Some great news from Wildfire in Chicago via The Chicago Tribune.

Chicago and suburban locations of Wildfire restaurant are teaming with the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center to present a series of gluten-free wine dinners this week.

Every evening from Nov. 8 through 12, Wildfire restaurants will feature a four-course, four-wine dinner composed of gluten-free ingredients.

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In a great article from Nation’s Restaurant News, the benefits to a restaurant for offering a well thought-out gluten-free menu or outlined. The steps to understanding the commitment of a gluten-free menu are also outlined. Thanks to author, Anita Jones-Mueller for such an informative “how to” guide.

Understand the commitment
It’s not as easy as a burger without the bun. Even a speck of gluten, as small as the size of a grain of sand, can contaminate a gluten-free item and cause havoc to someone with celiac disease. Therefore, if your restaurant commits to offering and promoting a gluten-free menu, you must commit to all the way.

Identify and/or develop gluten-free options
Beyond the obvious bread and pasta, gluten is found in a wide variety of products. Gluten can be hidden in seasonings, sauces, flavorings and other ingredients. Restaurateurs will need a gluten-free expert to help develop or identify potential items for a gluten-free menu. A thorough analysis of all ingredients, including all sub-recipes and purchased and prepared items, is need to assess whether there are any traces of gluten present.

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Photo credit: Fit Bomb

IN-N-OUT Burger has long been a favorite of the gluten-free community for its no-nonsense menu and the limited potential for cross-contamination in the preparation of their food. While eating a Double Double “protein style” is a wonderful, healthy (or healthier) and rare option to have at a fast food restaurant, we’d be so overwhelmingly happy to see the additional option of a delicious gluten-free bun. With so many great dedicated gluten-free bakeries to choose from, outsourcing a great tasting gluten-free bun would be easy.

If you happen to be an IN-N-OUT fan, please leave a comment here and let them know that you would be interested in having a gluten-free bun. If we can get up to 5,000 people requesting the gluten-free bun, I’ll pass this on to IN-N-OUT management. Share this with all of your gluten-free friends and let’s hope for the best.

Note: The petition software we were using previously wasn’t functioning properly — please use the comment form below instead.

Overall, I consider myself pretty easy to please — I’m not the type to complain about something unless it’s really bad, and I lead a fairly simple life. It’s the small things in life that truly make me happy — sight, sounds, smells — all of which for me are synonymous with good food, and in my case gluten-free food. These are just a few things for me that will put a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

