whitneybee's Profile
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The one thing I really miss since going GF is ______. I miss just being able to grab a slice of pizza, or a sandwich, or really any sort of quick meal or late night snack. I'm lucky to live in New York City, where I have any number of GF pizza options at my fingertips, but most of them are at sit-down restaurants, and sometimes I don't have that kind of time. I was out with friends the other night, and they stopped for a quick slice of pizza (at about 11:30 at night) on our way home, and I was surprised at how jealous I was of them while I was watching them eat! |
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The Friedman's grilled pastrami reuben is one of my favorite GF things in the city. |
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The Modern by the window in winter? We got the center two-top by the window by sheer luck last December, and we weren't even the slightest bit cold. As for dietary restrictions, I'm gluten-free and was very easily accommodated. The nicest part was that our waitress knew exactly what items were already gluten-free and what could be modified - no running back to the kitchen to check with the chef required. I noted my dietary restriction in our Open Table reservation, but I think they would have been just as accommodating if I hadn't let them know in advance. |
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I can't speak to the dairy free side of things, but I've eaten gluten free successfully at a number of places in Soho. Like sgordon mentioned, Bread is a surprisingly safe bet, and they even have gluten-free pasta available. Rubirosa also has an extensive gluten-free menu, and it looks like they have some items that are or could probably be made dairy-free as well. I also had a great meal recently at Jack's Wife Freda on Lafayette, and they were really accommodating. The peri peri chicken is really good. |
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For all-you-can-eat sushi, Chinatown East is a much better option on the UES than Yuka. Significantly cleaner, and for an extra $5/person you get much better nigiri & rolls. They also include special rolls on their all-you-can-eat menu, if you're into that kind of thing. |
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Tonight's dinner is a thrown-together risotto with chicken sausage, cannellini beans, and spinach. Tonight's after-dinner activity will be vacuuming up all of the grains of rice that spilled on the floor. |
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My absolute favorite from that book is the corn & roasted red pepper chowder. I've also made the Spicy Chicken and Rice Flu Chaser Soup with great success. Love all the recipes I've tried so far. |
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Little Italy restaurant offering some gluten free pasta Second this. Rubirosa has an extensive list of gluten-free options. My gluten-eating friend even says that the gf pizza is better than the regular stuff. The pasta is pretty good too. |
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Tapas - Lower East Side, East Village I like La Paella, and I've found it to be more hit than miss, although I'm aware I may be in the minority on this one. |
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Tonight's dinner is Martha Stewart's Roasted Chicken and Butternut Squash soup. I think it was a little better in the idea than in the execution, but it's still hitting the spot all the same. I might amp up the spices next time I make this. |
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Manhattan Dish of the Month (Sep 2012) - Queso Fundido I've only ever had the Queso Fundido at Cascabel, but I like their version a lot. |
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One billion discount mushrooms. Now what? Agreed. This is one of my favorite vegetarian main dishes and it uses a lot of mushrooms. |
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Thanks for the great advice! I did some serious lurking here before we made reservations, and I know how much we love trip reports over on the Manhattan board. I was a bit apprehensive about Kouzzina, but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. The service was a bit slow, but the food was delicious. Having not tried it right when it opened, I can't speak to improvements, but I'd say it's worth a visit. |
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It's entirely possible that Raglan Road was having an off night, especially since I've read SO many positive reviews. I'm just not sure I'd try it again on my next trip, especially since there are so many other great options within WDW. I'd definitely stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge on our next trip regardless (because how cool is it to wake up with a giraffe outside your window?) but knowing that there's a delicious allergy-friendly breakfast option right in the hotel makes that decision even easier. |
