Restaurants

Updated 3/2013

The following are some restaurants in the Greater Boston area that either have gluten free menus, or where we have had luck ordering gluten free.

Burtons Grill (GF menu) --Burlington, Hingham, North Andover, other locations.  Great gluten free menu
Walnut Street Grille (GF choices listed on menu) -- vegetarian restaurant with lots of gluten free options.  Lunch, dinner and brunch.  Newton Highlands
Not Your Average Joes (GF menu) -- Watertown, Needham, other locations too
Legal Seafoods (GF menu) -- numerous locations
PF Changs (GF menu) -- downtown Boston, Natick, other locations
The British Beer Company (GF menu) -- Framingham, other locations
Wild Willy's Burgers -- Needham location has a gluten free menu, including burgers, chicken, gf buns, fries and Redbridge beer; Worcester location might also have a gf menu
Woodmans of Essex (Seafood, Clambake) Clam Shack -- Essex (no specific gluten free menu, but per their website their menu items are gluten free except for sandwiches, clamcakes and onion rings)
UBurger -- Kenmore Square (no gf menu, but per the manager, the fries and burger itself are do not contain gluten and the fries are fried separately from onion rings); other Boston locations now open, I haven't checked with them as yet
B. Good -- Harvard Square, Dedham, Newbury Street, several other downtown/ Back Bay locations, Hingham (there is a book which lists allergens; per this book, burger and fries do not contain gluten) (now offering gluten free buns -- this is confirmed at the Dedham and Brookline locations -- call to confirm at the other locations too)
Stone Hearth Pizza (GF menu) -- Needham, Porter Square Cambridge, Belmont
Zaftigs Delicatessen -- Coolidge Corner Brookline (no gf menu, but are willing to accommodate gluten free; apparently now have gluten free bagels)
Fire and Ice -- Harvard Square, Newbury Street (no gf menu, but can have items prepared separately, with gf sauce)
Rice Barn (Thai) (GF menu) -- Needham
The Elephant Walk (Cambodian, French) (GF menu) -- Boston/Brookline, Watertown, Cambridge  Extensive gluten free menu
Fresh City (GF menu) -- Newton, Kenmore, other locations
Five Guys Burgers and Fries -- Dedham, other locations (no gf menu, but per company, the fries and burgers themselves do not contain gluten)
Nebo (GF menu) -- North End Boston
Red Lentil Vegetarian Restaraunt (GF items indicated on menu) -- Watertown
Myers+Chang (GF menu) -- South End Boston
Bertucci's (GF menu) -- Newton, other locations
Rialto (GF menu) -- Cambridge (upscale, many dishes are gluten free, kitchen is willing to modify others)
Peace o' Pie -- Allston -- gluten free pizza on Thursdays
Abby Park -- Milton -- modern American, gluten free menu (upscale)
Om Restaurant -- Cambridge -- trendy Asian fusion, gluten free menu
The Friendly Toast -- Cambridge (Kendall Square) -- gluten free pancakes (also eggs, salads)
The Fireplace -- Brookline, upscale, gluten free menu (see positive reader comment, below)
Al Dente  -- North End Boston, aparently has a gluten free menu
Beneventos -- North End Boston, apparently has gluten free pizza and pasta
Four Burgers -- Cambridge, theatre district Boston, locally sourced burgers, veggie and fish options, fries, gluten free buns

Favorites

We've now had a primarily gluten free household for 3 years and have definitely developed some preferences. The following are suggestions about some of our (totally subjective) recommendations for gluten free specialty items (some of which buy in bulk form Amazon, as noted):

Places to buy GF food

• A New Leaf -- Needham -- this health food store has a fantastic selection of gluten free food, and the owner is very accommodating and willing to special order items
• Whole Foods
• Trader Joes
• Stop and Shop -- Newton, Watertown -- Stop and Shop seems to have some of the best prices around for the gluten free items that they stock
• Amazon -- many gluten free items are available via Amazon, although usually you must order 6 or so packages, so you should make sure you like it first. If you use the Subscribe and Save option, there is an additional discount and the shipping is free
• Shaws -- although Shaws does seem to have higher prices on gluten free foods than Stop and Shop and Whole Foods, sometimes they sell items that aren't available in other mainstream supermarkets. For example, the Auburndale Shaws sells Conte brand stuffed gluten free ravioli (frozen)
  

