Gluten-Free Guidebook

When visiting New York, there are certain sights that should be on every traveler’s checklist: the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, the Frick Collection, and Century 21 (come on, who doesn’t want great discounts on designer clothing?). For gluten-intolerant visitors, that list should also include Bistango.

Haven’t heard of Bistango? The restaurant is located in Murray Hill, and it’s been in business for 15 years. There was an interruption of service this spring, when Bistango closed for renovations. The original plan called for it to be closed for only a month, but as the timeline stretched on and on, I started to worry whether it would return.

Happily, Bistango is back. If you’ve been there before, you’ll notice that the bar is shorter (making more room for tables), and that the brick walls have given way to red-painted plaster (with stylized portraits of the owner’s three daughters on the walls). What hasn’t changed is the restaurant’s commitment to its gluten-intolerant diners. The first sign is when bread is brought to the table: I love the warm slices of gluten-free bread — baked by Everybody Eats in Brooklyn — and the individual bowls of oil and garlic for dipping (that way, there’s no cross-contamination).

Almost every item on Bistango’s menu, with the exception of a couple of stuffed pastas (such as the ravioli), can be prepared in a gluten-free version. (Many dishes are naturally gluten-free, and all of the sauces are.) Celiac-safe starters run the gamut from the Bistango salad (a mix of mesclun, sliced apples, goat cheese, and pine nuts), to the plate of prosciutto and Gorgonzola with fig compote. Main-course dishes include rack of lamb in a rich cognac sauce, and chicken breast topped with spinach and mozzarella in a marinara sauce. There’s also gluten-free pizza and pasta to choose from.

While the food is consistently excellent, what really makes a meal at Bistango stand out is the graciousness of its staff. The owner, Anthony, goes back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen, talking to everyone and making sure that diners are comfortable. The servers are just as thoughtful, making Bistango a rare find.

Bistango [address] 415 Third Avenue (at the corner of East 29th St.), New York, NY 10016 [tel] 212-725-8484 [web] www.bistangonyc.com

I’m on the road right now, researching my next edition of Frommer’s Toronto. Over the next several weeks, I’ll be reporting on some of my finds in Toronto and southwestern Ontario. But right now, I want to let you know about a restaurant I visited for the first time this past weekend. Palà Pizza Romana is on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and I first heard about it through a post by Kelly on Celiac Chicks.

On Saturday, Kelly organized a tasting event with Palà’s owners, to get the word out about the restaurant’s incredible gluten-free pizza. The crust is a blend of several flours — including garbanzo bean, white sorghum, tapioca, and fava bean — and the results are amazing. My favorite slice was the Zucca, which blends pumpkin puree, mozzarella, pancetta, smoked scamorza cheese, and parsley. But I can also recommend the Arrabbiata (fresh cherry tomatoes, hot pepper, and garlic), the Mediolanum (gorgonzola, asparagus, mozzarella, and tomato sauce), and the Zucchina (zucchini, goat cheese, cherry tomato sauce, mozzarella, and rosemary).

Since the gluten-free pizza dough is made in small batches — and with different equipment than what’s used for regular dough — Palà’s owners suggest diners pre-order by 6pm to ensure that the restaurant doesn’t run out on a busy night. For the lactose intolerant, Palà also offers soy mozzarella, available in regular (2% casein), and vegan (casein-free) versions.

If you’re looking for great gluten-free pizza in New York, Palà is worth checking out.

Palà Pizza Romana [address] 198 Allen Street, New York, NY 10002 [tel] 212-614-7252 [web] www.pala-ny.com

Vanessa Maltin is an inspiring person to talk to. She’s the Director of Programming and Communications at the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, and also the author of Beyond Rice Cakes: A Young Person’s Guide to Cooking, Eating & Living Gluten-Free. She is currently at work on a second book, which explores how to cook Latin, Italian, and Asian cuisines for a gluten-free diet. Take a look at Vanessa’s blog, Beyond Rice Cakes, for more information (the book will be published by Wiley in the fall of 2009). Diagnosed with celiac disease in 2003, Vanessa has plenty of practice traveling gluten-free, and she shared her experiences and advice with me in an interview last week.

How often do you travel? I travel for work at least once a month, and usually a lot more. I just got back from Bentonville, in northwest Arkansas, which was great. They had all of the chains with gluten-free menus there, like Red Robin, P.F. Chang’s, and Mama Fu’s.

Where have you traveled since being diagnosed with celiac disease? I’ve been all over the country. So far this year I’ve been to New York, San Francisco, St. Louis, Boston, Philadelphia, Hagerstown, MD, Lynchburg, VA, and Florida. Internationally, since I was diagnosed, I’ve been to Ireland, Italy, and Prague — all places where I ate like a queen!

What foods or snacks do you pack when traveling? I always bring bags of nuts with me. I also take Pure Fit bars and Zone bars — most of them are gluten-free. Sometimes I’ll bring gluten-free Thai Kitchen soup mixes, or small packets of peanut butter, which I’ll eat with an apple.

What other things do you bring with you? My iPod and my laptop! I also take Triumph Dining cards with me wherever I go.

How do you prepare for a trip? Since most of my travel is for work, I try to get a really detailed itinerary, because you have to plan ahead. It’s not like I can stop and grab a Big Mac. Sometimes I’ll look at the local celiac support groups and see what they recommend. Normally, when traveling for work, I’m eating with non-celiacs, so I tell people I’m meeting what I can and can’t eat. I have a lot of meetings where an office provides a catered meal, so it’s really important to let them know in advance that they need to have gluten-free options.

