The Celiathlete

More restaurants are beginning to take note of their customer base that has to eat gluten-free.  I knew that when I traveled to Chicago, finding restaurants that would have food that I could eat would be easier than it is around my hometown.  Thank goodness for major metro areas that understand these food allergies.  Even bigger kudos going out to the restaurants that put out gluten-free menus to help with the decision making process.

My friend Heather loves Yard House!  So, when we arrived at her place around dinner time, this was one of the options out there.  Before even leaving her apartment, she had pulled up the restaurant online.  Originally, she had wanted to take me there for their Gardein menu…but since having to go gluten-free, Gardein was out of the question.  Sadly enough, since it’s rarer still to find a restaurant that offers a whole section of vegetarian/vegan entrees!  I give major props to Yard House for that as well.

The gluten-sensitive menu was simple, basic, and gave direction on how to order the dish (minus the blue cheese, minus the candied walnuts, minus the flat bread.  When my friend asked for the special menu for me, the server was quick to retrieve it and explained that Yard House is not a gluten-free restaurant, but this menu was created for those with a gluten sensitivity (hey…that’s me!), and while they can’t guarantee there is no cross-contamination, they can say that the options in the menu are catering to those with a gluten sensitivity and that if I had any questions to go ahead and ask.  With that, he left us to look over the menu and make our decisions.

Heather went with a delicious looking Pepper Jack Burger.  My friend Cathy went with her normal…fish and chips.  Upon which Heather mentioned how fabulous the fries were at Yard House.  Glancing around, I could see they were my favorite kind…shoestring fries.  WIN!!  So, after glancing over the gluten-sensitive menu, I had an idea of what I wanted.  I ordered the Summer Salad (minus the candied walnuts) and asked for a side of the fries.  The waiter said that the fries might be a problem for me, but he would check with the chef.  Sure enough, he returned saying the fries were not considered gluten-free (which basically means, the fries share a frier with the breaded meats…therefore, they aren’t vegetarian either!) and made suggestions for other sides that I might prefer.  After pondering, I finally decided to have vegetables with my vegetables, and got a side of their Steamed Vegetables.  Not what I wanted, but I totally understood the precautions Yard House wanted to take to ensure a safe dining experience.  And I appreciated that.  To polish off my evening, I ordered a (gluten-free) Magners Cider to enjoy with my meal.

We carried on tons of conversation as we waited for food to arrive, and when it did, I could already tell it was going to be good.  I chose the Summer Salad because it had strawberries in it (I believe my exact words were, “It has strawberries in it…therefore it wins!”).  And I was disappointed with the initial look of the salad.  It was a good entree-size salad consisting of romaine lettuce, strawberries, avocado, oranges, leeks, and topped with a delicious spiced balsamic vinaigrette.  It looked amazing.  The steamed vegetables were just what they sounded like…a bowl of vegetables that had been steamed, consisting of the standards: broccoli, carrots, red peppers, corn, and celery.

I’ll start with the steamed vegetables.  The safe-side for my food sensitivity…but definitely not what I wanted that night.  It was your basic small side of vegetables, steamed to an al dente crisp.  They weren’t seasoned, which I actually appreciated, as many restaurants over-salt or over season their sides of steamed vegetables.  So, they were the way I eat them at home.  I guess that’s what didn’t thrill me…I could eat them at home.  But, they were good and a nice side for my veggie-loaded meal that night.

Now…the salad.  As I said before…strawberries always win.  I don’t know what it is about the combination of greens and strawberries, but it just WORKS for me.  Every time.  Which is why if a restaurant carries a salad with strawberries in it…I am going to end up ordering it…because it is always tangy and delicious.  Yard House was no exception to this rule.  The romaine was bright and crisp.  The vegetables were sliced to perfection.  The avocado…my newest obsession…was a nice addition.  Oranges and strawberries gave the salad a citric flair.  And it wasn’t heavily laden with the vinaigrette, as most restaurants tend to do.  It was a perfect drizzle of the dressing, which had a hint of a spice to it, which just set off all the flavors.  A perfect mishmash of ingredients and it ended up being the perfect salad.  Just what I needed that night.

