One of the things I miss since going gluten free is donuts. Sure I can buy some frozen at the grocery store, but most of them are pretty bad (with the exception of the Katz powdered sugar donuts).  There’s no hopping in the car and picking up a dozen donuts on a Sunday morning. I miss the variety, and the racks with all the choices.

On a recent visit to LA, I found the antidote. If you’re in the LA area, you cannot skip Donut Friend.  It’s a bit off the beaten track in a unremarkable neighborhood, but you won’t regret visiting.

Donut Friend has gluten-free and regular donuts. The gluten people can pick theirs out of the case. However, those of us who are GF can customize our donuts. Here’s how it works. There’s a giant menu board on the wall that lists fillings, toppings, sprinkles, and everything else you can imagine wanting in or on a donut. You start with a basic cake GF donut. They cut it in half and insert any fillings you want. I went with Bavarian cream and strawberries. Then you decide what you want on top. I went with chocolate and almonds. You can eat the donut in the shop or take it to go.  There are enough toppings that you could go back again and again and not eat the same donut.

This was an incredible over the top treat for me. More like dessert than just another dry donut. My gluten eating companion also left thoroughly satisfied with her choices. I wished I’d had more than one after I was done!

One of the things I miss since going gluten free is donuts. Sure I can buy some frozen at the grocery store, but most of them are pretty bad (with the exception of the Katz powdered sugar donuts).  There’s no hopping in the car and picking up a dozen donuts on a Sunday morning. I … Read more →

Traveling when you are gluten-free can be challenging. Figuring where to eat, what you can eat (if you’re in another country), and how to find food on the go is tough. I’ve been traveling gluten free in the US and abroad for several years and I’ve taken everything I’ve learned and put it together in a great new ebook called The Gluten Free Guide to Travel. In it I cover:

• How to find hotels that are gluten free friendly
• Airline food
• Communicating in another country
• Researching restaurants
• Finding gluten free local specialties
• Gluten free tours and cruises
• What food to pack
• Where to buy GF food while on the go
• How to get help finding places you can eat

This nicely priced ebook is being offered at an introductory price, so don’t miss out!

Traveling when you are gluten-free can be challenging. Figuring where to eat, what you can eat (if you’re in another country), and how to find food on the go is tough. I’ve been traveling gluten free in the US and abroad for several years and I’ve taken everything I’ve learned and put it together in … Read more →

I recently found myself in Chicago for the first time. I’d never had gluten free deep dish pizza (or any deep dish pizza).  My mission was clear! Lots of Googling later revealed there to be only one place in the entire area that offered a true deep dish pizza without gluten. Chicago’s Pizza.  While this chain is not as well known as say, Giordano’s, it met my needs! We went to the branch in Old Irving on a Thursday night. Ambience was lacking and the pounding heavy metal music did not enhance our visit. The menu was big with gluten free options clearly listed. We could have had a stuffed pizza (which seems to be their specialty) but went for the traditional deep dish. We also ordered a Caesar salad, which, without the croutons, was GF (dressing made in-house). Our dinner started with complimentary focaccia, GF. This was a nice surprise but we didn’t eat a lot of it since we were saving room for the main event.

The main event took a while to arrive -almost an hour, but we didn’t mind since we knew they were actually making it fresh on the spot. The salad was good, with some radicchio mixed in for color. The pizza itself looked almost identical to the gluten deep dish pizza that also came to our table. For the GF pizza we chose broccoli, spinach, mushrooms and ground beef. It was a treat. The crust was slightly thinner than that in the gluten pizza but it had a nice crunch and a good flavor – the gluten eater at our table sampled it and declared that it was really indistinguishable from the regular gluten pizza. The toppings were good. In true Chicago style, there was little cheese and little sauce, but it was an experience. They clearly marked the boxes with our leftovers so we would not mix up the two pizzas.  The gluten free pizza was only $2 more than the gluten pizza.

We highly recommend this for your deep dish pizza experience. Next time, we’ll try the stuffed pizza!

I recently found myself in Chicago for the first time. I’d never had gluten free deep dish pizza (or any deep dish pizza).  My mission was clear! Lots of Googling later revealed there to be only one place in the entire area that offered a true deep dish pizza without gluten. Chicago’s Pizza.  While this … Read more →