Thursday, June 18, 2009

Gluten Free Philly News and Notes

Leading off this week's news is the appearance of Betty Crocker's gluten-free dessert mixes at area markets. Some, if not all, of the varieties have been spotted at Wegmans stores in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Wegmans is stocking the mixes in the baking goods aisle, not in the gluten free section of the stores. In addition, the mixes can now be ordered from Amazon.com.

I wrote on Monday about our recent dinner at P.F. Chang's China Bistro, which offers a gluten-free menu featuring appetizers, entrees and a dessert. The location we ate at in Marlton, New Jersey even carries Redbridge gluten-free beer.

Three restaurants were added this week to the Gluten Free Philly restaurant list. Yo Dogs in Wyndmoor, Pennsylvania serves beef hot dogs and hamburgers on gluten-free buns. The restaurant's salads also are gluten free. Owner Joanna Hoffman says that she hopes to have a dedicated fryer up and running in the couple months so that customers on gluten-free diets can also enjoy her hand-cut fries.

Reader Janet mentions that the Chinatown Cafe on Route 213 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. stocks rice noodles and gluten-free soy sauce.

The Capital Grille at the Cherry Hill Mall in Cherry Hill, New Jersey is now open.

Local 44, a bar at 44th & Spruce streets in West Philadelphia, serves New Grist gluten-free beer from Lakefront Brewery.

Joe Palombo's Mirabella Cafe in Cherry Hill, New Jersey is now a participant in the GREAT restaurant awareness program sponsored by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness. The restaurant is sponsoring another cooking class with Tammy Hughel. The gluten-free three-course tasting menu will be available at the class on Tuesday, July 14. The event starts at 6 p.m. and costs $40. Reservations for the class are recommended.

Enjoy your weekend!
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3 comments:

  1. I just emailed Yo Dogs and they now say they do have a dedicated fryer for the fries (per "Chad" at Yo Dogs today).
    Thanks for all your great info on this site!

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  2. I wanted to let the readers know that Sam's Pizza in Wildwood is NOT following appropriate measures to prevent cross-contamination when preparing their gf pizza. Both my sister and I spoke to them about using separate pizza sauce and cheese to make the pizza, as well as a separate area to make the pizza. The owner said, "You know what, if people are this sensitive, then I'll just sell my 11 pizza crusts and be done with it." He was quite rude and really didn't have an understanding of celiac at all.

    Following that phone call, I spoke with teh owner of "Still Riding Pizza" who supplies the gf pizza crust. She assured me that they give separate utensils and very detailed instructions on how to prepare the pizzas in order to minimize cross-contimination issues.

    My advice would be to stay away from Sam's Pizza in Wildwood.

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  3. I am very disappointed to come to Wildwood and find out that Sams is not offering gluten free pizza anymore. They were nice enough to make the attempt at an offering as there is no pizza gluten free in the area at all. They were open, willing and extremely nice about it. My daughter bought 5 over a period of weeks. She has a reaction immediately if there is any problem with the food. She never had a problem at Sams. Unfortunately she never will again. Instead of immediately slamming these places it may be better to investigate a bit further. Also the still riding pizza crust is excellent and offered in NJ pizza places. Too bad that I finally got someone open to the idea in Wildwood.... but no more....

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