Category Archives: Restuarant Reviews

Potenza

Posted on August 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

This weekend I went to Potenza for a special dinner downtown. Since I didn’t exactly have the healthiest of meals the rest of the weekend, I figured I would try to keep it light.  I started with an arugula, watermelon, and parmesan salad.

I also had a bite of my friend’s burrata and yellow tomato salad which was awesome. I love burrata like old ladies love root beer barrels. Both were seasonal salads, so they aren’t included on their online menu.

For my entree I split the tiger shrimp with my friend, which was served with green and white beans. Super fresh, but not incredibly substantial. It would have been a great meal to have after a few dinner rolls with butter, but sadly that wasn’t an option 😉

I loved that Potenza has so many seasonal dishes, and a great cocktail menu with my favorite… Pimm’s Cup!

*UPDATE: After some searching, I came across this post about Potenza from about a year ago that said that they carry gluten free pasta!  I called the chef to confirm, and they do have gf fusilli pasta “90% of the time”.  What a fail! It’s not listed anywhere on their menu, and even though I told the waitress I had a gluten allergy, she didn’t mention it at all.  I guess I’ll file this under “coulda/woulda/shoulda”. 

Afterward we really had no choice but to wash down dinner with some Pitango gelato. Speaking of seasonal flavors: blueberry jam, local strawberry, rhubarb, and cantaloupe were on their menu.

I of course needed to get two of the most decadent flavors they have in the same dish: vanilla chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip. Yes, that says chocolate three times.

For some reason Michael Jackson’s “Black or White” just popped into my head.  Oh, Monday mornings 🙂

Potenza

15th & H Street NW

Washington DC. 20005

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Gluten Free Hangover Cure

Posted on August 14, 2011 | 3 comments

Yesterday I woke up feeling, let’s just say, not bright eyed and bushy tailed.  I had a blast going out in DC on Friday night, but in the morning I needed to recover, and fast!

So, I did what anyone would do in my state. Fry an egg, put it on top of leftover pizza, and eat it in bed in your underwear pajamas!

The pizza was leftover from Open City – Roasted corn, ricotta, mozzarella & jalapeno cream.  Cooked extra crispy.  And just what I needed.

Here it is sitting pretty the night before. Their gf pizza crust is just so good:

It didn’t exactly “cure” my hangover, but it sure made my belly happy.

So did my lunch from Firefly in Dupont.

I’ve been excited to try their gluten free menu for awhile.  And although I don’t necessarily agree with their claim to be “the quintessential urban neighborhood restaurant in Washington DC,” it still was a really cute place.

A mushroom and cheddar omelette for me! Substitute home fries for normal fries, because the more grease the better!

The mushrooms in the omelette were great, and the fries were my favorite kind: skinny, crispy, and handcut.

And some fruit on the side to put some nutrition in my diet of carbs and cheese.

Add a strong cup of coffee, a couple of ibuprofen, and I managed to make it through 🙂

I’m going to have to go back to Firefly to try their gluten free dinner menu: shrimp and grits, collard greens, truffle fries.

Oh, and a peanut butter ice cream “sandwich” for dessert: flourless chocolate cake, bananas foster sauce, peanut brittle, sea salt.

I need one right now!

Firefly

1310 New Hampshire Ave NW

Washington DC, 20036

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Good Mexican food in DC?

Posted on August 9, 2011 | 2 comments

I’ve heard that there is no good Mexican food in DC.  The only rave review that I’ve heard is for Casa Oaxaca, which I still need to try.  Since most Mexican food is naturally gluten free, it’s such a shame.  I’ve been craving the Veggie Jenga from Pachenga Patterson like woah lately.

After a few hours of checking out the Dog Days Sidewalk Sale on U Street, I was getting hungry. I did score a deal on a vintage bracelet from Junction though, which made me happy on the walk over to El Rinconcito.  My foodie friend had heard that it was good and authentic.

Prettiness

The place was a total hole in the wall, but nearly every table was full on a Saturday at 3pm, which was a good sign.

I started with the fried yuca, because I love that stuff.

Then, after I struggled over a language barrier to order and tried to recall something of my five years of Spanish classes, I ended up with hard shell tacos with black beans.

Oh how I love a nice fluffy pile of shredded cheese.

Even though it was really simple, it was still just what I wanted.  Next time I will have to try the pupusas, which everyone else in the place was downing by the plateful.  The manager told me that they were just made out of corn flour/masa, but I couldn’t really understand him, so I stuck to hard shell.

After googling, it looks like pupusas really are just corn flour and water, and naturally gluten free.  I’ll just have to go back!  Since I’m sure as heck not going to attempt to make them myself.  Although Nicole at Gluten Free on a Shoestring sure does make it sound like fun.