I applaud Yard House in the steps they are taking, not only to incorporate food for vegetarians/vegans, but also for those with a gluten-sensitivity.  If more restaurants took this step, I’d have a lot more options out there.  Granted, I was restricted to a salad because I am also a vegetarian, but, damn…it was one of the most amazing salads I have feasted on.  I wouldn’t hesitate to return and order it again.  I hope to do that again soon because it was delicious and fresh.

Yard House’s menu is quite varied and really does have a little of something for everyone.  Including this gluten-sensitive vegetarian.  Now that’s a win in my book.

Sometimes…it’s hard to be on a gluten-free diet when you see everyone else around you diving into the pizza, pasta, bread.  Sooner or later, it’s all you want.  Unfortunately, where I live, gluten-free pizza is not something readily available.  Sure, I can duck out to the grocery store and pick up a frozen Amy’s pizza with the gluten-free crust…but, let’s face it…nothing beats a fresh pizza.  Frozen is good in a pinch, but fresh ingredients, fired in an oven, crust cooked to perfection…yeah…I’d been craving since I had to go gluten-free.

While planning a trip out of town to East Lansing, Michigan to see U2 in concert, I was busying myself with finding places to eat.  After all, I love my food.  And almost immediately, I discovered Guido’s Pizza.

I had been craving pizza.  Absolutely craving it.  So after I found the Website for Guido’s Gluten-Free Pizza, I knew this had to be where I ate before leaving the area.  And my roommate agreed…so we made our plans.  On our way out of town the day following the concert, we’d drop by for some gluten-free pizza and (yes!) gluten-free bread sticks to fortify ourselves for the long car trip back to Southern Indiana.

Holding true to our promise, as we left the hotel to head home, we detoured to Okemos, Michigan to indulge in some pizza.  Guido’s Pizza was kind of hidden away, but it’s one of those gems worth searching for.  As we entered the restaurant, I already felt the rush of excitement.  Finally…pizza!

We glanced over the menu and discussed the pizza we would like to try and how exactly to get it made.  Finally, we had our order prepared.  One order of Gluten-Free Garlic Bread Sticks, and upon the recommendation of our cashier, we paired that with the garlic cheese dip.  As for our pizza…we were on the fence over two of them, since I’m a vegetarian, but we finally decided to give the Gluten-Free Veggie Pizza a try.  The toppings on this one included mushrooms, onions, green peppers, tomato slices…and should have had black olives on it, but neither my friend nor I liked those, so we had them leave it off.  To top it off, we went with a non-dairy Daiya cheese.  Before I even had my credit card out to pay for the order, the owner and head chef, Steve, ducked out of the kitchen to clarify…no dairy cheese on the pizza…but the garlic cheese dip was dairy.  I explained that while I was lactose intolerant, I could take a lactase supplement.  He felt comfortable with that and I told him I appreciated his concern and thanked him for checking.

With our meal now paid for, we went to take a seat at one of the tables in the dining room.  It was just moments later that Steve emerged again from the kitchen.  He asked if we were from the area.  When we said we were visiting from out of town, he looked a bit disappointed, but there was this spark of excitement still.  It was then that he asked us to follow him over to the next room because he wanted to show us something.  We happily obliged.

As we stepped inside, I could see there was the beginning of something special going on.  And after he flipped on the lights and had us step beyond the counter and into the kitchen, I understood his excitement.  He was a week away from opening WOW (With Out Wheat), the nation’s first completely gluten-free deli.  And he was giving us the grand tour!  I was SO thrilled by this.  He explained what kind of sandwiches would be offered, all made with local products (meats included), on homemade gluten-free breads.  Steve showed me the grill these sandwiches would be made on, the frier that fries would be made in, the soup station, because soups can be tricky for people with a gluten-intolerance, but all of his would be safe.  He showed us the freezer, asking if we both had a gluten intolerance.  I said it was just me and he plucked out a chocolate cookie…made fresh by him…completely gluten-free.  I took a bite…and it melted.  IT MELTED!!  Moist, rich, delicious…words that normally don’t accompany the words “gluten-free” by any means.  But this was all of those things!

He pulled out a loaf of the bread that he was baking up for the deli and let me hold it.  It wasn’t dense.  It was light.  And it felt like bread.  It smelled like bread.  And it was the ACTUAL size of bread!  I love Udi’s bread as much as the next gluten-intolerant person, but it doesn’t make a very big sandwich!  This would be actual sandwich size!  I think I was beaming from ear-to-ear with all this information.  As we stepped away from the kitchen and back around the counter, he explained there would be a coffee bar set up, pointing to a counter, as well as breakfast items, like gluten-free pancakes, gluten-free bagels, gluten-free cinnamon rolls…and I said I was sad that I didn’t live in the area, because I would be in every day.