Any favorite restaurants? I absolutely love Bistango in New York City. In D.C., my favorites are Café Atlántico, where I helped the chef develop the Latin-fusion gluten-free menu, and Zaytinya, a Mediterranean restaurant. In San Francisco, I go to Max’s Opera Café, which doesn’t have a gluten-free menu but is very accommodating. I love Brick and Solstice, which are both in San Francisco, too. In Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, I like the Yard House, and I just went to a place called Pizza Fusion, which has gourmet gluten-free pizzas. My standby place, wherever I go across the country, is Chipotle.

Any favorite hotels? The Hyatt hotels are amazing.

What’s the most memorable city you’ve visited? Bruges in Belgium. Every other store there was a chocolate shop. I had a shrimp and goat cheese salad there that I’m still craving. It was such an incredible place, and the only thing I couldn’t eat there were the croissants.

What’s your dream destination? The Amalfi Coast in Italy. I’ve read about cooking trips there where you stay in a villa for seven days and just cook every day. I’d love that.

Do you have any other advice for gluten-intolerant travelers? Keep an open mind about traveling, because it really can be done!

Photograph provided courtesy of Vanessa Maltin.

If you’ve ever read New York magazine’s “21 Questions” interview, you might be under the impression that the city’s residents want to abolish brunch. Fashion designer Todd Oldham referred to brunch as “Sunday-morning prison with a big bill at the end.” Cosmopolitan editor-in-chief and mystery novelist Kate White announced that “Brunch should be abolished.” Perhaps the most cutting remarks came from Brian Williams, anchor of the NBC Nightly News. “Brunch is an unnatural event, invented by the restaurant industry,” he said. “Life is about hard choices. Before noon on weekends, it’s called breakfast. After that, it’s lunch. Pick one.”

Ouch. Perhaps I should be ashamed to say this, but I love going out for brunch with friends. Now I’m wondering if my affection for the meal has more to do with the place that serves it. My favorite brunch spot in New York right now is Rice, a small, local chain specializing in pan-Asian cooking. It has two outlets in Manhattan and two in Brooklyn; the one I know best is the Murray Hill location, which is a tiny space at the corner of Lexington Avenue and East 28^th Street. In spite of its diminutive size, it feels spacious thanks to the high ceilings and pots of greenery on the tables. The design is casual, with sacks of –- what else? –- rice tucked under the rafters and small burlap rice bags serving as light shades.

Gluten-free meals are available here at lunch and dinner, but you can’t beat the weekend brunch. If you’re dining gluten-free, you’ll need to ask for the special menu, because servers don’t automatically bring it to the table. The $12 special (which applies to both regular and gluten-free brunches) buys you a main course, side dish, coffee/tea, and juice (for an extra $5, you can throw in unlimited mimosas, too). The gluten-free menu is extensive, yet I keep returning to the frittata with sautéed greens and manchego in a hot but sweet chili sauce, with the side dish of crispy rice-and-grit cakes with jalapeño and parmesan.

Brunch-hating New Yorkers, here’s a challenge: try brunch at Rice, and then decide whether the meal needs to be abolished.

Rice in Murray Hill [address] 115 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY [tel] 212-686-5400

Rice in Nolita [address] 292 Elizabeth Street, New York, NY [tel] 212-226-5775

Rice in DUMBO [address] 81 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY [tel] 718-222-9880

Rice in Fort Greene [address] 166 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY [tel] 718-858-2700

All locations [website] www.riceny.com

In my restaurant-reviewing days, I had a bias against virtuous food, which I defined as anything you ate because it was supposed to be good for you, rather than because it satisfied your taste buds. I have nothing against broccoli (it tastes good to me, at least when paired with hummus or tzatziki), but I gravitate towards creamy cheeses, gamey meats, and dreamy desserts. When I first read about the raw food movement, I was horrified. I considered low-fat mozzarella an abomination; what could I say about a cuisine that made “cheese” out of nuts?

Silly me. One of my favorite restaurants in New York has turned out to be a raw food spot. Pure Food and Wine is just south of Gramercy Park (see photo above) on Irving Place. My husband suggested it just after my celiac diagnosis, when we were casting about for a romantic spot to celebrate our anniversary. At that point, I was nervous at the thought of eating anywhere but my own home. My husband and I called Pure Food, asking question after question to establish the staff’s ability — and willingness — to prepare a gluten-free meal. Finally I decided to give it a try.

The restaurant was a surprise: the long, lean room mixed natural woods that echoed the restaurant’s earthy mantra with bordello-red walls that reflected a distinctly sexy aura. The server was well-informed and helpful, pointing out the few items I wouldn’t be able to order on Pure Food’s extensive menu. It was a moment of pure bliss: I was just getting accustomed to the idea that there were so many things I couldn’t have that being offered so many choices felt like freedom. When the food arrived, I was pleasantly surprised: a Caesar salad with pine nut “parmesan” and nori doesn’t sound decadent, but it turns out it is. And the zucchini and roma tomato lasagna was better than any wheat-noodle version I could remember. Dessert was even more satisfying: not only could I order my own, but I could steal what my husband had ordered.

Like I said, pure bliss.

Pure Food and Wine [address] 54 Irving Place, New York, NY [tel] 212-477-1010 [email] purefoodandwine@gmail.com [web] www.purefoodandwine.com