Monthly Archives: January 2009

True Turkish Hospitality in Selçuk

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Before I went to Turkey, I was obsessed with the idea of seeing the ancient city of Ephesus. I’d read about it, seen photos, and heard other people’s stories, and even with all of that advance billing, the grandeur of its well-preserved (and well-restored) buildings and roads and columns and statues thrilled me. But I was surprised by how much there is to see in Selçuk — the modern city adjacent to Ephesus — as well.

Just off the road between Selçuk and Ephesus lie the remains of the Artemision, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, built in 550 B.C.; in the photograph above, you can see its lone standing column. Behind it is the Isabey Mosque, which dates from 1374, and the breathtakingly grand St. John’s Basilica, built by the Emperor Justinian in the 6th century (if it were restored, it would be the seventh-largest church in the world). Selçuk also contains the remains of a Roman aqueduct and an impressive museum filled with statues and friezes from Ephesus, among other attractions.

It also boasts some wonderful restaurants. Having been inadvertently glutened by the staff at my hotel on my first night in Selçuk, I was anxious about dining at local restaurants. When I went to Edjer Restaurant, I immediately showed my Turkish celiac card to the husband-and-wife team who run the restaurant and do all of the cooking themselves. They didn’t speak much English, but they were incredibly helpful. They showed me the batch of rice that they had just made, which already had orzo pasta added into it. “Cannot have,” they pointed out to me. The husband then left the restaurant while his wife started cooking. When he came back, he was holding a plate with a napkin over it — plain, safe rice, borrowed from another restaurant down the block.

The meal was simple — tender chicken kebabs served with a salad of spicy greens and onions, and of course, rice — but it was delicious. The restaurant is so small that I could watch everything being made, though there is plenty of outdoor seating, so if you visit in warmer weather, you can stake out a perch on one of Selçuk’s prime pedestrian thoroughfares. Edjer Restaurant reminded me that, while show-stopper attractions may bring you to a particular destination, some of the most memorable moments come from your own small discoveries.

Edjer Restaurant [address] Cengiz Topel Cad. 9, Selçuk, Turkey [tel] +90 232 892 32 96

Gluten-Free Tapas in Toronto

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Restaurant-reviewing sounds like a dream job, but it’s a tricky business. I got my start in reviewing eleven years ago, courtesy of Toronto Life magazine. When I began, I was just grateful to be offered the opportunity to be paid to eat. But the work was a lot more complicated than analyzing flavors on a plate. Spotting mistakes — the careless server, the cold entrée, the spilled wine — is child’s play. But it’s hard to gather enough information in one visit to tell whether a place is truly a gem. Most reviews are based on a single visit, and they may paint a picture that’s too bright or too dim, depending on the lighting that particular evening.

While I was in Toronto over Christmas, I went to a restaurant called Relish Bar & Grill twice. My first visit was with my friend Kathleen, who had sussed out the spot before my visit. Relish is a small restaurant with a long, skinny bar, and it’s well away from Toronto’s downtown core, but easily accessible by subway. The menu is Mediterranean tapas — small plates meant for sharing — and the list of both gluten-free and vegetarian choices was impressive. Kathleen doesn’t have celiac disease, but she ordered off the gluten-free menu so that we’d be able to share dishes in the true spirit of tapas. It was a fantastic spread: warm olives with fresh rosemary and red peppers, a salad of heirloom tomatoes and feta atop pickled red onions, a wild mushroom risotto drizzled with black truffle oil, and a blue corn tortilla stuffed with chicken.

I enjoyed the meal so much that I suggested the restaurant to a group of friends for another dinner before I left Toronto. This night at Relish was different from the first. My friends ordered from the regular, non-celiac menu, and I ended up spending dinner watching them eat. When I asked our server why none of my gluten-free dishes were coming out of the kitchen, she started to lecture me about how “tapas is about sharing.” After I explained why celiacs can’t share food that contains gluten, she finally went back to the kitchen and my dishes started to appear. The quality of the food was just as impressive as on my first visit, but the experience did leave something of a bad taste in my mouth. It seemed sad that a restaurant that went to such great lengths to create a celiac-safe menu had at least one staff member who was dimwitted enough not to know what celiac disease was (I’m still not certain what she thought the gluten-free menu was for).

