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)

S'MAC - New York's best 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
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.

Gluten free pasta is a staple of any coeliac sufferer’s diet. But what’s in gluten free pasta? And why do some taste like the real thing; while others taste like wallpaper paste?

Wheat free pasta is made from rice, corn, potato and vegetables. (Or more often than not a mix.)

Rice pastas
Orgran do a range of rice and rice/mix pastas including stoneground buckwheat and rice pasta; vegetable rice pasta; and a plain rice pasta. When you’re cooking, you need to keep an eye on the rice and rice/mix pastas otherwise they do have a tendency to go a bit gloopy. And they need a thorough rinse once they’re cooked.

Doves Farm do a number of rice based gluten free pastas that are organic and are really nutty and flavoursome. Favourites include their fusilli, penne and spaghetti.

Corn pastas
Corn (maize pastas) are quite neutral in taste and make a great base for spicy, tangy or creamy sauces. They’re often flavoured with spinach, peppers and sundried tomatoes as well. But, like rice pasta, corn pasta can fall apart quickly. So you need to ensure you don’t overcook it. One minute it looks fine and the next minute it’s a mushy paste in the bottom of your pan. Now personally, I think corn pasta gets a bit rubbery when it’s cool so it’s not great for salads.

Orgran do a number of corn only pastas which are pretty good.

Rice/corn mixes
The easiest gluten free pastas to cook – and the most versatile – are the corn and rice mix pastas. So it’s always worth having a couple of bags in the cupboard.

Doves Farm produces a delicious corn/rice penne, made in Italy. As does Dietary Specials, Orgran, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. Our favourite gluten free pasta though is the buckwheat, corn and rice spirals from Hale & Hearty. Perfect with a tomato sauce, oven roasted vegetables, olives and smoked mozzarella. Delicious!

Corn-based gluten free pasta

I’ve just been on a snowboarding trip to a small resort called Baqueira-Beret on the Spanish side of the Pyrenées. Luckily, being able to successfully manage a gluten free diet in Spain has become increasingly easy in recent years.

I was in Barcelona before I went to the mountains and there are a few restaurants that are pretty knowledgeable when it comes to coeliac disease. I discovered these thanks to an article by those CeliacChicks. This led me to the Celiac Society Catalunya Restaurant Guide which has a larger list, although the site itself is in Spanish (or Catalan).

When cooking at a friend’s house, I used some gluten free corn-based pasta that I picked up in a great little shop on Via Laietana called Veritas. Expensive at €4,35 (see photo) but very good none the less. And probably pricey because it’s actually an Italian brand! They also stocked Clearspring products, which I know from the UK.

Anyway, back to the mountains. The resort of Baqueira-Beret wasn’t so easy. The hotel was accommodating but eating out proved more difficult. So on my return I did a quick search on eating gluten free whilst skiing/snowboarding. I found an article by a guy in the US on his site Gluten Free Snowboarder. The site isn’t about gluten free snowboarding per se: he just happens to be a keen snowboarder who is also gluten intolerant! The crux of the article was that, although a few resorts in the US are starting to be more accommodating, it’s probably worth taking a packed lunch with you when you hit the slopes. Let’s hope the resorts in the US and in Europe catch up soon with the major cities.

So plenty to enjoy when eating in Spain even if you are slightly more on your own when in the mountains. Just make sure you take your Catalan or Spanish gluten free restaurant card from Celiac Travel with you!