Pizza, I know you miss it...

When I lived in Canada the big chain restaurant we had ordered from all my life came out with a decent gluten-free pizza fairly early in the game. I was obviously spoiled by this fact and when I moved down to CT we had very little luck with our GF pizza hunt. We tried everywhere in the area that advertised but everything was terribly disappointing and incredibly pricey - I'm looking at you Wood N Tap.

As luck would have it, on a trip home from Dallas we were seated next to a gentleman who mentioned we were fairly close to a great pizza restaurant that he and his wife often traveled to for their gluten-free pies! We had never heard of it so we decided to give it a chance and see if he was right.

Naples Pizza was absolutely as wonderful as advertised and we have made many subsequent trips. The decor is casual but classy and it's cozy even in the coldest parts of the year. In the summer they have a surprisingly nice patio area around the side of the building which almost doubles their seating area. The servers here are always warm and hospitable and - most important of all - well informed about the food they are serving.

Most of their salads are gluten-free and certainly large enough to share. While I normally make a face when someone tells me the GF options are salad, I enjoy the heck out of the salads here. What I recommend most on the salad front is their Tuscan salad which is amazing. The croutons in it are made of polenta and are crunchy but warm in the center (warning: they do not have a dedicated fryer so if you are incredibly sensitive to gluten skip the croutons). The salad also comes with tons of fresh mozzarella, roasted red pepper, artichoke and black olives in a beautiful vinaigrette, they are anything but stingy with their toppings.

The gluten-free pizza here comes in one size which I would call a medium. Its enough food that the hubby and I share it and are completely satisfied. My normal go-to is the tomato basil toppings with a red sauce but every pizza that goes by my table looks amazing.They do a thinner crust which comes out nice and crispy without tasting like a dry piece of cardboard.

An added bonus is that they have a nice wine selection at a reasonable price. If you're not much of a wine drinker they also offer Redbridge Gluten-free beer. It's not a bad variety as far as GF beer goes, the flavor is decent although I find it a little bit watery. I have ordered it several times though so I guess I don't mind it too much.


All in all, an amazing place for a Saturday afternoon lunch or a cozy Friday night date. I certainly can't get enough!

Burgers and beer, how American!

The other day my husband and I were listening to NPR while driving to work and they mentioned a sponsor of theirs, Plan B Burger Bar. My husband mentioned offhandedly how he had always wanted to give it a try, having heard good things from friends, but since burgers weren't exactly gluten-free he didn't think he would manage to get there before our upcoming move. That afternoon, on a whim, I decided to check out their website to see if they had anything to say on the subject of GF and, much to my surprise, they had a whole gluten-less menu!

It was a Wednesday night and yet it was busier than we expected. They told us about a half hour wait so we took our little buzzer-thing next door to the Taqueria Tavern - where the decor was fun and the service was super friendly. We had chips and guacamole which were excellent and very inexpensive and I had a margarita. The wait was shorter than we expected so we quickly wrapped up and traveled back to our original destination, making a note that we should come back to the Taqueria and give it a night of its own.

Back at Plan B I was happy to see that they had a separate menu for their gluten-free foods so there was no guessing and no confusion. This menu had many options for appetizers, large plates and salads which I skimmed over but... let's be honest, we were here for the burgers, of which they had many. We started with drinks and while I am usually satisfied with a glass of wine I was not limited to that here. They offered two varieties of Woodchuck cider, which is nice if you like sweet (and I do - for reference) but the amazing part was that they offer TWO types of gluten free beer!

The first type was Bard's sorghum beer which I have had before and really did not enjoy. I found it had too strong a molasses taste followed by a seriously bitter hit at the end. I was not signing up for that a second time. Even those friends I had who I thought would drink anything, and I mean anything, would not drink my leftover Bard's. The second option was something I had never heard of before, Dogfish Head Tweason'ale. It had a beer taste up front followed by a strong punch of strawberry at the end. Again, very sweet, but quite delicious and did not taste like it was desperately trying to be "regular" beer. I would definitely order this again.

And finally, the moment you have all been waiting for, on to the gluten-free burgers! A lot of folks don't consider it but with a lot of places, not only is the bun full of wheat products but regularly there is gluten in the burger patties in the form of binding agents and bread crumb fillers. This was not a problem we have to worry about at Plan B (yay!). They had so many delicious looking options that it took me ages to decide what I should order. I'm so used to having 1 gluten-friendly option and just taking what I can get that I was in heaven with all the choice. They have everything from traditional burgers to seafood to vegetarian - you're certain to find at least one that speaks to you.

I decided that, when in Rome do as the Romans do, so I ordered the "New Englander" which is topped with lobster, smoked gouda, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato and corn spread. I was expecting inexpensive shredded lobster when my burger came but I was happy to see that it was whole claw pieces of lobster meat and lots of it! The combination of the toppings was excellent and the corn spread, which I had been skeptical of was slightly sweet and delicious. I ordered their truffle fries which appear to be regular fries tossed with truffle oil and chives. Their fries were crispy and thin cut, not greasy even with the truffle oil on them.

After all this food I was so stuffed I certainly didn't feel like I needed dessert... but, for the sake of you, dear internet, I decided to brave their wheat free dessert. Otherwise, your gluten-free journey might feel incomplete and I just can't have that weighing on my conscience - at least, that's what I told my husband. The  gluten-free menu features something called The B Cup, which is a flourless double chocolate cake filled with white chocolate mousse and covered with a thick chocolate ganache. It is served with a generous dollop of whipped cream and trust me when I say it is MORE than enough to share. I loved the whimsical look of this cake as it came to the table and I had no complaints about the rich chocolate flavor either. This was the ideal end to a delicious meal where I wasn't wanting to wheat even once.

On my gluten-friendly scale, Plan B certainly gets 5 stars!  

A Hello and Some Housekeeping

Hello lovely gluten-free friends. I have finally committed to writing this blog that I have long speculated on. Mostly I intend to share with you all my trials, triumphs and failures (which I'm not afraid to admit, there are many) with gluten-free cooking, shopping and restaurants. I am currently located in the Connecticut area but will soon be relocating to the Dallas, TX area and look forward to exploring new gluten-free restaurants and recipes in the South!

Thanks for bearing with me while I get starting in the wide world of blogging. I hope my tips and suggestions will be useful to you whether you suffer from Celiac disease or have simply chosen a gluten-free lifestyle.