Tag Archives: dc

Gluten Free Grey Market DC: Second Edition

Posted on May 23, 2012 | 2 comments

On my first trip to the DC Grey Market, I was slightly disappointed with the amount of gluten free options. Although I did have some amazing nut cookies from Sweet Nuttings.

This time, there were two vendors with gluten free products. First up was savory taro fritters from Noshables. I was a bit hesitant at first because I wasn’t a fan of poi or taro when I went to Hawaii, but I decided to give it a go.

It’s greasy, chewy, and unique tasting. Basically it’s ground or shredded taro, mixed with tapioca starch, sugar, and water – then rolled into balls and deep fried. A recipe for them can be found here.

I ate that while I walked around looking for something sweet, which I found at Whisking Through Life in the form of gluten free carrot cake.

Honestly I went against my better judgement in trying this cake because they had the samples of the carrot cake right on top of the regular samples, which indicates to me that the baker isn’t exactly stringent about cross contamination. But it looked so good, and the cake itself was separate from the other things, so I got a slice (and thankfully didn’t come to regret it).

That’s after I ate half of it. It was really good! Full of grated carrots, coconut, and raisins. And the slice was so big it took me three days to finish.

Next time hopefully my friend from Kate Bakes can get a spot at the Grey Market and up the representation of gluten free vendors!

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Ardeo Bardeo brunch

Posted on May 15, 2012 | Leave a comment

Brunch in DC is a sacred event. Without fail, every Saturday and Sunday between 11 and 4, everyone and their mom is at brunch. Restaurants cater to the brunch crowd with unlimited mimosas, multiple course and all-you-can-eat deals.

I’ve had some great brunches in DC. But I’m declaring right here and now that Ardeo Bardeo in Cleveland Park is the best brunch in the city. It just is. Don’t even try to argue.

Why?

  1. Two courses and unlimited mimosas for $25 – most places in DC are $15 entrees without unlimited mimosas, or they’re $25-$30 for unlimited mimosas, but they only give you one (usually kind of crummy) entree. Ardeo Bardeo gives you two delicious courses, plus they keep the champagne flowing!
  2. They are knowledgeable and friendly about making their dishes gluten free – I have had the nicest servers at Ardeo Bardeo, and they are always really accommodating. They check with the kitchen if they have questions, and know exactly what to do if you tell them you need your meal to be gluten free.
  3. I don’t have to eat eggs – About 90% of the time when I got to brunch I end up getting an omelette. While that’s all well and good, Ardeo Bardeo has a ton of other gluten free options. From salads and soups to salmon and risotto.

For my first course I always get this salad because it’s freakin’ amazing. Spinach salad with braised fennel and mushrooms with truffle vinaigrette.

Second course:

I’ve gotten the Scottish salmon a few times because it’s also just perfect. Crispy skin, perfectly cooked, with brussel sprouts, fennel puree, golden raisins, and lemon yogurt.

And last time I switched it up and got the rock shrimp and grits with arugula, lemon, and lobster emulsion. Yeah, lobster emulsion…that just happened.

I don’t know why more people don’t know about this brunch spot. People line up for an hour outside of Open City, but there are always tables open here.

Go! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Ardeo Bardeo
Cleveland Park
3311 Connecticut Ave NW
Washington, DC 20008
http://ardeobardeo.com

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Shake Shack fries and Captain Chris’ Crab Shack

Posted on May 9, 2012 | 4 comments

I can’t think of two things more addicting than french fries and crabs. Both salty, fun to eat, and great in a “bad for you” kind of way.

Since the line at Shake Shack in New York City was always about a mile long, I actually never went to it, even though it was right around the corner from my office in the Flatiron District. Luckily, like everything in DC, the Shake Shack in Dupont here doesn’t have a fraction of the customers as the NYC version.

Shake Shack provides a great gluten free menu on their website, and explains thoroughly how each food is prepared. They notify customers that they use separate friers for their fries, but that their oil is filtered through the same equipment at night. I’m guessing that this is the case with most restaurants, but nice to see that they come clean about it.

Loved every last one of these greasy little suckers. And yes, I dipped them in mayonnaise and ketchup. Don’t judge.

Next time I’m for sure getting one of their frozen custards with sprinkles!

Another totally addicting food? Fresh crab boil drenched in Old Bay Seasoning, plus corn on the cob.

And, if you were wondering, yes – Old Bay is naturally gluten free.

When in Maryland, you must eat crabs. A lot of crabs. All you can eat crabs from Captain Chris’ Crab Shack in North East, MD.

Other things you should eat in Maryland – Herr’s Old Bay potato chips. Along with most of the chips from Herr’s, they are gluten free. Although I just saw that they have MSG in them, which is yucky.

Looking for other places to get gluten free fries in DC? Try Science Club in Dupont, Ripple in Cleveland Park, or the National Zoo!

And go eat some crabs, they’ll make you happy.

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Gluten Free DC News Round-up

Posted on January 19, 2012 | 1 comment

Seems like there are more and more gluten free things going on in DC all the time. Here are a few that I’m excited about!

