Gluten-free Gourmand

Gluten-free burgers with GF buns.  Flourless chocolate tortes.  Gluten-free beer.  Charming NW Portland .  Need I say more? Photo by Gina Kelley Well, you probably think it's too good to be true - or too expensive to be prudent.  I'm happy to say that the burger is tasty and the Jensen's GF Better Bun is fantastic.  The prices are reasonable, although they of course charge a little extra for the gluten-free bun.  The "Not-fries" are gluten-free and so is the flourless chocolate torte with salted caramel sauce.  The caramel sauce wasn't the best part of the torte - it was too chewy - but the torte itself was excellent.  The menu is very clearly labeled with the gluten-free and vegan options, and the servers are very knowledgeable and helpful.  It should be noted, however, that they don't have separate cooking facilities for gluten-free. Photo by Gina Kelley Dick's Kitchen has two locations - one on Belmont and one that just o...

I went to visit some family in Denver this weekend and was pleased to find many more gluten-free options than I had the last time I visited.  I even had a few surprises: some really good gluten-free pizza, and a gluten-free beer I'd never even heard of before!  Here I thought I was up on all the cutting-edge news for gluten-free beer, and I found a new one thanks to my mom's iPhone app, which led us to Papou's Pizza . From the outside, it just looks like a run-of-the-mill pizza joint in an average Denver strip mall.  However, Papou's serves some really good gluten-free pizza.  It's New England-style Pizza with a Greek influence - meaning lots of good roasted vegetable toppings.  I got the Mediterranean, which was roasted eggplant, fresh tomatoes, and feta.  The normal pizza crust looked good, too, and the place was a real crowd-pleaser.  We didn't all get gluten-free, but everyone from my 5-year-old niece to my grandmother liked the place, which is a...

I went to Australia earlier this year and did quite a bit of research before I left.  Local blogs in Melbourne and Sydney proved to be really helpful, along with dining sites that had gluten-free search options.  I thought I'd give back to the community by making a traveler's dining guide for Portland.  I'll only list the restaurants that I have personally eaten at and which have strong adherence to gluten-free safety.  There's a more comprehensive list over at Gluten-free Portland dot org. New Cascadia Traditional Bakery - This dedicated gluten-free bakery serves bread, pastries, coffee, pizzas, and sandwiches. Tula Bakery  - An excellent dedicated gluten-free bakery in Northeast Portland. Hawthorne Fish House - Almost all the food served at this establishment is gluten-free.  See the full review here . Deschutes Brewery - They bake their own gluten-free buns and bread sticks in a separate kitchen, and they brew their own gluten-free beer! ...

What a difference a server makes. I like Clyde Common.  The food has always been amazing, and their mixed drinks are equally amazing.  I still remember the first time I went there.  It was New Year's Eve, and for some reason the mood struck me to get a Bloody Mary.  I almost never order that drink - it's usually too sweet or salty for me.  Well, this one was made from a chili sauce.  It was spicy and perfect.  Another reason to like Clyde Common is that many of their dishes are gluten-free without having to make substitutions.  They aren't trying for it; they are just really high-end.  The food is cheffy, which typically means they don't rely on a lot of wheat products.  Wheat is boring and mundane, after all.  Gluten is passé.  So I took a gluten-free friend to Clyde Common this winter.  We got our fancy cocktails and we checked out the dinner menu.  There were several things that looked doable as a gluten-free dis...

It's hard to say what you'll remember the most about Andina.  It might be the service, the amazing Peruvian food, the atomosphere, or the stunning presentation.  For me it was the huge gluten-free menu. One of the things that I have liked about going gluten-free has been that it simplifies my dining decisions.  Before going gluten-free, I had always been the person in the party who would mull a bit too long over the many tantalizing options to order.  Now, in most restaurants I simply find the one item on the menu that I think might be easily modified to be gluten-free.  At Andina I didn't have that luxury.  However, at Andina I didn't mind having so many things to choose from. My gluten-free friend and I got the works.  At least, it felt like it.  First of all, they brought us something to snack on instead of bread.  I'm not sure I've ever been to a restaurant that had a gluten-free bread substitute.  It was a delicious fried yucca d...

"I had given up on finding gluten-free Italian food in a restaurant," my dining companion said as we both perused the menu at Iorio's.  The server had just finished explaining the gluten-free options, which was practically everything on the menu.  They serve gluten-free pasta as well as gnocchi, and most of their battered dishes were GF as well.  (I apologize for not thinking to ask whether the frier is shared with gluten-containing foods).  It was difficult to choose from the menu.  I'm more accustomed to having only one option per restaurant!  We ended up splitting some dishes so we could try more things. The calamari appetizer was excellent.  It was cooked just right - still tender inside - and the GF breading was nice and crispy.  I ordered the Eggplant Parmesan, which was also breaded with a different crispy breading.  While my pride will not let me say that it was better than my own recipe for the dish, I thought it was good.  M...

 I have been hearing about the Hawthorne Fish House for a long time, and I finally got over there to try some gluten-free fish 'n chips for the first time in August.  Almost everything on their menu is gluten-free! The deep-fried fish is coated with some tasty rice flour.  I got the halibut.    My friend got the Chile-fried Catfish, which was even better than mine, but I didn't have an opportunity to get a shot of that before it was completely devoured.  I really liked the spicy breading.  They have several gluten-free beers in bottles - including all three styles of Green's. Hawthorne Fish House has a very clearly-marked menu that has notes on what is and isn't gluten-free.  The restaurant has a very clever strategy for presenting their fish as not only the healthiest, but also the best in Portland.  Here's a little of what they say about their food: "It's no accident we have Portland's Best Fish & Chips. Besides top quality fish ...

Deschutes Brewery in Portland, Oregon, out-does itself again with their new gluten-free beer, the Gluten-free Crystal Weiss. Deschutes is really perfecting their gluten-free beers - each one is better than the last. Each one also seems to come closer to traditional beers, and sidesteps some of the pitfalls of the typical gluten-free beer. The Gluten-free Crystal Weiss is very drinkable. The ingredients of maple syrup and molasses come through in the flavor and aroma. This one is very pleasant and smooth, with none of the metallic aftertaste that is the signature of other gluten-free beers die to the sorghum malt.  It has a bit of a fruit quality to it but it holds back from being actually sweet. The aroma is what really stood out for me with this beer. Gluten-free beers often have an unusual odor. While I could smell the sorghum in this beer, the scent was surprisingly pleasant. They don't have it posted on their website yet, but the brew is listed on their beer menu: ...

The Deschutes Brewery is now going to have gluten-free beer on tap year-round! I heard about the brewery developing some new gluten-free beers a few days ago and went to the brewery to verify. My server, Jen, was extraordinarily helpful. Not only did she verify that they would be serving gluten-free beer year-round, but they also are working on various recipes. I had been in several months ago to try the Gluten-free Golden Ale , which I had really enjoyed. It was bitter and hoppy. The recipe included sorghum, brown rice and roasted chestnuts. At right is a picture of my friend Ben from Gluten-free PDX with that very ale. I asked Jen about gluten-free options on the menu, because at first glance there didn't seem to be a lot of clear choices. She clued me in to the fact that they have things that can be made gluten-free indicated with a little symbol of a head of wheat crossed out. Vegetarian options are noted with a green leaf. When she came back with our beers, J...