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 love it when people tell me about their great gluten-free dining experiences. One reader, whose husband has celiac disease, contacted me about their dinner at Rick Bayless’s Topolobampo restaurant in Chicago. They were deeply impressed by the thoughtfulness of the staff. It was clear from the start of their meal, when the restaurant’s manager came to their table to talk, that the restaurant took gluten-free dining seriously. Because the chef was concerned about cross-contamination (apparently the chilies in some sauces were flash-fried in a deep fryer, and could have been exposed to gluten particles), the two gluten-free dishes that made their way to the table were variations of menu items. Topolobampo’s sommelier also did a fine job pairing wines with the special dishes. The reader wrote:

We travel and eat out extensively and have never come across this level of dedication and exemplary service. The manager kept apologizing that our meal was going to take a little longer than normal. It was unreal and did not break the bank either…

Another reader wrote to tell me about Leaf Cuisine, a Los Angeles restaurant that is virtually the only place where she will dine out (in addition to being gluten intolerant, she has allergies to casein and corn). Leaf Cuisine is a raw-food restaurant, meaning that none of the food is heated above 110 degrees Fahrenheit. All of the menu items are vegan and reasonably priced. The restaurant also sells some of its creations in local stores (including several Whole Foods outlets in Los Angeles) and offers courses in raw-food preparation.

One reader told me about a website created by her daughter. It’s a wonderful resource called Gluten-Free Ontario, and if you’re traveling anywhere in the province, take a look at it. The long list of cities represented includes Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, Barrie, London, and Sault Sainte Marie. A lot of work has gone into the site, and the results will help many people make decisions about dining out.

Finally, I wanted to alert U.S. readers that a couple of medical centers are offering free screening for celiac disease. This past Saturday, the West Virginia Gluten Intolerance Group and the Department of Pediatrics at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine at Marshall University worked with the Cabell-Huntington Hospital to provide free blood screening (I wish I’d heard about it earlier, and I hope that they will repeat this event in future). The University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center offers an annual day of free screening; the next one will be on October 18, 2008. That may sound like a long way off, but participants need to pre-register by calling [tel] 773-702-7593 after August 15, 2008. For a calendar of events of interest to the gluten-intolerant, including free blood screenings, check out the calendar at Gluten-Free Forum. For a list of the Gluten Intolerance Group’s branches and partner offices, click here.

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

Celiac disease and gluten intolerance have been in the news lately (May is Celiac Awareness Month, after all). I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find mainstream media coverage of the subject. ABC-7 in Chicago featured a story, “More Gluten-Free Restaurants in the Chicago Area,” that is still up on the channel’s website. The long list of restaurants, bakeries, and shops includes Adobo Grill, Vinci Restaurant, Swirlz Cupcakes, and Venus. It also includes a link to the Celiac Chicago blog.

The Boston Globe ran a series of articles about gluten intolerance, including “Gluten Free Dining Out.” This list includes Elephant Walk, Rendezvous, and Rocca, and is still available online (you may need to sign up to use the Boston Globe’s website, but registration is free).

Vanessa Maltin, the Director of Programming and Communications at the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness and the author of Beyond Rice Cakes, e-mailed me after our interview to let me know about another restaurant she found in Florida. Vanessa wrote:

I went to dinner tonight in Jupiter, Florida, at Masa’s Sagami. It was incredible. It is a hibachi-style Japanese restaurant and the chef who cooked at our table was a dream come true. I brought my own bottle of Tamari sauce and he was so careful to make my food in a clean area of the cook top and even made me a special batch of fried rice that was gluten-free. He didn’t even flinch when I asked. He simply called for the kitchen to bring him fresh ingredients to cook mine with. it was awesome and made for a fabulous night out!
(Masa’s Sagami [address] 1200 Town Center Drive, Jupiter, FL 33458 [tel] 561-799-6266 [web] www.masassagami.com)

Vanessa also mentioned that the new Nationals Park in Washington D.C. has a Noah’s Pretzels with gluten-free pretzels and Redbridge, the celiac-safe beer brewed by Anheuser-Busch. Even if you’re not a baseball fan, you may want to take in a game if you find yourself in D.C. this summer.