Breakfast

• Vans frozen waffles
  
• Pamela's Baking Mix (for pancakes) (Amazon)
• Trader Joes Gluten Free Granola (also, Bakery on Main)
• Homemade muffins (we use Better Batter flour, which subs for regular wheat flour in recipes; we've also had success with Gluten Free Pantry (or Whole Foods brand) muffin mix, or Namaste mix if you are avoiding other allergens too)
• Chex cereal
  

Lunch/Dinner

• Tinkyada Pasta
• Thai Kitchen rice pastas
• Contes gluten free ravioli
• Bell and Evans gluten free frozen chicken products (tenders, nuggets, patties)
• Against the Grain pizza crust
• Amys gf mac and cheese (frozen)
• Glutinos gf mac and cheese (frozen)
• Annies gf mac and cheese (box) (Amazon)
• Lundenberg rissotto mix
• Qinoa (instead of couscous)
• Kettle Cuisine frozen soups and chiles
• Udi's pizza crusts
  

Breads/ crackers

• Pamela amazing wheat free bread mix (Amazon)
• Bread mixes by Anna
• Udi's sandwich bread
• Udi's bagels
• Rudi's sandwich bread
  
• Against the Grain frozen rolls and baguettes
• Joans Great Bakes Bagels, English Muffins and Italian Bread
• French Meadow tortillas
• Nut Thins (especially plain almond)
• Marys Gone Crackers
• Corn Thins
• Chebe brand frozen breadsticks, mini rolls and pizza crusts
  

Baked goods and snacks

• Whole Foods Gluten Free Bakehouse pie crusts
• French Meadow prepackaged brownies
• Homemade cookies and cakes (using Better Batter flour)
• Trader Joes brown rice marshmallow treats
• Trader Joes (or Namastes) gf brownie Mix
• Gluten Free Pantry or Pamela's brownie mix
• Betty Crocker Brownie mix (Amazon)
  
• Hains brand mini cheddar rice cakes
• Glutino pretzels
• Green Mountain tortilla strips
  

British Beer Company (Boston area)

We had dinner tonight at the British Beer Company, a small chain of restaurants with locations in Massachusetts, including Framingham (the location we visited). It is a casual, reasonably priced restaurant, with a British "pub"style ambiance; the menu includes American and British favorites, such as burgers, salads, pizzas, fish and chips, bangers and mash, pasties, steaks, fish, etc. Their gluten free menu is quite extensive, and includes pizza (with toppings!), ribs, a number of salads, burgers (no buns, alas), fish, steak and -- most unusually -- gluten free wrap sandwiches. The manager brought out the gluten free dish we had ordered herself, and without prompting offered an explanation of the extra care that they take with the gluten free orders, starting from the time that someone requests the gluten free menu. It made for a very relaxed restaurant experience (and the food was good too!)

New York City Gluten Free

We just got back from a 5 day stay in New York City -- it truly is a great place to travel if you are eating gluten free. In fact, our "restaruants to visit" list was longer than the number of meals on our trip. (Oh well, I guess we have to go back.) Some of the highlights were as follows:

Friedman's Lunch -- In the Chelsea Market. Their gluten free menu includes sandwiches on gluten free bread, bagels and pancakes on Sundays, hamburgers on gluten free buns, fresh french fries and homemade potato chips (they have a separate fryer for the gluten free food).

Risotteria -- we shared an order of risotto and a gluten free pizza. We ordered a pizza with olive tapenade instead of tomato sauce, topped with goat cheese and sundried tomatoes. Delish. Every meal is prefaced by gluten free breadsticks, the nice soft kind. They also sell wrapped gluten free baked goods to take home, include black and white cookies.

Just Salad -- a salad chain, we went to the one at 30 Rock (Rockefeller Center). The gf salad dressings are clearly labeled. According to the owner, the grilled chicken is gluten free, as are many of the toppings (other than the obvious ones, such as croutons). Ask to have your salad mixed and chopped in a clean bowl on a clean board; the staff were happy to accomodate.