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I just returned from 5 days at Disney (with a quick side trip to Universal) and wanted to share my experiences. First things first, I'm gluten free, and Disney consistently bends over backwards for diners with food allergies/intolerances. I've been gluten free for 7 years, so I have this more or less down to a science, and I was incredibly impressed with both my options at the Disney parks and hotels, and how knowledgeable the staff were. In terms of the food... Breakfasts: We did a character breakfast at 1900 Park Faire at the Grand Floridian the first day. The chef made me gluten free Mickey waffles (!), which was very exciting, and the rest of the food off the buffet was just OK. The other three days, we had breakfast at Boma, the buffet restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, where we were staying. Buffets tend to make me very apprehensive, as the risk of cross-contamination is so high, and the food is usually not the best, but we were very impressed with Boma, so much that we had breakfast there the next two days as well. The food was fresh and well-made, and Chris, the chef, was wonderful. He walked me around the buffet the first day and showed me exactly what I could and couldn't have, and also had plenty of GF treats (doughnuts! muffins!) and yes, Mickey waffles, available for GF guests as well. Lunches were mostly eaten in the parks. Most of the quick-service restaurants (the counter-service ones) have GF options on hand like GF rolls, GF pizza, etc. Flame Tree BBQ in Animal Kingdom was probably the best - the pork sandwich was delicious, and Liberty Tavern in the America pavilion at Epcot was solid as well. We also had two lunches at Mara, the quick-service restaurant at the Animal Kingdom Lodge, and we felt that the food was well-prepared there as well, although the service was a bit slow. Dinners: Marrakech (Morocco Pavilion at Epcot): We find that the restaurants in the parks are usually not as great as the restaurants at the resorts, so while Marrakech is definitely a solid in-park choice, it wasn't our favorite meal of the trip. Sanaa (Animal Kingdom Lodge): We had been very curious about Jiko: The Cooking Place, but as we were using the Disney Dining Plan on this trip, we opted for Sanaa as it only used one dinner voucher per person instead of two, and we were so glad we did. The food was excellent. My mom had the tandoori chicken and I had the curry shrimp and butter chicken combo, and both were great. They also had GF pappadums to go with the dips offered with the bread service. This was probably the best meal of our trip. Raglan Road (Downtown Disney): I was really excited for Raglan Road after reading how great it was for GF diners on several GF dining/travel blogs, and I just...wasn't impressed. It was probably our best bet in Downtown Disney (at least for GF options) but after waiting 45 minutes, I was expecting an incredible meal and the restaurant just didn't deliver. My risotto was meh and my mom found her fish and chips to be greasy. I wouldn't return here. Tangerine Cafe (Morocco Pavilion at Epcot): We opted for a quick(-service) dinner at Epcot before the Illuminations show, after having spent the day at Universal Studios. We liked Marrakech, so we figured this was a good bet. The chicken shwarma was the only GF option, and I thought it was pretty tasty, and reasonably authentic. (I ate my fair share of shwarma while in Israel a few years ago.) The hummus was good, although I wish they had GF pita on hand, especially after finding that it was available at Cat Cora's Kouzzina the next night. Kouzzina (Boardwalk): This was probably the second best meal of the trip. They had GF pita bread to go with the dips that were available as an appetizer - and the dips themselves were great - and the fish stew was excellent. Would definitely return here. Non-Disney meals: We ate at the Three Broomsticks restaurant at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal (because I'm a big fan of the books and therefore we had to) and while the atmosphere was fun, the food was nothing special, and I thought the turkey legs were much saltier than the ones found at Disney. That being said, if you're going because you're a Harry Potter fan and want to eat at the Three Broomsticks, it's not TOO bad. Overall, this was a great trip, and some of the restaurants we ate at were great. The Disney Dining Plan was also a pretty good value if you're going to eat on-property a lot. |
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Soft Cocktails for my Pregnant Friend? The Modern Dining Room has delicious housemade sodas - I imagine you'd be able to get them in the bar room as well. |
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Memorial Day Weekend Trip Report from a NY Hound I headed up to Boston from NYC this past Saturday-Monday for a quick getaway. We stayed at the Hilton in the financial district and based most of our chow choices on research here and recommendations from friends. Saturday: Lunch at Wagamama: I'm gluten-free, so we decided to go here since it was near Faneuil Hall and a few other things we wanted to check out, and I'd read that they were fairly gf-friendly. I had GF yasai yaki soba (they subbed out the noodles for rice noodles and made an adjustment to the sauce) and the boyfriend had ramen, although I can't remember which kind. I was definitely happy with the food - it wasn't the best I've ever had, but I wasn't expecting it to be, and it certainly hit the spot after spending 4+ hours on a bus. Dinner at Nebo (North end): I was really excited to try Nebo based on reviews I read, and I just...wasn't impressed. At all. I've been gluten-free for almost 8 years, and I've eaten a LOT of GF italian food, and this just wasn't great. We tried the mussels as an appetizer, which were excellent