Gluten Free NYC

Pizza, hot dogs, knish, bagels... the city calls out from every street corner "eat gluten!" At this time, I would gladly mug someone for the chance to eat potato pancakes without getting sick. (I ask - they always contain flour.)

Fortunately, the Internet is a wonderful place and I found a gluten-free restaurant in the West Village. The Gluten-Free Girl blog sent me to Risotteria, a risotto restaurant that primarily sells gluten-free food. Mark had a "full gluten" pizza, but I had the most incredible risotto. It was super creamy with mozzarella and pesto, all stirred up together and served like a stew. They brought gluten-free bread sticks to the table (nice crunchy, flaky crust) and we drank lemonade. We couldn't decide on the dessert, so we ordered three: a cupcake, carrot cake and a "fudgie."

The fudgie turned out to be two very large chocolate chip cookies, sandwiched together with a massive amount of chocolate icing. They cookies themselves were a little too sweet, so when you add in the frosting it was sugar overload. The cupcake was fun. It was chocolate decorated with white boiled icing and topped with colorful sprinkles. Inside was a cream filling. It was kind of like eating a Ho-Ho. But the real winner was the carrot cake. Carrot cake is such a great dessert for gluten-free cooking, because it is dense rather than airy. This was great, with lots of nuts and dates, and a cream cheese frosting. Yummy.

Friday night we wandered Time Square in search of food. We had tickets to see Rent, so we couldn't go too far. We found a neat place called Duke's that had all kinds of food in a quasi-cafeteria style. I had a make-your-own salad (they make it, but I got to decide what went in it) and Mark had panini. We both had fresh squeezed OJ and we bought some chocolate bars for dessert. Our dinner was only $30, a bargain on Broadway.

It's been kind of challenging eating here in NYC. Not because the food I can eat doesn't exist -- it does; but I have to learn where it is and that reduces our ability to be spontaneous. Fortunately, there are many fresh fruit stands all over the city, so I won't be needing to rely on that ol' Frisco standby -- Fritos.

Sandy