1. Properly labeled gluten-free packaged food (and it’s really gluten-free)
   It’ so nice to walk into a store and find something labeled gluten-free and it actually is gluten-free. So many gluten-free products include too much fine print with lines like, made on shared equipment with…, made in a facility…, made with non-gluten ingredients…, etc. There are a few brands that have this fine print that I trust and do well with, but all in all, I’d much rather not have to deal with it. These days, every company wants to jump in on the gluten-free bandwagon — that’s all well and good as long as they are willing to do more then just say they are gluten-free. It’s a matter of people’s lives and health, and it should be treated that way.
2. Nutritious gluten-free packaged food
   I’ll be the first to admit that I love my gluten-free snack food and desserts — there are so many amazing gluten-free products available. But after a while, especially when it comes to sugar, enough is enough. While I love seeing recipes from the likes of Elana’s Pantry who really focus on using healthy ingredients (but still come up with some great recipes that can be considered treats), I still find myself needing the occasional packaged gluten-free food to get me through a meeting at work or even just as a quick and lazy snack. So when I find something that focuses on nutrition and isn’t loaded with sugar and unnecessary calories, I get excited.
3. Dedicated gluten-free menus with real choices
   With the gluten-free menu being such a hot trend, so many restaurants are offering them. When I walk into a restaurant and I get a dedicated gluten-free menu that is more than a piece of paper with a plain salad, a plain chicken breast, or plain veggies, I get discouraged. Yes, it’s nice that they are pointing these items out, but how wonderful to walk into a restaurant like Risotteria in NYC, Picazzo’s in Portland, OR and Arizona or even Hugo’s in L.A, who have well thought out detailed gluten-free menus with more choices than anyone could know what to do with. Talk to any of these restaurants about how many people ask for gluten-free menus and everyone of them will surely let you know that it has made good business sense for them to offer these menus — I really don’t understand why more restaurants don’t do it.
4. A grocery with more than a few shelves dedicated to gluten-free food
   My local grocery has about a 5’ section of an aisle with a handful of gluten-free products on three shelves — it’s simply not enough. When you walk into a Whole Foods, Wegmans, or New Seasons (and many others), you know that you are going to have choices. Some of them have entire aisles dedicated to gluten-free products and some even have it scattered throughout the store in every section and every aisle. I am like a kid in a candy store when I come across a store like this.
5. A family doctor who doesn’t discount celiac disease as a non-issue
   Too many times I’ve been to the doctor and just had them glaze over when I mention that I have celiac disease. I’ve even had doctors who didn’t know enough about it to understand that it involves much more than just cutting out wheat — they’ve been surprised when I tell them the long list of ingredients that I do have to avoid — and to think they are doctors :(   You would think that something like celiac disease that effects up to 1 in 100 people, would be known by every doctor on the face of the planet and welcomed as it is relatively easy to successfully treat.
6. Gluten-free school lunches
   My daughter is also on a gluten-free diet and it has been so hard getting the various schools that she’s attended to get on board with getting her a gluten-free meal that consisted of more than a salad and a carton of milk. We’ve almost always had to resort to her bringing her lunch (which at the end of the day is a healthier option). There are days when time runs out and having the option for the school lunch would be nice. People like Amy Leger of The Savvy Celiac blog have done a lot of work in this area — I just hope that gluten-free lunches will spread and be more available to us all. One really entertaining thing that I do see is how many kids want my daughter’s gluten-free cookies that she sometimes packs in her lunch box.
7. Media coverage that doesn’t refer to the gluten-free diet as the latest fad
   Too many times now, I’ve seen reports on mainstream news outlets about the latest fad, the gluten-free diet. I’d much rather it be reported as a public health crisis that effects 1 in 100 people and how it is so commonly misdiagnosed for so many different illnesses. Having the gluten-free diet in the spotlight is probably a good thing, but having it associated with every other fad diet runs the risk of decreased public awareness or worse yet, public apathy when people hear about a gluten-free diet.  I much prefer to hear about the dire side of celiac disease and how it almost killed somebody or it was misdiagnosed as something else — and then wrapping it up with the fact that a relatively simple change in their diet (not drugs) has changed their life in a positive way. This is the sort of coverage that will open people’s eyes to what the gluten-free diet is all about — improved health*. *It doesn’t mean you can go out and eat every gluten-free pastry, cookie or cereal loaded with sugar and expect to achieve good health because you’re following a gluten-free diet. A naturally gluten-free diet will improve your health. A gluten-free diet based in sugar, fat and processed food will still lead to poor health.
   
8. Boutique, artisan bakeries creating exceptional gluten-free baked goods
   There are some great store-bought gluten-free baked goods out there (this is where I’ll get the flood of comments on Udi’s — yes, I agree they are great), but I am so in awe of the artistry of the many small, dedicated gluten-free bakeries across the country and around the world. Thanks to these, I’ve been able to enjoy gluten-free baguettes, croissants and some of the best birthday cake I’ve ever had (better than most traditionally baked cakes). Because of these wonderful bakeries, gluten-free isn’t as hard as I originally thought it would be. They may be more expensive, but you really are getting a unique, hand-crafted work of art by a person who cares about what they are selling.
9. Gluten-free events
   Whether it be a tasting event at a local grocery, a meetup event at a restaurant or even a happy hour, gluten-free events are a great way to meet like-minded people, enjoy great food, and learn more about the food you are eating. Gluten-free events spread awareness, help local businesses and as with every other small business — help the economy.
10. The awesome gluten-free community
    The sheer volume of information coming from the gluten-free / celiac community is overwhelming. RSS feeds, email alerts, Facebook notifications and every other imaginable message fill my inbox day after day informing me of all the latest happenings. Bloggers, chefs, dietitians and even home chefs all contribute so much and keep me amazed at how lucky we are to have this much support. Thank you to every last one of you.

Even before being diagnosed with celiac disease, I was never a beer drinker — I’ve never been able to acquire a taste for it. When I was younger and all of my friends were drinking beer, I always found myself looking for the wine, the champagne and of course, cider.

While it sometimes feels like I’ve tried every cider on the face of the planet, I still get excited when I come across something new. On our recent trip to London, I was able to try quite a few new European ciders — and I even found one that I would call great (I’ll save that for a later post).

