GF Travel - New York, NY

I'm heading to New York in the near future, so this post is all about GF places that I am planning to
a)examine
b)eat at
c)admire
d)be jealous of
e)all of the above

The post will be edited sporadically until I leave...so that I can use it to find places when I am there. After I return, I'll update the blog to influence my future trips (and maybe yours..)

Nussbaum & Wu -- sign outside says they have GF options; located on Broadway at 113th.


Community Food & Juice - Has GF Beer on the menu, but I am not sure about food choices and it seems a bit pricey - even for NY. I'll investigate.
2893 Broadway
New York, NY 10025
(Between 112TH & 113TH Streets)

Babycakes - I'm looking forward to trying the banana chocolate chip loaf. Soon to add a place in LA.
248 Broome Street (Btwn Orchard & Ludlow)
New York City, NY 10002
(on the lower east side)
The owner wrote a cookbook...read the recipes carefully to stay GF.



Heathers BarSays they offer GF beer and cider with GF dedicated glasses. In the east village, but I have no idea about the ambiance or clientele (anyone care to witness a potential awkward moment?).
Opens at 4pm Thurs-Saturday, 6pm Sun-Wednesday.
506 EAST 13TH STREET
BETWEEN AVENUES A & B

Lula's Sweet Apothecary - some GF ice-creams.
516 EAST 6TH STREET
BETWEEN AVENUES

Blue Smoke - BBQ place near Madison Square Park. Gluten free menu available online (PDF).

Haakon's Hall - Claims on the website that the Chef has experience with gf food and celiac disease. GF pasta, pizza, beer. Worth a shot...
1187 Amsterdam Avenue New York City, NY 10027 - Phone: 1.212.300.4166

Chipotle - see my earlier post under places I eat. Nice Plan B or Plan C. More pricey in Manhattan than SoCal. There is one at Broadway and 110th, if you don't want to look it up on the Chipotle site.

Positive GF snack review - TJs honey plantain strips

The first of many positive food reviews (I hope). Just picked up some Honey Plantain Strips from Trader Joe's. Only chose them because they were GF, relatively cheap, and sounded interesting. I devoured the entire bag...Nice flavor, could let them marinate in my mouth and gradually dissolve, or could chew on them. I'd recommend the marination, as it will make the bag last longer (Is marination even a word?). The whole bag chipped in (pun intended) at less than 400 calories, not bad for so much Honey. My one gripe about the product is that plantains tended to clump together - like boys at a junior high dance. I had to crack apart quite a few plantains in order to avoid putting a whole chunk of honey plantain in my cheek to dissolve over time. Would get them again in future, but not all the time...nice change of pace in the snack world.

Advocacy Email - Chipotle

So, I went on the Chipotle website and was proactive about my problems with their cross contamination. You are able to comment and send them emails. Here is what I wrote...sent at 11:15 am on November 11th, 2009.

I have celiac disease, and am allergic to gluten. I enjoy your barbacoa fajita bowl. Sadly, all the Chipotles that I have visited have the same problem - cross contamination of the cheese and lettuce (very bad for me). If you watch, employees roll burritos with the same gloves with which they grab the cheese and lettuce. Occasionally, workers also touch the tongs to the burritos when they serve the meat or other items. As I am allergic to flour, I would very much appreciate it if your assembly line began using tongs for the cheese and lettuce. It would also be great if you emphasized the need to avoid cross contamination of serving instruments. You do a great job of providing gluten free products, but need to be more cognizant dangers of cross contamination. I will post your response on my website. www.celiacsunited.com
Thanks,
Simon

If you'd like to chime in and tell Chipotle how you feel, do so here.

GF Recipe of the Week - sweet and sour pulled chicken

This is a nice, easy recipe.
Good for parties as you can do all the prep in advance.
Beware, it will be sweet. You may want to skip the brown sugar.

It is easiest to make in a crock pot, but you can use a large pot instead and hover over it all day...not my first choice. You can substitute boneless pork chops for the chicken if you are a traditionalist.

You need... Crock Pot, Olive Oil, Chicken Breasts, Bell Peppers, Canned Pineapple, Canned Corn, GF Soy Sauce, Brown Sugar, Garlic?, Corn Starch, Rice.