One of my favorite bloggers, Allergic Girl, was featured in New York magazine (“Ask an Allergic”) with her tips for successful allergy-free dining. Also, my friend and Frommer’s colleague Bob Fisher, who has a life-threatening allergy to peanuts and green peas, wrote an article called “Travel Health & Safety: 7 Food Allergy Tips” for Frommers.com. It ran a few months ago, but it’s still up on the site and it’s a piece everyone should read.

San Francisco is a city of natural wonders. Even the much-maligned tourist trap Pier 39, which locals would have you believe is roughly equivalent to the third circle of Dante’s Inferno, has as its biggest attraction a colony of sea lions. They started arriving shortly after the 1989 quake, apparently taking over the docks in January 1990. At this point, their population swells to 900 in the winter, and a small group chooses to remain at Pier 39 throughout the year. They may smell a little… fishy… but they’re hard to resist.

Another wonder is the city’s commitment to locally sourced produce. On almost any day of the week there is a farmers’ market somewhere in San Francisco. The most famous is the Ferry Plaza Market, which takes place every Saturday at the Embarcadero. (“Tasting the Bounty of San Francisco Markets” by Sharon Otterman ran in The New York Times a few days after I left San Francisco; it covers the Ferry Plaza Market, the Alemany Market, the Heart of the City Market, and the Crocker Galleria Market.)

Organic local produce was on many menus I sampled in San Francisco, but the offerings at Fish & Farm really stood out. This elegant yet low-key restaurant, adjacent to the Mark Twain Hotel, sources almost all of its ingredients from within 100 miles of the city. All of its produce is organic, and the seafood and meat are sustainably farmed. The staff was well-versed about celiac disease and the gluten-free diet, and they were able to quickly point out the few dishes on the menu that couldn’t be prepared in a gluten-free version. I started with a simple green salad, made memorable by the addition of Asian pears and caramelized almonds and drizzled with a cabernet vinaigrette. My main course was leg of duck with lentils and endive in a sweet-and-sour sauce. Even the house cocktails were made from organic ingredients (I enjoyed the sweetly tart Huckleberry Friend, which mixes house-infused huckleberry vodka with citrus sugar). If you’re not already familiar with the Locavore movement, Fish & Farm will definitely convince you of its worth.

Fish & Farm [address] 339 Taylor Street (adjacent to the Mark Twain Hotel), San Francisco, CA 94102 [tel] 415-474-3474 [web] www.fishandfarmsf.com

While I was consistently impressed with the willingness and ability of San Francisco restaurants to accommodate my gluten-free diet, there was one strange issue that came up during my stay. At several spots, including Millennium, a vegan restaurant located in the Hotel California, the staff asked me how much tolerance I had for gluten. “I have celiac disease — that means I can’t have any gluten at all,” I explained (I didn’t get into a discussion of the European Union’s standard for gluten-free products, or the proposed standard that is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration). The staff said that they just wanted to be sure, since some diners have told them that they’re on a gluten-free diet, but when they’re informed that there’s a little soy sauce in the dish they want to order, they claim that isn’t a problem for them.

My husband and I debated what this meant. Doesn’t everyone diagnosed with celiac disease know that they can’t have any gluten at all? But a post I recently read on another blog helped give me some perspective. On Gluten-Free NYC, David Marc Fischer wrote about an article, “The Top 10 Functional Food Trends,” published by Food Technology, a publication of the Institute of Food Technologists. The article discusses how the market for products catering to food allergies and intolerances continues to grow, disproportionate to their true medical base. It’s a depressing story to read, because while the demand for gluten-free products is growing, it isn’t driven by a sudden upward spike in the rate of celiac diagnosis. As the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness points out, 97 percent of people with celiac disease in the US have no idea they have it. A lot of people consuming gluten-free foods are doing so for reasons unrelated to celiac disease. That’s not a bad thing, but it’s terrible to give restaurants the impression that the gluten-free diet is just another lifestyle choice, rather than a medical necessity for 1 in every 133 people.

At Millennium, I ended up having a long conversation about safe and unsafe ingredients with the staff. (Couscous? Definitely not. Spelt? Fine for those with a wheat allergy but dangerous for celiacs). I started with the red quinoa timbale, which is constructed of toasted pine nuts, pickled clamshell mushrooms, peas, and avocado. I followed up with the Injera Crepe, made of chickpea flour and filled with Savoy cabbage, English peas, and pea shoots, and served with a carrot chutney. Millennium also offers some very fine cocktails, including the sweet Tamarind-Grapefruit Margarita and the unusually spicy Fire & Ice. In addition to an excellent meal, I got a reminder of why it’s important to be well-informed about the fine print of the gluten-free diet.