1. Whole Foods and Cleveland Park Wines are now carrying New Planet beer

Cleveland Park Wines has the best selection of gluten free beer, and as far as I know they’re the only place in the city that carries the Off Grid New Planet beer and Estrella Damm Daura. Lucky for me it’s right by my apartment. They also sell New Planet for $1-2 cheaper than Whole Foods, at $9.49 for a six pack.

2. FUEL Pizza opens on K Street, offering gluten free pizza

Yesterday FUEL Pizza opened on K street and 16th, offering gluten free pizza crust and Redbridge beer. They also have a gluten free menu that points out which toppings are not gluten free.

  source

3. Whole Foods P Street is hosting gluten free tours on January 31st (1-2pm and 4:30-5:30pm)

Considering I’m at this Whole Foods about four times a week, I don’t think I really need a tour. But I may make an appearance to meet some other people in the DC gfree community.

4. Science Club serves delicious gluten free fries with homemade mayo

In my book, homemade mayonnaise is newsworthy. Science Club in Dupont has really delicious crunchy fries made in a dedicated fryer.They also have $5 glasses of wine for happy hour.

5. There will be lots of gluten free baked goods at the next DC Grey Market

Grey Market just released their product list for the January 28th market, featuring yummy goodies from Kate Bakes, Goldilocks Goodies, and MeBakes.

Anything else going on lately in DC gluten free news?

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Baked and Wired. Best gluten free baked goods in DC

Posted on December 12, 2011 | 2 comments

This weekend I did some shopping in Georgetown, and I shop best on a steady fuel of sugar and coffee. I’d heard that Baked and Wired carried gluten free baked goods, so I decided to go and see what was on the menu. I wish that their online menu was separated for gluten free items so I knew what to expect, but I decided to take a chance and go anyway.

And boy am I glad I did.

The first thing that caught my eye was a strawberry and chocolate cupcake. But, that’s not really my style.

Then I asked if they had anything else that was gluten free and they pointed me to this.

The best gluten free baked good I’ve had in DC. And in my top ten gluten free desserts I’ve ever had. Not exaggerating.

Caramel blondie, chock full of peanuts, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and caramel sauce. Insanely rich and buttery, chewy, and full of fun toppings.

I savored every bite, and pulled out some will power to save half of it for later.


Do you see that giant lump of caramel? And drool a bit? Yeah, I thought so.

They also had flourless peanut butter cookies. But who would get that when there’s the blondie from heaven available?

Their coffee is also great – I had an Americano made with Stumptown espresso. The guys who work there are a bit smug, but I overlooked it as I was too busy stuffing my mouth with caramel to care.

Baked and Wired

1052 Thomas Jefferson Street NW
Washington, DC 20007

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Dino

Posted on November 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

This weekend I finally used my Living Social deal to Dino in Cleveland Park. Even though the outside is unassuming, I’d heard good things about it, and their menu is marked with gluten free/”can be made gluten free” items.

For an appetizer we got the spinach soup and a radicchio/arugula salad.

Shaved grana cheese and hazelnuts.


The spinach soup might not win any food beauty contests, but it was great. Really… spinachy?

Then as an entree I got the Autumn risotto. I love anything with squash in it, but this was really good.

For dessert we got the “Nico”, which I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of. Probably because I was too busy getting high on chocolate endorphins. It’s basically a fancy gelato layered dessert – bittersweet chocolate gelato with chopped chocolate, hazelnut gelato with toasted hazelnuts, chocolate sauce, and amaretto whipped cream.

I will definitely be back to Dino – the menu is huge and seasonal, they have reasonably priced bottles of wine, and they have the best dessert I’ve had yet in DC. So, win/win/win.

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Cafe Green – bad service, good cheesecake.

Posted on November 7, 2011 | 3 comments

It’s a shame that when you’re looking for brunch places in DC with vegan and gluten free options, there are really only a handful of places that come immediately to mind. Cafe Green is always top on the list because of their menu and central location, but they’re also notorious for having bad service and being a bit discombobulated.

When I met up with Katelyn (New Kid on the Vegan Block) there this weekend, they were certainly true to form. The first mistake was our bad – we assumed they served brunch on Saturdays, but it’s only on Sundays. The rest were their bads.

There was a mix up with our food order, we didn’t get our “superfruit” cocktails until after our meal, and they kept trying to take our coffee away.

Either way, their “famous” veggie burger was pretty darn tasty, and the coleslaw was great piled on top. I love daiya cheese for its Velveeta-like creaminess, and the peppers were also a nice touch. You can see Katelyn’s tempeh sandwich on her post.

Now I will commence a rant on Udi’s bread:

I really need to stop ordering sandwiches at places with Udi’s bread. It’s not good, I end up paying extra for it, and it’s small and not flavorful. Why don’t more restaurants have local gluten free bread? Or at least attempt to make their own? The bread that comes out of my breadmaker is approximately 900 times better than Udi’s. I get that Udi’s is probably the cheapest option for restaurants, but it’s just so…lame.

K, rant ended. My hatred for Udi’s bread grows stronger every time I eat it though.