DIRECTIONS

1. Using a crock pot, combine the following ingredients.

smidgen of olive oil (to cover the base of the crock pot first)

chicken breasts - whole (trimmed of fat)

bell peppers - cubed or cut lengthwise. take out the seeds of course. any color will work.

canned pineapple in fruit juice (enough to cover the meat/veg). I tend to use cubed pineapple.

gluten free soy sauce - 3 dashes (you can buy the GF soy sauce at whole foods or vons)

can of corn

sprinkle of brown sugar (unless you want to be healthy)

little bit of ground garlic (totally optional - avoid if it is date night)

2. Mix everything around, making sure to cover the meat/veg. If necessary, add a bit of water.
3. Turn on the crock pot and add the lid. (I hope you remembered this step on your own)
4. Cook it for at least 5 hours on high. Stir the crock pot if you get the urge, but you don't actually need to.
5. Remove the chicken breasts and shred them using a couple of forks.
6. Add a little corn starch (couple of tablespoons) to the crock pot
(it is less likely to clump if you mix it with some of the liquid from the crock pot in a separate container before adding it). This will make the liquid thicken a bit.
7. Wait 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
8. Put the shredded chicken back into the crock pot and cook for another 30 minutes. This would be a good time to start cooking the rice.
9. Turn the crock pot to warm.
10. Serve the meal and enjoy.
11. Turn off the crock pot.
12. Try to have someone else clean up as you did all the cooking. :-)

Website Review - National Foundation for Celiac Awareness

There are quite a few GF websites out there. The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness has a well-designed, colorful web presence.

The National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA) was formed as a national 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization to raise awareness of celiac disease among the general public and the healthcare community, and to facilitate research to better understand the causes, mechanisms, and treatment of celiac disease.

They also have links to other GF blogs, that offer different slices of GF life. My posts are going to have a bit of a West Coast leaning to them (along with a healthy dose of sarcasm, humor, and the occasional rant - though I think you may have figured that out already).

I share their goal of raising the awareness of celiac disease...but I cannot be as earnest as they are all the time (though I am glad they are)...celiac disease is a major pain to deal with, and I find that humor and sarcasm help keep me going.

As for the rest of my review of their site...
The layout and colors are nice. Buttons neatly arranged in a soothing green.
Resources section is pretty nice. I think the Blog links are well designed and informative. I was disappointed that most of their activity seems to be centered in the Philadelphia area..but I guess you need to start somewhere. I like the symptoms checklist (like a celiac webmd)...I also think the personal stories section is a good idea.

What do you think of the celiac central site? Any other sites you'd like me to review?

Event to Calendar - May 15, 2010

The Celiac Disease Foundation's 20th Anniversary Annual Education Conference and Food Faire (try saying that 10 times fast) is scheduled for May 15th, 2010. If memory serves me correctly, that is a Saturday.

Location: Los Angeles Marriott Downtown
Details available at: Celiac Disease Foundation

I am more interested in the Food Faire than the Conference...even though I don't tend to gravitate to events or stores with supernumerary letters (like Ye Olde Goodee Shoppe).

Alcohol and Co.

(awesome name for a nightclub/bar)

As a general rule, a celiac can imbibe anything that has been distilled.

It is also usually better to go with a high end premium spirit (less likely to have strange additives or caramel coloring of the non-USA variety). This gives you a great reason to acquire discriminating taste-buds. Sadly, premium alcohol costs more, much like premium gasoline. Contrary to popular opinion, ordering pricey premium spirits does NOT make your pinkie finger extend while you drink your alcohol.

I wrote about GF beers in a previous post.
BEWARE of mixers - that's a post for the future.

The following spirits should all be OK. They are listed randomly, with alphabetical subcategories...

RUM
Appleton
Myer's Dark
Bacardi Superior and flavors
Bacardi Select
Bacardi 8
Captain Morgan
Gosling's Black Seal
Malibu
Mount Gay
Pusser's

TEQUILA
1800 Reposado
Cazadores Blanco
Sauza
Jose Cuervo Gold
Patron Silver

VODKA
Absolut and flavors
Finlandia Mango
Ketel One
Skyy
Smirnoff
Stolichnaya and flavors
Van Gogh flavors

WHISKEY / BOURBON
Bushmills
Canadian Club and Canadian Club Classic
Crown Royal
Jack Daniel's
Jameson Irish
Seagram's V.O.
Wild Turkey 101

GIN
Beefeater
Bombay Sapphire
Gordon's
Tanqueray

BRANDY / COGNAC
Calvados
Courvoisier V.S.

LIQUEURS (tend to have a lot of gluten and junk...the following are OK)
Cointreau (for a better margarita than triple-sec provides)
Grand Marnier

SCOTCH (stick to the semi-good and good stuff)
Some people think that scotch is a no-go, but I have not read anything definitive either way. I think you are OK with the ones I list here.
Chivas Regal
Cutty Sark
Dewar's 12
Dewar's White Label
Glenfiddich
J&B Rare

PORT? (need to investigate)