Gluten-Free Guidebook

Until recently, I had never visited the Central Park Zoo. I’ve long been a fan of the Bronx Zoo — who doesn’t love its 265 acres of lions and gorillas, elephants and giraffes? — but the tiny zoo nestled into Central Park near East 64th Street had never interested me. How much could you fit into a tiny spot like that, anyway?

Plenty, I discovered, when visitors came to town and wanted to check it out. The Central Park Zoo — run by the Wildlife Conservation Society, just like the Bronx Zoo — is a tiny gem. It doesn’t have sprawling spaces for its residents, so it focuses mostly on smaller creatures: red pandas, snow monkeys, Falkland Island penguins, tamarins, and lemurs, to name a few. There are just a few large enclosures for bigger creatures, such as polar bears and snow leopards. And, of course, there are sea lions. You don’t even have to pay admission to see them. They’re visible from the pathway outside the park, and if you visit at 11:30am, 2pm, or 4pm, you can watch them being fed, a treat in itself.

It’s also a short walk from a wonderful restaurant I’ve discovered recently: L’Absinthe, on East 67th Street. The place is set like a dream of a Paris brasserie: pale walls and dark wood paneling set off by mounds of greenery, with an old-fashioned long bar, antique-looking mirrors, and framed posters from the turn of the last century. The style of service could be from the last century, too: it’s thoughtful, patient, and charming. But when it comes to celiac disease, L’Absinthe is entirely modern. When I told my server that I’d need advice about what to order since I have celiac disease, he amazed me.

“Gluten,” he said, “is insidious. It’s in so many things.” He went on to list several ingredients that could contain gluten, including Worcestershire sauce. I was overjoyed. How often do you find that level of awareness?

Thanks to some great guidance from the server and the kitchen, I tried a salmon tartare appetizer and duck confit main dish. Both were delicious — true bistro classics that were done just right. Still, what impressed me most was the service. That, and the fact that afterwards I was just a short stroll away from a visit with the sea lions.

L’Absinthe [address] 227 East 67th Street, New York, NY 10065 [tel] 212-794-4950 [web] www.labsinthe.com

I know that most people come to the Gluten-Free Guidebook for restaurant and travel information, but I have some other news to share. Late this summer, my agent sold my first novel to an editor at Forge, a division of St. Martin’s Press. My debut crime novel, The Damage Done, will be published in October 2010, and it’s the first offering in a two-book deal. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this news. I’ve been writing crime fiction for publications such as Thuglit, Beat to a Pulp, Crimespree, and The Rose & Thorn for the past few years, and a couple of my short stories have been picked up by anthologies, but publishing a novel is pretty much the dream I’ve had for most of my life. (If you’d like to read a bit more about The Damage Done, I discuss it in an interview with David Cranmer, the editor of Beat to a Pulp.)

My new editor really impressed me in our first e-mail exchange. He’d visited the Gluten-Free Guidebook, and came up with a celiac-friendly list of possible places for our celebratory lunch. We ended up at Tamarind, an elegant Indian restaurant that’s a short walk from the Flatiron Building, where the offices of St. Martin’s Press are located. Its main dining room is a stunner, with a skylight in the center of the ceiling. There are statuettes from India and bouquets of flowers in alcoves, and semi-private banquette booths bookending the space.

Beautiful as Tamarind’s setting is, the best feature is its food. Not everything on the menu is gluten-free, but the staff was very helpful in figuring out what would be safe for me. I started with seared scallops in a coconut-mint sauce and grilled lamb on skewers, then moved on to a traditional chicken tikka masala and goat in a cardamom sauce. (My very thoughtful editor was kind enough to go gluten-free for lunch, so we were able to share our dishes.) Chick-pea flour is the starch of choice for many of the items on the menu, though wheat flour is employed in some dishes (and, of course, in the long list of naans). I was too full by the end of lunch to contemplate dessert, but I noticed that there were quite a few gluten-free choices on that menu, too, like the caramelized basmati rice pudding that I’m definitely going back to try.

Tamarind [address] 41-43 East 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010 [tel] 212-674-7400 [web] www.tamarinde22.com