Millennium [address] 580 Geary Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 [tel] 415-345-3900 [web] www.millenniumrestaurant.com

San Francisco has a setting that is unlike any other American city I know. Its hills are vertigo-inspiring (is it any wonder that Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo was set here?), and its shoreline is breathtaking. The many neoclassical and Beaux Arts-style buildings, some of which bear keystones that date them to the years following the 1906 quake, add a layer of manmade beauty to a natural wonder. The massive Grace Cathedral (pictured above) atop Nob Hill, with its stained glass windows depicting Albert Einstein and Thurgood Marshall, is a prime example.

It seems fitting, then, that one of my best discoveries on my recent trip to the city was a restaurant with a superb setting. Le Colonial, an elegant Vietnamese restaurant, is decorated to bring to mind the days when the nation was still part of French Indochina. Located on the second story of a building on an easy-to-miss alleyway called Cosmo Place (it runs off Taylor Street between Post and Sutter), the restaurant’s entryway holds an interior patio filled with bamboo furniture, wrought-iron pillars, and flower-laced trellises. Inside, the dining rooms are decked out with Oriental rugs and slow-moving ceiling fans.

The waiter was familiar with gluten-free dining, and double-checked everything I was interested in ordering with the chef. I started with the Banh Cuon, an appetizer of steamed rice noodles stuffed with ground chicken and shredded mushrooms, topped off with bean sprouts and chilies. My main dish was Ca Chien Sup Tom Hum, a pan-fried filet of striped bass served atop a rich ragout of lobster, mushrooms, and peas in a hot and sour lobster broth. I was also able to sample the main dish Ca Ri Tom So Diep, shrimp and scallops in a coconut curry sauce with potato, mango, eggplant and basil. That was the entrée my husband ordered, and as luck would have it, it was gluten free as well. I miss the days when I was able to taste food from his plate, so my visit to Le Colonial was particularly delicious. (I wonder if my husband shares that opinion…)

Le Colonial [address] 20 Cosmo Place, San Francisco, CA 94109 [tel] 415-931-3600 [web] www.lecolonialsf.com

My favorite way to get to know a town is through the eyes of a local. On my recent trip to San Francisco, my cousin Wendy Rein introduced me to her neighborhood, the Mission District. The area is renowned for its Latin character and cuisine, colorful murals, and the palm trees that mark graceful Dolores Street. Most of all, the Mission is famous for its namesake house of worship, Mission Dolores, the oldest building in San Francisco (pictured here). It was built in 1776 and has survived the city’s notorious earthquakes largely intact.

The Mission is also where Wendy and her dance partner, Ryan T. Smith, founded RAWdance, their innovative and experimental dance company, in 2004. RAWdance frequently performs at the nearby James Howell Studio, and this July the company will be performing in the Jewels in the Square Series in San Francisco’s Union Square and at CounterPULSE for their Home Season (in December, RAWdance will be touring the East Coast of the US).

For brunch on Saturday, Wendy introduced me to Regalito Rosticeria, a Mexican restaurant that recently opened in the Mission. A tiny spot — there are just a handful of tables, plus seats at a counter where you have a great view of the kitchen — the restaurant is inspired by a Mexican market stall, where chefs cook right in front of their customers. The ingredients are fresh and the staff is friendly and accommodating. Much of the menu is naturally gluten free. I started with the mildly spicy guacamole, served with crisp corn tortillas. For my main dish, I tried the delicious chile relleno, in which mushrooms and cheese are stuffed into a roasted poblano chile. The menu is reasonably priced, and if you visit on a weekday between 11am and 3pm, you can take advantage of the Comida Corrida (the Worker’s Lunch), which offers an entrée, dessert, plus agua fresca to drink, for $9.95.

Regalito Rosticeria [address] 3481 18th St. (at Valencia), San Francisco, CA 94110 [tel] 415-503-0650 [web] www.regalitosf.com

I just got back from a short trip to San Francisco, my first visit there since I was diagnosed with celiac disease. I’ll be reviewing some of its restaurants over the next several weeks, but I’m thrilled to report that over the course of a four-day stay, I found that local eateries were very accommodating of the gluten-free diet. The San Francisco dining scene is diverse, but one common trait is a commitment to organic produce that is, for the most part, locally sourced. It makes it much easier to discuss what’s in an entrée when each ingredient is a point of pride.