Also, apparently pupusas are everywhere in DC, according to the DCist.  They can be found at Pupuseria San Miguel, Irene’s Pupusas, El Rinconcito I & II, or El Charrito Caminante).  Must get some immediately.  Cuz how yummy does this look?

The only thing that would have made my Mexican food experience more complete would have been a margarita, like the one I had the night before at Hill Country.

Only $5 after 10!

Ole!

El Rinconcito

1129 11th St NW
(between N L St & N M St)

Do you know of a great Mexican place in DC? Or how to say “gluten free” en Español? 😉

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Muffins at Tryst

Posted on August 8, 2011 | Leave a comment

Tryst in Adam’s Morgan is like Central Perk from Friends.  Big couches, hip music, eclectic art, and giant coffee cups.  The only thing that it has that Central Perk didn’t is a full bar.  Oh, and gluten free muffins.

Tryst in Admo

Can you see the resemblance?

Central Perk on Friends set

I was hoping to have some of their flourless chocolate cake, but they were out.  So I settled for a gluten-free cherry almond muffin.

Oh, and a giant cup of coffee with soy.  It came with animal crackers, which got passed off to my friend.

The muffin was great, really moist and I loved the toasted almonds around the edges.  I’ll be back for sure!

Tryst

2459 18th Street Northwest
Washington D.C., DC 20009

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Amsterdam Falafel

Posted on August 6, 2011 | 6 comments

Last night I got some really great falafel at Amseterdam Falafelshop in Adam’s Morgan.  It’s a really cool concept – you get a pita (if you can eat one), filled with 3 or 5 falafel balls, and then they let you go to town on the toppings in a topping bar.  With 21 toppings, to be exact.

They also have fries, but they’re not handcut, so I steered away from them.  They do fry them in a dedicated fryer.  There was actually a woman there who was gluten intolerant who was buying them, and swore to me that she didn’t have a reaction when she ate them, but I followed my new pitfall avoidance plan and just ate my falafel, which turned out to be more than enough food.

Yep, that’s slaw, beets, hummus, and falafel balls buried somewhere in there.

Oh, there you are!

One of the best $5 dinners I’ve ever had.  Although next time I will bring my own fork, since they have some weird fork phobia or protest going on where they refuse to offer them.

Amsterdam Falafelshop

2425 18th St NW
(between N Belmont Rd & N Columbia Rd)

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DC gets cool – Lincoln and Dirty Dancing

Posted on August 6, 2011 | 1 comment

I think I may have finally found a bit of New York City in DC.  Lincoln is a new restaurant right by my work that was actually COOL.  As in well-made cocktails, quirky waitstaff, awesome decor, and delicious simple food – cool.  It reminded me of the many places in NYC that I had come to love and take for granted – where everything on the menu is great, made with fresh ingredients, and not stuck in 1992.  No offense or anything, DC.

When I arrived I was greeted by two of my fabulous friends and a giant bowl of Emancipation Punch!  In a vintage-looking punch bowl.  So cool.

My adorable glass.

The happy hour menu didn’t have anything gluten free on it (their french fries were hand-cut, but weren’t fried in a dedicated fryer).

So I ordered a kale salad and trout off of the dinner menu, which our drunk as a skunk eccentric waiter assured me were gluten free.

Organic kale salad with hazelnuts, dried cranberries, Parmesan, lemon vinaigrette

I have to figure out how to make this at home.

Trout with asparagus lentil salad and whipped avocado

The trout was perfectly cooked, and it was a great light and fresh dish. So I didn’t feel bad at all getting ice cream at the Capitol Yard outdoor movie later from The Orange Cow!


They had a bunch of cool flavors, like white chocolate blueberry.  But I got my classic mint chocolate chip.

And then settled in to watch Dirty Dancing on the big blow-up screen.

Gosh I love this movie.

I will definitely be back to Lincoln at some point soon for more punch and yummy food.  I also learned from Prince of Petworth that Lincoln will soon be doing Sunday Brunch!  With a punch bowl filled with mimosas. woot.

Such a fun night in DC!  I had the time of my life. (hee hee).

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Cheesecake for breakfast

Posted on August 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

No, I’m not going to post a recipe for some kind of healthy breakfast cheesecake.

Just needed to document that I made a rational, grown-up decision to eat cheesecake this morning for breakfast.

Raw, vegan, gluten-free cheesecake from Cafe Green!  That kind of makes it okay, right?

Agave sweetened, with a cashew crust that tasted just like a crumbly Larabar!