I’d still heartily recommend Relish, but I’m glad I got to see it on a good night and on a not-so-good night. The restaurant has much to its credit, including a gluten-free chocolate polenta cake with caramel sauce that is heavenly. But if it’s at all possible, have the whole table order primarily from the gluten-free menu. And remember, even good restaurants have off days.

Relish Bar & Grill [address] 2152 Danforth Avenue (1 block east of Woodbine), Toronto, Ontario [tel] 416-425-4664 [web] www.relishbarandgrill.com

New York City Day by Day… for Celiacs

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Back in 2005, I wrote a New York City guidebook for Frommer’s Travel Guides. That slim little volume (it’s all of 192 pages, tiny compared to most guidebooks but a perfect fit for pockets or handbags), New York City Day by Day, was designed to be a cheat sheet to the best of the city. Not only does it highlight the best of the five boroughs, it maps them out for readers in a series of 22 self-guided tours.

As comparatively compact as it is, the book was the most labor-intensive of the 17 guidebooks I’ve written. That’s the reason I’ve been so pleased to see it take on new life recently as an eBook. Better yet — the eBook is available as a free download from different libraries around the United States. I am not sure if every one handles it the same way, but at the New York Public Library, you can download the book as a PDF and read it on both PCs and Macs. The NYPL download is for 21 days, the usual length of time you can borrow a book from the regular collection. Best of all, you don’t need to visit the library to get it — you can download it from the NYPL’s website so long as you have a valid library card. (If your public library offers eBook downloads, but doesn’t yet have New York City Day by Day, you can request it.)

One tough thing about writing the book was that the restaurant reviews had to be kept incredibly short — most are a mere two sentences — which didn’t allow for comments on their celiac-friendliness. As an addendum to the guidebook, I’d like to point out a few of my favorite New York City restaurants. These are all places where I’ve found great gluten-free dining, and I’m happy to report that they’re still in business four years after I did my original research for the book!

  • Blue Smoke: If you love rich, smoky barbecue flavors, you’ve found your heaven. This spot offers special gluten-free, nut-free, and vegetarian menus; [address] 116 East 27th Street, New York [tel] 212-447-7733 [web] www.bluesmoke.com
  • Eleven Madison Park: Elegant dining with farm-fresh ingredients and impeccable service; [address] 11 Madison Avenue, New York [tel] 212-889-0905 [web] www.elevenmadisonpark.com
  • Pure Food and Wine: This Irving Park raw-food restaurant is a vegan gem; here’s a full review; [address] 54 Irving Place, New York [tel] 212-477-1010 [web] www.purefoodandwine.com
  • Rice: Always a delicious spot for brunch; click here for the full review. [address] 2 locations in Manhattan, 2 in Brooklyn [web] www.riceny.com
  • Rosa Mexicano: Excellent Mexican cuisine, much of it naturally gluten free; [address] 3 locations in Manhattan [web] www.rosamexicano.info
  • Ruby Foo’s: It’s impossible for me not to think bordello when I walk into this restaurant — but I come back for its gluten-free menu; [address] 2 locations in Manhattan [web] www.brguestrestaurants.com
  • Tocqueville: This is a splurge spot, but for special occasions it would be hard to imagine anyone taking better care of a gluten-intolerant diner; [address] 1 East 15th Street [tel] 212-647-1515 [web] www.tocquevillerestaurant.com

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Facebook Update: I mentioned in my last post that I would be creating a Facebook group for the Gluten-Free Guidebook. The group is now up and running, and I invite every reader to join. I hope that it will be another helpful resource for you as you plan your travels, as well as a place where we can share information and advice via the messageboard. I look forward to seeing you there!