was kind enough to write some notes about the places she visited that were GF friendly.

Freidman’s Lunch

A great café inside the foodie Chelsea Market. Many items on the menu can be adapted to be gluten free. I had a yummy pastrami sandwich and sweet potato fries. The bread they use was much tastier than anything I’ve had in the UK.

They also do bagels for breakfast/brunch but only at the weekend. And they stock a bottled gluten free beer called Redbridge which was really good.

Very reasonably priced.

S’MAC (short for Sarita’s Macaroni & Cheese)

Great little place in the East Village serving only mac ‘n’ cheese – they position themselves as “New York’s best Macaroni & Cheese” on their website.

All dishes are ‘build your own’ where you choose your own cheese combinations and additional ingredients and can all be made with gluten free pasta. I had a ‘nosh’ size (the smallest size) though I wished I’d had the ‘major munch’ as it was so good! Only negative was that on their website they say they offer a vegan/non dairy cheese option but they didn’t have this on the day we visisted – (I shouldn’t really have dairy but did).

A filling and tasty cheap lunch.

Bar Breton, 250 5th Ave, New York

Bar Breton
UPDATE: Apparently closed now unfortunately
A smart but cosy French restaurant open for lunch and dinner on 5^th Avenue not far from the Empire State Building which specialises in traditional Brittany buckwheat galettes.

Absolutely delicious and they also have a dedicated gluten free fryer for their herb fries! We had a salmon galette with horseradish cream and also a Gruyère and Black Forest ham. Traditional Breton cider to drink served in a teacup!

Reasonably priced for the great quality.

Babycakes NYC, 248 Broome Street, New York

Babycakes NYC

Oh my God! Heaven on earth! Cute bakery on the Lower East Side selling the most delicious breads, cookies and cupcakes and all made with healthy ingredients. They don’t use eggs or dairy instead using healthy coconut oil and only use agave nectar, never sugar.

Almost all of their cakes are gluten free with the exception of a few which are made using spelt – though the cabinets are all clearly labeled and the staff always ask about intolerances when serving.

I had carrot cupcake and pumpkin bread (as it was Halloween) – really amazing and deliciously moist with the subtle taste of coconut. We need one of these in London!

Babycakes NYC cupcakes

I also bought the Babycakes book (Babycakes: Vegan, (Mostly) Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes from New York’s Most Talked-about Bakery) by founder Erin McKenna so will be testing out my baking skills over the coming weeks – I just need to source some of the ingredients online first which are not as easy to find in the UK – they have great online suppliers in the US.

Other places we ate were all very helpful by adapting dishes to exclude specific ingredients to ensure that they were gluten free.

It sounds like Wendy and Paul had a fantastic time in New York and we thank them for taking the time to send us their experiences.

Get yourselves over there to try out some of these places. It’s getting cheaper and cheaper for us in the UK to visit the States. And of course, let us know if you discover or know of any other great places in New York.

The nice people at Dietary Specials sent a gluten free starter pack to GFB towers this week. (Have you signed up for your starter pack yet? Do it now).

Inside were some DS Ciabatta white rolls (which were nearly as delicious as their brown rolls). Plus a packet of TruFree Digestive biscuits which I’m ashamed to say I practically finished off in one sitting. As a coeliac I’m used to eating gluten free delights. But how do they compare to the real thing? So, before I scoffed the entire packet, I let my gluten eating work colleagues try them out.

They described TruFree’s gluten free digestives as crispier and crunchier than normal digestives. Sort of chunkier, more like a cookie. Not as smooth as a normal digestive but that didn’t matter. And less sweet, which was nicer. And concluded these gluten free digestives would be perfect for cheese but not necessarily for dunking.

So there you have it. Market research. Sort of. If you’re a coeliac in a gluten eating family you could probably slip a packet of TruFree’s digestives into your biscuit tin and there probably wouldn’t be too much hullabaloo. Or you could hide them at the back of the cupboard and keep them for yourself.

TruFree gluetn free digestive biscuits are available in most UK supermarkets priced at approximately £1.80.

Gluten free ciabatta rolls from DS Gluten Free

At Gluten Free Towers we’re always getting sent new things to try.

Last week we received some gluten free ciabatta rolls from DS Gluten Free. DS is one of our fave brands: their products are all good quality, well priced and available in most UK supermarkets. Oh and don’t forget to visit the DS website and sign up for their gluten free starter pack.

Anyway, back to the ciabatta rolls. After five minutes in the oven – to give them that homemade freshly-baked vibe – we scoffed the lot with some Covent Garden Leek and Potato soup (yes, we still like soup – even in the summer). And, we have to say, they were very good indeed: moist, light and bouncy in the middle and with a nice nutty flavour. They’re a good size as well and perfect for packed lunches stuffed with a tasty filling.

Ciabatta brown rolls come in packs of four, cost around £2 and are available in all major UK supermarkets. Try them for yourself and let us know what you think.

You can read more about these gluten free ciabatta rolls on the DS website.

A packet of DS Gluten Free Brown Ciabatta Rolls

Marks & Spencer has got a new range of gluten free breads and cakes. It seems they’re not available in every store, but we hope that’s just a temporary glitch and we’ll see all these gluten free goodies in all branches of M&S soon.

I recently tried the Orange & Polenta Loaf Cake which is made with – as you may imagine – polenta, orange juice and sweet almonds. The cake was buttery and sweet without being sugary, although I did think it was a tiny bit dry. My Father, who is also a coeliac, disagreed and loved it.

The Orange & Polenta Loaf Cake costs £2.29. Give it a whirl and tell us what you think.

We’re a big fan of salads, here at Gluten Free Towers.

So when we were sent a couple of new gluten free salad dressings to try out, by the nice people over at Righteous, we couldn’t wait to crack them open.

There are three dressings in the range but only two are gluten free: Lemon and mustard seed and raspberry and sweet basil. All the dressings, however, are made with 100% natural ingredients and have none of the additives, preservatives, artificial colourings or gunk usually packed into salad dressings.

So what are they like? Well you can really taste the flavours. The lemon and mustard dressing is totally tangy and kicks like a mule, which means you only need about a teaspoon to brighten up your plate of salad. And that’s probably just as well because a 15ml serving (about 2 and a half teaspoons) is a fairly hefty 68 calories. But it’s all good fat. Because all the dressings are made with rapseed oil, which, according to the press release, is a well-known source of polyunsaturated and monosaturated fats, vitamins D and E, and can help lower cholesterol, improve the immune system and strengthen bones. 

The raspberry and sweet basil dressing is fruity, sweet and pretty in pink. Fruit dressings are not my favourite. But this one grew on me and was particularly nice with a goat cheese salad. And at 49 calories a serving it’s a bit lower than the lemon and mustard dressing.

Righteous was started by foodie Gem Misa in January 2010 after years spent trying to find tasty dressings. She began making them on her kitchen table and in just a few months had secured shelf space in some of London’s swankiest stores.   

 “We want to show people that salad dressings can be natural, healthy and taste great. We only use the best ingredients in our recipes, which means that the flavours really stand out. Unlike other salad dressings we never add water or starch to our products to bulk them out and dilute their flavour.” says Gem Misa. 

Righteous salad dressings are so right for the barbecue season. You can buy them from £2.69 a bottle from Harrods, Harvey Nichols, Selfridges, Whole Foods and Partridges.