I’m guessing that the filling was tofu?  It tastes like a really dense chocolate mousse.

This is it before I got my grubby paws on it:

Cafe Green, you have almost made up for the bland-wich that I got from your sister restaurant, Java Green.

What a great way to kick off a Friday 🙂

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Georgetown and Serendipity III

Posted on August 1, 2011 | Leave a comment

Check out where I was yesterday.  Doesn’t it look almost like Florida?

Well, it wasn’t.  It was the beautiful Georgetown waterfront. Fountains, palm trees, and boats included.

Another great thing that Georgetown has?

Serendipity 3!

Too bad the gluten free meal options were less than robust.  What I was really feeling like was a salad, which my friend got to enjoy.  But the waiter informed me that NONE of the salad dressings were gf.  Say what?  Maybe they just say that to be careful, but it seemed strange to me.  Either way, I played it safe, trying not to have a gf pitfall, and ordered an omelette instead.

Non-gluten free crab cake salad

My Central Park omelette, with coleslaw on the side:

The coleslaw was actually my favorite part!  It was really fresh and crunchy.

I should have asked if any of their monumental ice cream sundaes or frozen hot chocolates are gluten free, but I was too full to think about it.  Because they look amazing.

There’s always next time!

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More Michigan Gluten Free

Posted on August 1, 2011 | 3 comments

I was so encouraged by the reader responses I got to my best gluten free in Detroit post, that I had to share!

But first, another Michigan favorite of mine: Urban Attic!  How perfectly fun is this?

I will take one of everything. I may even be more prone to gluten free baking if I had these fancy measuring spoons.

Just the sweetest place 🙂

Urban Attic at Ardmore Park Place
26717 Little Mack Avenue – Suite 4
St. Clair Shores, MI 48081

And now for the reader suggestions on more gluten free in the Detroit area!  Mostly of the pizza variety 🙂  For a review of a few gluten free pizza places in Michigan check out this article in the New Baltimore-Chesterfield Patch.

Vince and Joe’s Gourmet Market

My friend says that they have “a ton of prepared gluten free food such as pasta sauce, baked goods including bumpy cake and other heat and serve meals.”

Locations in Shelby and Clinton Township

Dan Good Pizza

Seven locations across southeast Michigan.

Amici’s Pizza

This got the best reviews in the New Baltimore article, “The crust had crispy edges and a soft doughy texture in the middle. It tasted like a whole-grain, thin-crust pizza that soaked up the flavors of the toppings. By far, this was our local favorite, and worth the steep price.”

Birmingham and Berkely locations.

Can’t wait to get home to the mitten to try some of these myself 🙂

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Sammies and Wraps

Posted on July 31, 2011 | 1 comment

Now, doesn’t this look good?  Well, it was.  After trying the cupcakes and cookies at Sticky Fingers Bakery, I decided to give something savory a chance.  Enter the Chick’n Ranch Wrap.

Chick'n Ranch Wrap

They didn’t have any gluten free bread when I went (boo), so I was relegated to the wrap section of the menu.  And this was a great choice – really refreshing, and I kind of love the soy chick’n strips?  I don’t usually go for fake meat, but the mix of the avocado, creamy dressing, and crisp lettuce just worked.  The only downside is that it was pretty small (aka normal portion sized), and cost $8.50.  Egads.  It made me miss the humungo wraps from Terri in NYC that only cost $7.

I must find something that doesn’t fit into my hypothesis about DC food vs NYC food.  Which is that everything is either A) half as good or B) twice as expensive or C) bland or D) A, B, and C all at once.

Not to hate on DC or anything.  But, come on, it’s no New York City.

Case and point:the veggie burger from Java Green.

Java Green veggie burger

Looks okay, no?  It was… just okay.  Maybe it was an ordering fail on my part, but when they say “spicy burger sauce”, I expect a giant burger slathered in sauce, this was some kind of appropriately-sized health food?  Also similarly, cost $7 and I ate it in about 30 seconds.

I had such high hopes for you, Java Green.  At least they had an impressive selection of desserts to choose from provided by Sweet n’ Natural.  Chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake, something with blueberry frosting, and carrot cake – which I will always favor.

And it was good to the last bite.  Not quite as good as the carrot cake sold at Mozarelli’s in NYC (can you tell that I’m a bit homesick for NYC these days?), bust still a great piece of cake.

At least the sandwich gave me enough fuel to get to the outdoor showing of West Side Story in Navy Yard. Oh yeah.

The dialogue in that movie is hilarious.  At the most serious/heart-touching moments the entire crowd was roaring with laughter.  Also after some initial Googling – I found this awesome spoof video “Web Site Story”… oh, the Internets.

 

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