A completely certified gluten-free kitchen…in the nation’s first completely gluten-free kitchen!  He also said, once it opened, all the gluten-free pizza making would move to that side, but until then, he kept all of the items and cookware separate in the current shared kitchen at Guido’s.  As we settled back into our seats, he said he’d hurry back and make our garlic bread sticks now.

As we waited, all I could talk about to my roommate was how exciting the deli was…and how I couldn’t wait to taste the food that Steve made for us here.  I hoped it was good.  I hoped it was beyond anything regular bread sticks and pizza could have offered.

It wasn’t too long before Steve emerged with a platter of our Gluten-Free Garlic Bread Sticks with a side of the garlic cheese dip.  He set the plate down and disappeared for a moment with the scooper, only to return with a clean towel from the gluten-free deli, wiping it down very carefully right there so I could see him do it.  He explained that he took extra precautions when it came to anyone who ordered gluten-free…and in the three years he’d offered gluten-free items in his restaurant, no one had ever gotten sick from any sort of cross-contamination!  That’s a damn good record.

He went to go work on our pizza and my friend and I each dished ourselves up a slice of the bread.  She gave me the honor of the first bite, so I took the bread, dipped it carefully into the garlic cheese dip…and for the first time in six months, I tasted real Italian-style bread sticks.  I think my eyes rolled back in my head from the initial burst of flavor.  These bread sticks had been cooked with Parmesan, romano and extra virgin olive oil.  And they had so much flavor.  They were crisp and hot and fresh.  And the garlic butter…thank God for that cashier because she was right…the stuff should be a sin.  It was some of the best topping I ever dipped bread in.  And I’ve tried many a sauce and dip over my lifetime.  NOTHING compared to this.  And my friend agreed.  As our pizza was delivered, we saved the extra cheese dip for the crusts, and she announced to Steve that the garlic cheese dip was “stupid good!”  He took that as high praise and high-fived her.

The pizza he set down looked beyond fantastic.  Once again, he hurried off to retrieve a fresh towel and began to wipe down the plates and the silverware, individually, before he handed them to us.  With that, he said he hoped we enjoyed the meal and went to go see to the other orders from other patrons now coming in.

I dished each of us up our first slice of the Gluten-Free Veggie Pizza and took a deep breath.  This…needed to be good for me.  I’d waited this long to have a slice of pizza…I wanted it to be the epitome of every pizza I had ever tasted.  Was it?  It’s really hard to compare, but I will say this…Guido’s cooked up one hell of a gluten-free pizza.  The crust was amazing.  It tasted like pizza crust…it had a crunch like pizza crust.  It wasn’t too heavy.  And the toppings were fresh and done to perfection.  This was also the first time I had Daiya cheese on anything, and while it didn’t look like much on the pizza itself…it was amazing.  Tasted just like melted cheese on a pizza should taste…without actually being cheese!  Should gluten-free pizza ever make its way into restaurants around here, the bar has been set pretty high as to what it needs to equal.  Steve cooked up one hell of a delicious pizza.  Bursting with flavor, every bite was an experience.  And yes…the extra crusts were dipped into that garlic cheese dip.  None of the pizza nor the bread sticks nor the dip went to waste.  We stuffed ourselves silly…but it was the happiest I had been in a restaurant in a long time.

As we departed, I once again thanked Steve for everything…and now am searching for a reason to return to East Lansing so I can go back and check out the new deli.  In fact, Guido’s Pizza has been renamed.  The entire restaurant is called WOW (With Out Wheat), and I hope this is a concept that catches on throughout the nation.  What Steve is doing for the gluten-free community is groundbreaking.  I feel honored to not only have eaten his pizza, but to have gone behind the scenes of his visionary deli.  If I lived up that way, I would totally work there!

I felt completely safe dining there and didn’t even worry about cross-contamination.  Steve put any concerns to rest by wiping off plates and utensils in front of me, and explaining why he did that.  I would recommend his restaurant to anyone.  He has non-gluten-free stuff, but trust me…you’ll love the gluten-free stuff just as much.