While living in Portland, Oregon from 2005 to 2010, I discovered Fox Barrel Cider at my local New Seasons Market and immediately fell in love with it’s wonderfully light and fruity flavor and found myself wanting to drink it just a little too often. In 2008, I was shopping at our local Whole Foods and came across Crispin Natural Hard Apple Cider and as I always do with any new cider, I bought a bottle (original flavor) to take home and try — it’s been a favorite ever since.

Crispin is constantly hosting events at local restaurants, beer festivals and pubs showcasing their award winning cider. They’ve even come up with a great selection of sample menus showing the diversity of cider and how it can be used in so many different ways.

So far, I haven’t been able to find Crispin Cider in Los Angeles, but I am still able to find Fox Barrel. Much to my joy this past year, Crispin acquired the Northern California based Fox Barrel, so I’m really hoping this is going to mean California distribution for Crispin.

If you find yourself a little upset not being able to drink beer after your celiac disease diagnosis, do yourself a favor and try this cider — I think you will have a new favorite drink. Don’t get me wrong, there are increasingly some really good gluten-free beer options out there, but cider really is a nice alternative. One taste of Crispin Cider and I think you’ll agree that it’s the more sophisticated brother of beer. It’s much more diverse and goes with just about anything.  If you’ve tried it, I would love to hear what you think about it. If Crispin is reading this, please tell me when it will be available in L.A. and where I’ll be able to find it.

I want to start off by saying that I’m very lucky to be sitting in a beautiful little bed and breakfast in the village of Monts in the Loire Valley. It’s not all fun and games, it’s a working holiday — it’s something that my family and I are attempting to make a yearly tradition (this is year two). With the power of the Internet, a laptop and a good wifi connection, I can do my work from just about anywhere. The trick is making sure I sit down and actually get some of that work done and with so much to see and do while on holiday, that can be tough sometimes.

le moulin de Monts — Home for the Summer

As with any trip I take, one of the first places I like to visit is a local supermarket — in this case, it’s the Super U in Monts. While my French language skills are not all that great, I do have a good grasp on which items on a packages list of ingredients to avoid and when traveling I try to stick with as much fresh food as possible. The selection of packaged food hasn’t been that great and I am indeed sticking to the fruits, vegetables, beans, meat, dairy, etc. It’s really not a bad way to eat, but I do miss the convenience of an occasional gluten-free packaged snack.

Watching my wife enjoy a baguette (or my kids with a pain au chocolat) from the local boulangerie can be a little envy-inducing, but I’m happy that they’re able to enjoy some of France’s most beloved staples. I’ve yet to find a gluten-free boulangerie or even a gluten-free baguette for that matter. I know they exist, but I just haven’t found them yet. There are a couple of local restaurants here in the village and most have been very friendly and accommodating and I have had positive experiences all the way through. I’ll be doing some individual reviews of these after another visit or two.

We’ll be heading to Paris in July and I know there are some great choices there with stores like Naturalia and La Vie Claire. There’s also a 100% gluten-free restaurant that I can’t wait to try, Des si & Des mets.  We’ll be moving north toward Brittany and Normandy from there and will stop at numerous places along the way. I’m hoping by the end of this trip to have some very positive things to say about living sans gluten in France — I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

I’ve lived in L.A. for most of my life and have tried many restaurants offering gluten-free menus. Some are merely a handful of regular menu items that have been identified as being gluten-free, some offer a very limited selection of specifically gluten-free items and there are places like Hugo’s. Hugo’s has a menu that is beyond belief — dozens of menu items clearly marked as gluten-free and a staff who seemingly gets what you’re talking about when asking questions about the preparation of the food.

On my last visit, I had the Lentils, Leafy Greens & Rice As A Casserole and the spinach lemonade (OK, I know that drink sounds disgusting to some of you, but it really is delicious). I’m not a vegetarian, but when getting meals like this, I know that I wouldn’t have a problem with being one. On other visits, I’ve tried the Black Bean Chili, the Chipotle Scramble and the Orange Ginger Chicken.  There are so many more items that I’m wanting to try — I know that there are many more visits in store for me.

Hugo’s is quickly becoming an L.A. must for me. I’m sure if you try it, it will be the same for you. Oh, I almost forgot to mention their tea selection — if you’re into tea as much as I am, you’ll be happy.