Archive for Restaurants (Local)

Drafting Room – A Nacho’riffic Experience

November 27, 2007 at 3:37 pm · Filed under Pennsylvania, Restaurants, Restaurants (Local)

The Drafting Room – Spring House
900 N. Bethlehem Pike
Spring House, Pennsylvania 19477
phone: 215-646-6116
http://draftingroom.com/spring_house/sh_home.html

 Drafting Room is a nice local restaurant/bar for your beer enthusiasts. Obviously, as a Celiac, those beers are a no no (they don’t carry any GF beer to date) – but who knows what the future holds. My friends and I like to frequent the bar side on Tuesday nights to enjoy Pub Trivia. While none of the appetizers are gluten free as displayed on the menu, I can bring in my own sealed bag of tortilla chips and they will make the nachos for me (with all the cheese and fixin’s) using my chips.  I’ve never had a problem with them and I’ve had those nachos about a dozen times now. The waitresses are more than happy to work with you on food allergies (wonderful upbeat attitude), but be cautious about everything here. The first time I was ordering I was told she could make the nacho’s gluten free but it would take longer than a regular order of nachos. When I asked for clarification cause I couldn’t understand why – it turns out they were going to pick out all the wheat chips out of the wheat/corn mix. Obviously for anybody with a severe wheat/gluten allergy that’s a big no no. I made sure she realized that it would still make me sick, and that’s when she suggested to bring my own. There’s a Wawa right down the street, so just make a side stop and grab a bag!

I think some of the meals would be gluten free, you just need to work with them.

 They also have Woodchuck – Granny Smith in bottle form for those who are over 21 :)

 Note: This is only for the Spring House branch. I’ve never been to the Exton branch. 

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Bliss – not exactly Bliss, but getting there!

October 17, 2007 at 12:41 pm · Filed under Pennsylvania, Restaurants (Local)

Bliss
224 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102
http://www.bliss-restaurant.com/ 

This weekend I had the pleasure of trying out Bliss. A restaurant that was mentioned in the local paper for being very accomodating of Gluten Free needs.

All in all, it was a very pleasant experience. Located on the Avenue of the Arts, Bliss definitely takes the cake on ambiance. The waiter was very friendly and checked on each item for me that I asked about.

For starters, I had the cucumber soup which was rather good. It was very creamy and rather heavy – but had a very yummy taste.

I then enquired about the pistacio crusted salmon and if I couldn’t have that, I wanted the crispy ginger chicken. Well, the waiter came back and briefly informed me I’d be having the salmon without the crust. Which after a minute took me aback cause the reason I wanted the salmon was Because of the pistacio crust. Well, I dealt – the salmon (while pistacio’less) was still pretty tasty.

For dessert my friend and I shared the vanilla creme brulee. After reporting it was gluten free, it came out with a nice piece of biscotti overtop the creme brulee, so you have to make sure to remind them.

It was a little pricey I thought for the food offered (tax and tip, it came to $50). I think I’d rather go to Pod or Buddakon for those prices. But it was still a nice experience and I think a lot of other people would like it.

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Pasta Pomodoro, Take Two

July 9, 2007 at 12:32 pm · Filed under New Jersey, Restaurants (Local)

Technically this is take three since I’ve been to the restaurant twice before, but this is only the second time I’ve written about it here. Original Review

The first thing I learned on my dinner excursion is that my blog is actually helping people! At least one person has found their way to Pasta Pomodoro in Voorhees after reading my review (which makes me VERY happy!). Hopefully I can keep expanding the places I go to and helping people find restaurants that allow you to eat gluten free with a peace of mind.

The second thing was that my favorite restaurant was clearly a hit amongst Philadelphia as well! Recently, there was the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness Gluten Free Cooking Spree in Philadelphia. I had heard all about it but sadly could not attend due to the high cost and my modest budget. Surprisingly, I had heard nothing about the winner… that is, until Saturday night when Pasta Pomodoro’s chef Pat and owner Skip were very proud to serve their Award Winning Coconut Crusted Chilean Sea Bass (a very big deal at the restaurant – for good reason!).