and probably the thing that saved the whole meal, the caesar salad, and the pizza. The GF caesar salad was essentially just lettuce and caesar dressing, which felt extraordinarily overpriced at $10. (Note: a lot of places that have GF pizza or bread can easily make croutons for their caesar salads - why couldn't Nebo?) The crust on the pizza was decent, but it was drowning in too much sauce and cheese, which turned what could have been a good pizza into a soggy mess. Given that I can get consistently great GF Italian food in NY, I wouldn't return here on my next trip to Boston. Sunday: We had brunch at Nix's Mate, which was the restaurant attached to our hotel. This was based solely on convenience, as we'd slept in and were heading to Fenway, but it was surprisingly good for hotel breakfast. Dinner on Sunday was at Myers & Chang, since it was so highly recommended on this board, and we really enjoyed it. Highlight was probably the grilled octopus & corn, but we also enjoyed the fresh rolls and the GF stir-fried noodles we had. Boyfriend also really liked his short rib tacos, but wished they had a bit more of a kick to them. They were incredibly GF-friendly, and we'd definitely make a return visit. Thank you for the great recs, Boston chowhounds! We'll definitely be coming back for more food & fun soon. |
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Craft or Ciano --- Balthazar or DBGB We had dinner at Craft on Mother's Day. Highlights were the beet salad, scallops & short ribs, and all of the vegetable sides we tried, including the mushroom medley. The baby carrots and, interestingly, the bok choy, were also really well-received. I've had the crispy bacon on two visits now, and I wasn't as wowed by it as some other posters were. |
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Craft had a softshell crab main on the menu when I went for dinner this past Sunday, but I'm only seeing it on the tasting menu online now. |
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I haven't been since December, but it looks like some of the preps are still similar to the lunch I had. Boyfriend loved his trio of seafood 1st course (tuna, salmon, and scallop) and the beef as his 3rd course. I really liked the oven-roasted trumpet royale mushrooms and the chorizo-crusted cod, although if I'm ranking the dishes, I thought my taste of the beef was slightly better than the cod. I had the cauliflower risotto as my 2nd course, and I'd say that was a miss. The great concord grape dessert I had is no longer on the menu, but the boyfriend really enjoyed his caramel parfait, and I thought the presentation was great. Also, I definitely agree w/ Spiritchaser re: getting one of the two-tops along the window. |
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Recommendations for a Three-Day Trip in June While I've never been for dinner at The Modern, I had lunch in the dining room in December, and both the food and service were excellent. I didn't feel like I was missing anything by going for lunch and would certainly go back. |
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We had lunch at the downtown branch of Blue Smoke after visiting the memorial, and the restaurant was full of families with kids. They seemed very accommodating of children. |
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Speaking as a former 10-year-old girl, while the quality at Jacques Torres is definitely better, I think my younger self would have absolutely loved Max Brenner. There is definitely more of a fun/novelty factor to MB. |
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POLL: Can you walk to an actual grocery store? Very spoiled in uptown Manhattan too. I live directly next door to a 24-hour Gristedes (far from my favorite store, but it's right there) and Fairway is down the block. |
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Visiting Manhattan on smallish budget My favorite spot to purchase loose leaf tea is Harney & Sons in soho...lots of interesting vareities, and very helpful staff ----- |
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I like the Notes section on OpenTable just for this reason. I've actually set my account to automatically note that one diner has a gluten allergy on all of my reservations. If I make a reservation over the phone, I might forget to mention my allergy, but when I make a reservation on OpenTable, I know it's already taken care of. |
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cafe to sit and read for an hour near Columbia U? Hungarian Pastry Shop on on 111th and Amsterdam woudl be my bet. I can't personally speak to the pastries, but my friends rave about them, and they'll let you sit as long as you like. ----- |
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ISO excellent grilled calamari I've always really enjoyed the grilled calamari at Ethos, but I haven't found any of their other dishes particularly memorable. I believe it's an appetizer portion though. ----- |
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reasonable upper west side location for a wedding rehearsal dinner Could you give us a per-person budget for food only? $$$ and $$ mean very different things to different people. |
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Backup plan for Eleven Madison Park? That was exactly where I sat for lunch a few weeks back, and it was absolutely perfect. I'll definitely be requesting it next time. |