My recommendation for going to Cafe Green? Don’t go with someone who is going to complain about the service, only easy going people who don’t mind waiting/dealing with weirdness. Also order the mac and cheese and the cheesecake. They’re the best things on the menu. Also make sure if you want brunch you go on SUNDAY.

I brought home with me some chocolate banana cheesecake (amazing), and some of Katelyn’s homemade granola bars! (also amazing). I know she’s been working on perfecting her recipe, but I can’t imagine them getting much better. They’re my favorite kind of granola bars – moist, flavorful, and addictive.

Now I still have to go back to Cafe Green for brunch at some point, because they have a few pancake/french toast plates that sound delicious. Maybe I’ll bring them some of my bread so they can think about replacing that Udi’s with something more…edible.

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Gluten free at Grey Market DC

Posted on October 23, 2011 | 2 comments

Yesterday I went to my first Grey Market. It was way-the-heck up in Columbia Heights/Petworth, and also in a small basement of a corner store. It kind of felt like the Dirty Dancing set where all of the workers danced, but filled with food vendors.

There were mostly baked goods up for sale, with adorable mini pop tarts, cupcakes, and Halloween-themed cookies. So, not much for me to sample. On their products page, it looked like there would be a few gluten free vendors there, but I only saw one: Sweet Nuttings. Maybe I missed the other ones in the chaos…


This place has a great bakery concept: focus on nuts, and let them each shine in their own dedicated cookie.

I got one of each.


The pistachio one was my favorite I think, but they were all delicious. They had a rich, buttery texture, and tasted like an amplified version of the nut.

How gorgeous is that cookie? I wish I’d bought a dozen.


Sadly I can’t find a website for them, but they have an email address: sweetnuttings@gmail.com.

After Grey Market, we headed over to The Heights, which I’m only mentioning because they had the most delicious Maple Squash and Sage soup ever.


It’s vegan and gluten free, and tastes like Thanksgiving. I guarantee that this will wet your whistle for Turkey Day. The Heights also has an amazing happy hour with $4.25 glasses of wine (dangerous).

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DC Veg Fest

Posted on September 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

This Saturday was DC Veg Fest, on the campus of George Washington University. Usually vegetarian/vegan events are gluten free-friendly, plus I love vegetables, so I was pumped.

Right away the tent for Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant caught my eye.

They had spring rolls and tiramisu that were marked gluten free. Unfortunately, by the time I walked around and got back to their tent, they were out of tiramisu. So sad.

Next logical choice? Mung bean pancake from Cafe Green. Just kidding, it was no tiramisu, but it was fine. I wasn’t really expecting mung beans to blow my mind.

Now, not to be a hater, but there were a few things about the VegFest that irked me.

  1. There were hardly any vegetables. There were cupcakes, Indian food, mac and cheese, and nachos. I swear if someone was selling cups of cut up vegetables they would have sold like hot cakes. As my friend Kaitlin says, there’s a difference between vegetarians and people who love vegetables.
  2. Equating vegetarianism with animal-loving. I mean, who doesn’t love animals? But it’s not the sole reason why people are vegetarians. And I wouldn’t really call myself an animal lover – they can do their own animal thing, and I’ll do my human thing, and if we happen to be together we’ll have a good ole time. At one point a speaker said that vegetarians are the “kindest people in the world”. Really? I know many a bitchy vegetarian that would prove otherwise.
  3. No balloon animals or games. It’s a festival people! Aside from one guy dressed up like a giant carrot, it was kind of a serious festival. We missed the cupcake eating contest, but if I’m going to a festival I’m expecting there to be a bean bag toss, or a magician or something. (Also, isn’t a vegan cupcake eating contest a total oxymoron?)

And that concludes my VegFest rant. I think I should stick with my gluten free peeps from now on.

 

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DC Celiac Meetup at Finn & Porter

Posted on September 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

After work yesterday I went to the DC Celiac happy hour at Finn and Porter. They had put together a special gluten free happy hour menu which had $5 glasses of wine and $5 Redbridge, Bard’s Tale, and Woodchuck Cider, as well as some great appetizers.

Like chips, hummus, and guacamole…

The head chef at Finn & Porter, chef Aaron Flores, came out and sat with our table and is super knowledgeable about gluten free cooking. He’s actually the National Executive Chef of the Celiac Sprue Association. He will take care of you if you ever eat there. Most of their dinner menu is already gluten free, using arborio rice and potatoes instead of other common side dishes like cous cous or pasta.

I also got the rock shrimp with sweet Thai chili sauce (and fun crunchy noodle things).

Fried goodness. It tasted like sweet and sour chicken, only shrimp. I don’t usually eat fried food, so this was a total treat.

Another benefit of the meetup (besides meeting a bunch of hilarious, nice, gluten free people) was getting some great restaurant recommendations. Now I’ve added Sette Osteria, Lilit Cafe, and Pete’s Apizza to my list of places to try.

Special thanks to Vanessa for hosting! I wish that I could go to the Bite Back at Celiac Gala that she’s a part of, but tickets are just a bit out of my price range 🙂

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