This place is a diamond in the rough…a gem just waiting to be discovered.  I’m so glad I stopped in for lunch that day.  What I found was a competent restaurant owner and chef who took every step possible to make it a safe, satisfying, and fabulous dining experience.  I can’t stress my satisfaction enough.  Steve and Guido’s (now WOW) are both worthy of praise.  And the food…well…the food is amazing.  But you shouldn’t take my word for it.  Go try it yourself…

…with a side of the garlic cheese dip!

My friend Jenn always has new restaurant ideas up her sleeve when I come into town to visit.  Columbus, Ohio is a bustling city with many food choices.  And while it can be a bit difficult for me to find something to eat, there is always a go-to plate or salad on a menu somewhere that is safe.  Salad is always my fallback.

On my last trip into Columbus to see The Monkees in concert, my friends and I went out for a pre-concert meal at The Rusty Bucket in Bexley, Ohio.  It’s a tavern of sorts, and I knew that fish and chips would purchased by at least one of my friends.  After all…that’s her go-to meal.  After perusing the menu, I decided on their Veggie Burger, which is a crispy black bean burger, served with Provolone cheese, roasted red pepper relish, romaine, and a lemon basil aioli.  I ordered mine without the bun and the server asked if it was an allergy or a preference.  I told him it was an allergy and he nodded his head and wrote that down.  With our orders in, we set into discussing the excitement of the upcoming concert and then I excused myself to use the restroom.  While I was gone, our waiter apparently repaid a visit to the table and inquired as to what exactly my food allergies were.  My roommate was in our small group, so she took care of that explanation and upon my return, she informed me that she alerted the waiter that I had a gluten-intolerance.  Nice of this place to ask to be on the safe side.  No sooner had I retaken my seat, the waiter reappeared with a gluten-free menu and told me to choose another side item as he and the chef didn’t feel confident serving me the normal side of fries that come with the burgers.  This, to me, meant the potatoes share a frier with the breaded fish and chicken, and therefore rendered them a problem for anyone with a gluten allergy (let’s not go into the fact that this would also make them non-vegetarian!).  I was in the mood for a starch, and at the waiter’s suggestion, chose the mashers (mashed potatoes) instead.  I thanked him profusely for checking and for ensuring my safety when it came to my food allergy.  Bonus…I now know that the Rusty Bucket has a gluten-free menu should I return in the future.

Needless to say…I was impressed!

Food arrived shortly after and I was quite happy with the black bean burger at first glance.  It looked perfectly cooked with the Provolone cheese melted down over it.  The vegetables were tucked to the side for me to do with as I cared.  And the mashed potatoes looked whipped up perfectly…light and fluffy.  Just the way they should be.

I wasted no time digging into the meal.  Chopping up the vegetables, I spread them out on my plate and then cut up the veggie burger into bite-size pieces, adding them to the bed of veggies.  I dolloped a bit of the aoili (mayonnaise) onto the spread and took my first bite.  The burger had a slight spice to it, which I loved.  Black bean burgers totally need a kick of something to keep them from being bland, and this delivered that much needed punch to the flavor.  The outside was crisped to perfection with the inside the perfect soft consistency you want with a black bean burger.  Pairing it with the lettuce and peppers made the perfect conglomeration of flavors.  In other words…it was yum!

I sampled the mashed potatoes next and was so impressed with the texture of them, I had to share bites with my friends.  Light, and whipped to perfection.  You could tell they were made from real potatoes, without the heavy clumps (although I don’t mind those either!).  Lightly seasoned, the mashers at the Rusty Bucket are the perfect substitute for the fries, if you are in the mood for potatoes.  They aren’t overly salted, which I appreciated because I don’t salt my mashed potatoes at home and a lot of times restaurants overkill the salt on their sides of mashed potatoes.  But these were pure perfection.  A heavenly cloud of potato-bliss!

We polished off our plates and I made a point of once again thanking my waiter for double-checking on my food allergy before serving me something.  Not many restaurants would do that.  But since the Rusty Bucket has included a gluten-free menu into its line-up…well…no wonder they double-check on such things.  I admire that in any restaurant and I hope more take that into consideration in the near future.

Amazing dining experience at the Rusty Bucket.  The food was typical sports tavern fare, but done well.  The added bit of security for me made this trip worth it.  And I would be happy to return for another meal here anytime.