News & Notes: March 25, 2016

Firebirds' Sorrento Chicken Salad

Firebirds Wood Fired Grill, with area locations in Collegeville (51 Town Center Dr., 484-902-1860), Chadds Ford )91 Wilmington-West Chester Pike, 484-785-6880), Moorestown (400 Rt. 38, 856-380-0604) and Newark (1225 Churchmans Rd., 302-366-7577), has launched its Spring Features menu, featuring seasonal gluten-free items Jalapeño Deviled Eggs, Maple Mustard-Glazed Duroc Pork Medallions, Chicken Sorrento Salad and Chile-Lime Grilled Swordfish. The Spring specials are available until May 3. The restaurant's regular gluten-free menu offers dozens of options, including a flourless chocolate cake for dessert.

The Angelo's Pizza locations in Berlin (2 Rt. 73 S., 856-768-7222) and Voorhees (2999 Evesham Rd., 856-528-2999) offer gluten-free pizza made with separate ingredients and bakeware. Each pizza comes in its own tray with a plastic cutter. (Thanks to reader Jared G. for the tip.)

Insomnia Cookies will be adding a vegan and gluten-free chocolate chip cookie to its menu beginning April 6. The cookies will be prepared in a shared kitchen, although employees will be trained to prepare them separately from other products, including using separate pans and utensils. The college-centric cookie delivery service has six locations in Philadelphia, one in Bryn Mawr, and one in Newark.

Rudi’s Gluten-Free Bakery recently launched a new gluten-free sandwich bread outside of the freezer section. The bread, available in Original and Multigrain varieties, is made with real honey and is available nationwide with a suggested price of $4.99 each. The new items can be found in a store’s bread aisle or baked goods area, which means there’s no need to defrost. All of Rudi’s Gluten-Free Bakery products are certified to 10 ppm or less gluten per serving by the Gluten Free Certification Organization. Rudi's continues to make a variety of gluten-free breads that can be found in the freezer case at your local supermarket.

EVOL Foods, which makes frozen entrees, burritos and breakfast items, will be extending its range of gluten-free options with the addition of enchiladas. The chicken enchiladas are corn tortillas stuffed with cheddar cheese, chicken, rice, black beans, bell peppers, roasted corn, cilantro and lime juice smothered in a spicy red sauce. The vegetarian style is made with black beans, rice, zucchini, cheddar cheese, bell peppers and roasted corn topped with salsa verde. The new items will be available at retail in the frozen food aisle in stores nationwide in May 2016 for between $3.99 and $4.99 each.

Timed for a spring launch, Strongbow Hard Apple Ciders has unveiled its newest flavor: Strongbow Cherry Blossom. Cherry Blossom (4.5% ABV) will be launched in a six-pack this month and will eventually replace Red Berries in the Strongbow Variety Pack in June, alongside Strongbow Gold Apple, Strongbow Honey and Strongbow Ginger. All flavors in the new Variety Pack are gluten-free and sold in 11.2 oz. bottles. You can read about gluten-free hard root beer in my post from Tuesday.

General-admission tickets to the Greater Philly Gluten Free Expo are now on sale. The event will take place on May 21. More details about the event, which I'll be speaking at, can be found in this post.

Have a great weekend!

- Michael

With the Gluten Free Philly app for iOS and Android devices, find more than 1,500 area gluten-free-friendly businesses on the go, search by cuisine or neighborhood, make reservations and more!