S'mac -- a small restaurant in the East Village, specializing in macaroni and cheese. They have gluten free pasta available, and all the breadcrumbs that are used to top the mac and cheeses are gluten free. You can have traditional American style mac and cheese, or go for a more exotic version, with different kinds of cheeses and mix ins.

Petit Cafe -- this cozy cafe in the West Village was a real find. The owner's mother has celiac, and he has been increasing his gluten free offereings over the past couple of years. Options now include gluten free french toast (served all day), grilled paninis and other sandwiches on gluten free bread, gluten free brownie and gluten free soups. The cafe is small and friendly -- the owner seemed to know many of the customers, and even went to his car in a rainstorm to loan one of his customers his umbrella!

Tuttoriso -- a homey cafe on Staten Island, right next to the ferry stop. This makes a great stopover if you are planning to take the Staten Island ferry (recommended for a great view of the Statue of Liberty and the NYC skyline, and it's free!) Tuttoiso has a full range of gluten free pastas, sandwiches, soups and baked goods.

Cafe 82 -- a typical NYC diner on the upper west side of Manhattan (82d St. and Broadway). They have a gluten free menu, including gf toast for the traditional eggs and hash browns, as well as other diner foods. Very reasonably priced. (no web site)

Whole Foods -- there is now an enormous Whole Foods on East Houston Street. Not surprisingly, this being New York, they have a huge prepared foods section. One night, we didn't feel like eating out, so we picked up take out sushi as well as fresh french fries from the Pommes Frites station within Whole Foods. Pommes Frites is a french frie restaurant in the East Village -- they have an ecclectic selection of sauces (we didn't investigate, just stuck with the ketchup.) This Whole Foods also sells gelato from local gelato makers Il Laboratorio del Gelato, in the Lower East Side.

Another treat was home made buttercrunch chocolate candy from Roni-Sue's Chocolates in the Essex Market (Lower East Side).

What was particularly nice about traveling in New York, is that there were gluten free options in every part of town. The only place that was a bit challenging was Spa Castle -- an incredible Korean spa in the heart of Queesns (you can take the number 7 subway to the last stop, and get a free shuttle bus from there to the spa.) Spa Castle is a five story experience, complete with saunas, and a variety of whirlpools. (I can't really describe it, take a look at the website.) Apparently there is a salad bar there on the weekends, but during the week the main food option is a Korean restaurant. We hadn't brought restaurant cards with us, but in the end were happy to order a couple of bowls of plain white rice (rather cleansing after our other food extravengences). There is also Haagen Daaz and Edy's available, if you want something more decadent!

More gluten free pizza in the Boston area!

Stone Hearth Pizza has now started serving gluten free pizza and pasta at its three Boston area locations (Needham, Belmont, Somerville/Cambridge). The gluten free items are indicated right on the main menu itself. The pizza is thin crust -- they call it Neapolitan style. In addition to pizza and pasta dishes, they have some nice salads, a few appetizers and gluten free desserts on the menu. We tried the gluten free pizza with fresh mozarella the other week, and really enjoyed it.

Daring Bakers January Challenge -- Tuiles

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.


This months challenge asked us to bake Tuiles. I had never really seen these before. They are cookies that are shaped or rolled. In addition, we were to pair the cookies with a mousse or pudding, or something similar.


I used the basic Tuiles recipe presented, which was taken from a book called “The Chocolate Book”, written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck. (The recipe actually makes a butter cookie, not a chocolate cookie.) It was easy to convert to gluten free -- I just used Better Batter flour instead of the all purpose flour. I shaped the cookies into little cups, but pressing the warm cookies inside of a muffin tin when they came out of the oven.

For filling, I made a simple white chocolate mousse, using a recipe posted a the Cooking by the Seat of my Pants blog. I substituted a bit of vanilla for the liquer called for by the recipe. It was super simple, and really good. I then filled the cups with the mousse.

Would I make it again? Maybe. Shaping the tuiles was a little too finicky for me. However, the combination of the crispy cookie and the creamy mousse was quite delicious.