To top off the meal, my friends and I indulged in two gluten free desserts. The GF Brownie and GF Chocolate Banana Cream Pie. Doesn’t the sound of the last one just make your mouth water? The brownie was good, but if dairy isn’t a problem it would probably taste best with vanilla ice cream (it was also tasty the following day). The Chocolate Banana Cream pie didn’t last until the next day though, it actually didn’t even last 5 minutes. It was devoured and I think I can safely say its one of the best pies I’ve ever tasted (comparable to Mr. Ritt’s, who is also worth a try if you haven’t been to his bakery).

To be fair to our gluten eating friends and family, all my friends greatly enjoyed their glutinous meals as well. The men polished off their plates and while the women all took home leftovers, they were consumed for lunch the next day. 

Stay Tuned: Review of Stephen Starr’s Pod

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Jules Thin Crust Pizza – YUM!

May 31, 2007 at 2:13 pm · Filed under Pennsylvania, Restaurants (Local)

Jules Thin Crust
78 South Main Street
Doylestown, PA
http://julesthincrust.com 

New location in Newtown, PA opening in October ‘07
(Edit 7/17/07): New location in Flemington, NJ opening in July ‘08.  

Last weekend, my boy and I took the 30 minute one way trek to get me pizza – and boy was it worth it!

We’d gone before, and I got some fancy topping gluten free pizza. It was a veggie pizza with arugula, mozzerella, garlic, tomatoes, and some other stuff. I wasn’t a huge fan of the chunks of mozzerella, so I spent a considerable amount of time picking them off and putting them on a plate where my boy then put them on his glutinous pizza.
This time, however, I got a plain GF pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms and green peppers. Let me tell you YUM. While I couldn’t finish a medium pizza (the only size you can get GF) by myself, I made a sizable dent into it.

The crust is thin (as the name of the pizzaria suggests) and crispy and delicious. The only downside is it does cost a pretty penny. One GF medium pizza, one large regular pizza and two sodas cost over $40 (wowzers!). But we both had leftovers that reheated very well in the oven (directions on the bottom of the To-Go box) so really it counted as two meals.

They also offer frozen dough to take home for $6 that you defrost an hour before baking then roll out to the medium pizza side. I bought two, but have yet to try and make them so I’ll keep you posted on how they turn out.

As a dessert treat, they offer some prepackaged GF Good Eatz baked goods – such as cookies, brownies, and rice crispy treats. I tried the Chocolate Chip cookies and the brownies and I enjoyed the brownie more.

I wish I was closer to this place and I would probably be a regular patron. As is, it is an every couple month treat :)

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Pasta Pomodoro – Worth a visit

May 8, 2007 at 7:12 pm · Filed under New Jersey, Restaurants (Local)

Pasta Pomodoro
Eagle Plaza – Route 561. Voorhees, NJ
http://pastapomodoronj.com/
Do you live in or around Voorhees, NJ? If so? I suggest you get off your computer now and go get something tasty from Pasta Pomodoro! In the past month they have added a special Gluten Free menu onto their regular menus. It is actually the front cover!

At Pasta Pomodoro, you can get pizza, pasta, garlic bread, sandwiches, and cake! I’ve been there a total of twice – both time getting pasta dishes that I loved. I prefered the Pollo Marsalla to the Mushroom Pasta, but that’s probably just a personal taste thing. The pasta ‘is’ Tinkyada, so if you don’t like Tinkyada then I would avoid the pasta.

The house salad w/dressing was tasty (the salad comes GF so no need to worry there). The garlic bread was the best I’ve had in my life (and even my gluten eating dinner companions enjoyed). The piece of vanilla sheet cake I had at the end of my meal was very sweet and I had a hard time finishing it.

The restaurant is great for both Celiacs and non-Celiacs alike. It’s kinda pricey ($12-$20) depending on the menu item. It is BYOB, so don’t forget to bring your own wine. Another (understandable) downside is there is an additional cost for being Gluten Free. GF pasta is $3 on top of the initial pasta dish price.

 My first time there I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the owners, Skip (who has Celiac). He was able to give me his stricted confidence that cross contamination would never be an issue and that his staff is trained on handling GF meals.

It was a joy to go to, and I’m looking forward to trying one of the GF sandwiches. I wish I lived closer as that would make a great ‘take away’ lunch. 

This is by far one of my favorite restaurants!

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