For Your Breadless Sanity: Gluten Free Matzo for Passover

Posted by Stefanie Gans / Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

Hallelujah people. Hallelujah. I found a way to help you get through the lonely bread-free days of Passover. 

My uncle recently started a gluten-free diet and decided to continue it during Passover. He brought over a gluten-free matzo that I was sure would taste even worse than what my mom usually buys. Somehow, this gluten free “matzo-style” matzo is so much better.

It’s crisper. It’s saltier. It actually has some flavor. It’s like more like a cracker and totally feels like cheating.

I’m not exactly sure why this gluten-free matzo is not allowed for “sacramental purposes” (see box above) but it is labeled as kosher for Passover, so we’re going with it.

Treat it like a cracker and top it with a slather of avocado and a smidge of sardine. Leave the real stuff to matzah brei, either savory or sweet. 

Photo: Stefanie Gans

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Taste a Day of the Gluten-Free Life

Posted by Sally Traynham / Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

With a rise in recent years of gluten intolerance, celiac disease diagnosis and wheat allergies, many NoVA restaurants are making a huge effort to accommodate guests who adhere to a gluten-free eating. Restaurants are also helping to abolish gluten-free products as tasting comparable to cardboard.

For the gluten-free NoVinian, here is a perfect day to enjoy the best of the gluten-free life.

Wake up with a cup of joe and enjoy breakfast at Silver Diner (multiple locations), a diner that features gluten-free items dotted throughout the menu.

For lunch, head to Rustico (Alexandria, Arlington) and savor a wood-fire pizza fitted with a their specialty chickpea crust.

Grab happy hour with friends at Rock Bottom (Arlington) and gulp down a pint of Nikki’s—a craft honey pale ale, that’s gluten-free.

Splurge on dinner at Wildfire (Tysons), with a gluten free menu that ranges from salads to steaks and even includes four gluten-free dessert options.

Photo: marekuliasz/Shutterstock

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Gluten-Free Gastronomy

Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Diners with gluten allergies are slowly but surely being acknowledged by area restaurants with increased dining options, and it couldn’t happen any faster for those that suffer from gastrointestinal intolerances to wheat, barley or rye.

Most recently, La Strada in Del Ray announced yesterday that gluten-free pasta dishes are available upon request to guests (no small wonder considering the culinary mine field gluties are forced to navigate on Italian menus bulging with wheat- and flour-based items).

Other restaurants in the area, including some of the establishments that comprise  Neighborhood Restaurant Group (NRG), have been trumpeting gluten-free dining options for a while now (perhaps this forward thinking gluten philosophy has to do with co-owner Michael Babin’s S.O. having a gluten allergy?)

At NRG’s Rustico, gluties can indulge in usually-off-limits pizza pie without fear.  Any pie on the menu can be made with a gluten-free chick pea dough (and in fact the menu states except for Eggplant Parmesan and Potato Gnocchi, all items can be made gluten-free). Further, if you thought your Celiac diagnosis was the death knell for enjoying flour-based sweets, guess again. Buzz Bakery Pastry Chef Josh Short makes a mean gluten-free brownie, and gluten-free cakes can be special ordered from the store as well.  

Heading around the beltway to Tysons Corner, gluties can enjoy selections from a gluten-free menu at Wildfire culled together by Chef Steve Lukis. The menu houses a wide array of gluten-free pizzas, sandwiches, and most interestingly a wheat-free beer!

Are you a glutie? Check out dcgluties.com to seek out new restaurants and boldy go where no gluties have gone before.

–Amy Loeffler