My arrival in San Francisco didn’t have an auspicious start: my flight from New York was 90 minutes late, which meant that my husband and I were looking for dinner after 9pm on a Friday night. We ended up in Belden Place, a pedestrian alley in the downtown financial district. From the street it looked like the quintessential tourist trap, with restaurants sitting cheek by jowl and canopy-covered al fresco tables. Belden Place’s website claims that the alley is frequently compared to New Orleans’ French Quarter and that the atmosphere is like “the most intimate restaurants in Europe.” I can promise you that it’s like neither, but it has a low-key charm of its own.

We chose Café Tiramisu after talking to a couple of its serving staff, one of whom was particularly well-informed about celiac disease. I had a simple green salad with a honey-infused vinaigrette, goat cheese, and walnuts to start, and peppery seared tuna atop vegetable risotto as my main dish. The meal was good, but even better was our conversation with the couple at the next table. They were San Francisco residents, one of whom has celiac disease, and they were kind enough to share the names of some of their favorite celiac-friendly local haunts, including Boulevard, The Fly Trap, and The Butler and the Chef. I didn’t end up at any of those restaurants (Boulevard is a particularly tough reservation to get on short notice), but it was a wonderful start to my stay to be able to pick up some celiac-friendly San Francisco spots from a local.

Café Tiramisu [address] 28 Belden Place, San Francisco, CA 94104 [tel] 415-421-7044 [web] www.cafetiramisu.com

Boulevard [address] 1 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94105 [tel] 415-543-6084 [web] www.boulevardrestaurant.com

The Fly Trap Restaurant, Bar & Piano Lounge [address] 606 Folsom Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 [tel] 415-243-0580 [email] flytrap777@hotmail.com [web] www.flytraprestaurant.com

The Butler & the Chef Bistro [address] 155A South Park Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 [tel] 415-896-2075 [web] www.thebutlerandthechefbistro.com

I haven’t visited Las Vegas since being diagnosed with celiac disease, but fortunately one of the Gluten-Free Guidebook’s readers has. Elena is a member of the Bi-State Celiac Support Group, which serves St. Louis, Missouri, and Belleville, Illinois. She spent some time in Las Vegas earlier this year, and this is what she had to say about what she found there. Thanks so much for sharing this, Elena!

ELENA’S LAS VEGAS REPORT:

I had dinner at Le Provencal in Paris. I talked to the manager before entering (I didn’t have a reservation) — apparently they get the gluten-free request a lot. The server had several options for me and I chose seafood, which was very good. I felt confident there. If you catch them at the right time there are singing waiters performing.

I had brunch at Pinot Brasserie in the Venetian. The server was unfamiliar with gluten-free, but I gave him my Triumph Dining card and he went back and spoke to the chef. It appeared the chef was aware because the server came back quickly with some options for me. I had the steak and eggs and it was wonderful.

My favorite restaurant of the weekend was Tao in the Venetian. My friends really wanted to go there but I was apprehensive, because the only gluten-free Las Vegas review I could find on the internet was a very negative one about this place. So, not to let my friends down, I called the restaurant and talked to a chef. He assured me that they had many choices for me. He also told me to use the word “allergy” when I talked to my server. That seems to be the trigger word. I made a reservation (which is necessary) and they noted on the reservation that I was gluten-free. When I got there, the waiter brought out a list of gluten-free options (the list also mentioned alterations to make menu items gluten-free). On a side note, he also had a list of common allergens (wheat, soy, egg, fish, etc) and the available menu choices. The waiter took the time to answer my questions and made sure I was taken care of. It seems they have a really good system there. Who knows, maybe it went into effect after the previously mentioned bad review. The food was outstanding!

I didn’t go to Mon Ami Gabi in Paris, but I went there before I was diagnosed and that was another top-notch restaurant. It is listed in the Triumph Dining Restaurant Guide as a place that is accommodating. (The guide states you must use the word “allergy” to get what you need there.)

The day we spent walking the Strip and checking out the new hotels was the most difficult in terms of finding something to eat. We went to the Miracle Mile shopping center for lunch, but I couldn’t eat at Cheeseburger Vegas or Blondies. They both told me straight up that they wouldn’t be able to figure anything out… everything uses the same grill, burger meat has wheat in it, etc. That day we ended up having lunch at P.F. Chang’s.