Tag Archive for 'NorthWest'

More News: Good News and Bad News

Sorry for the lack of reviews this week. I caught the cold that’s been making the rounds of Portland, and have been recovering. We’ve got a backlog of products and restaurants to post and I’ll get those out soon. I’ve got good news and bad news. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first.

Bad News: Restaurant Closings

Over the weekend we decided to go get some delicious gluten-free pizza at Virgo and Pisces, and discovered that they have closed their doors. We had mentioned in our review that they seemed kind of empty the times we visited, so it looks like our fears were justified. I don’t know how much most people pay attention to restaurant closings, but there have been quite a few in the Pearl area in the past few weeks. Speaking of the Pearl, the Pearl branch of Blossoming Lotus closed. They still have a restaurant at 1713 NE 15th St. next door to Pete’s Coffee.

Good News: Restaurant List

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it lately, but our restaurant list is always growing. If you haven’t looked at it recently, you should check it out. Thanks to all the readers and restaurant owners who have contacted us with listings!

Maybe News: Amazon Sale on Bread Machines

I don’t know if this is really justified as news, but I’m always interested in bread machines. So I thought that I would pass it on that Amazon has announced discounts on bread makers. Among the sale items on their list are ones we have listed on our gluten free bread machine page. So they have: The Breadman TR875, which has a gluten-free setting. The Zojirushi BBCCX20, which doesn’t have a gluten-free setting, but is fully programmable (see our review here) and is dual-paddle. The West Bend 41300 Hi-Rise, which like the Zojirushi is programmable and dual-paddle. There are others, but those are probably the best three for being fully programmable or having a gluten-free setting. We’ve had both a Breadman and a Zojirushi and can vouch that they’re both excellent.

We Want to Know

Do you have any restaurants or cafes to add to our list? Let us know at the email address on the top right. Also, if you have any bread machine experiences or recommendations, let us know in the comments.

In the interest of full disclosure: Zojirushi sent us a breadmaker to test (and we like it!). See our disclosure policy here.

Bookmark and Share
Published on January 15, 2010 in News. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Restaurant Review: Seres Restaurant & Bar

Many of you probably know Seres as Sungari Pearl. It is in the same place. I’m not sure what motivated the name change. Their “About Us” page says that they are still under the same owners, and our waiter for the night was one who had waited on us back when it was Sungari Pearl. Although Sienna isn’t exactly mad about the place, I had always liked Sungari Pearl. So you can imagine my excitement when they announced that they had a gluten-free menu.

You can check out their gluten-free menu here. There’s a little bit of something for everyone. From Prawns with Snow Peas and Bamboo Shoots, to a Curry Claypot, to Fried Rice. We were a little disappointed that two out of three of their appetizers involved tofu. I was interested to see that they had Buddha’s Delight, because that was like comfort food to me back in San Francisco (back before “comfort food” meant Southern Food). In fact, when people ask me what ethnic food I would choose if I could only eat one on a desert island, my answer is Chinese. I love Chinese food!

Hot Tea

I also love sitting down at an Asian restaurant and getting hot tea, even in the summer. We decided to go “family style” and share our orders. So we ordered the Curry Claypot with Chicken, and the Vegetable Fried Rice.

gluten-free fried rice

gluten-free curry claypot with shrimp

The food was well-prepared, the vegetables seemed fresh, and everything was done just right. We ended up with a bunch of complaints, however. Here’s the list: One of our plates was dirty when we sat down. The Curry Claypot was rather spicy. This wouldn’t normally be a problem except that the menu has little stars next to the spicy items, and the Curry Claypot wasn’t marked as spicy, so it was kind of unexpected. It wasn’t too spicy for me, but it wasn’t to Sienna’s liking, so we ended up not being able to share, which was a bummer. The Vegetable Fried Rice was impressively good, but would probably have been better with some gluten-free soy sauce in it (I hope the restaurant owners know that you can get gluten-free soy sauce). Finally, our waiter did not seem to know what we were talking about when we asked him if any of the desserts were gluten-free. This made us a little nervous. If a waiter doesn’t know what gluten-free means, then we start wondering if the chef does.

Chocolate Mousse

Here were the good things: As we mentioned above, the menu has a large selection, which is awesome. All the desserts were gluten-free! We had a chocolate mousse, which was really excellent. The food came out promptly and was hot. The service was great. Also, the hostess seemed to be in-the-know about gluten and was able to give us information about the desserts. Also as mentioned above, all the ingredients were fresh and cooked just right.

So to sum it up, despite the problems, we are curious to know how the other dishes at Seres are, and will probably go back to find out. I’m hoping they’re good. It’s nice to have a local Chinese place that has a gluten-free menu. I say give it a try!

We want to know: Are there other gluten-free friendly Chinese restaurants in town? Have you tried any of the gluten-free dishes at Seres? Let us know!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free Friendly But Ask Questions
Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Seres Restaurant & Bar
http://seresrestaurant.com/
971 222 7327
1105 NW Lovejoy Street, Portland, OR 97209 / 971.222.7327

Bookmark and Share
Published on December 10, 2009 in Restaurant Review. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Restaurant Review: Deschutes Brewery

We got an email from one of our readers on Saturday about the Deschutes Brewery and some gluten-free options they have there. We had already heard that they have gluten-free beer, but there was some new interesting information:

Hey, we went to Deschutes Brewery today and found that not only do they have a fantastic gluten-free beer on tap all the time, and it’s not always the same, but they have gluten-free items marked on their menu, and the head chef even hired a baker to make gluten-free buns for their burgers! They have dedicated fryers, and the bartender even knew to tell us that even if we are ordering something that would normally be gluten-free, to let them know we needed it to be gluten-free and they prepare it in a safe area. these folks really seem to know what they’re doing. I haven’t had the burger + gluten-free bun yet, (was full when I went in today!) but we’re going back soon to try it. Just thought you might want to know and put it on your list!

This looked to us like something that called for immediate attention on our part, so we sprang into action. I can’t tell you the last time I had a burger at a restaurant. I’ve been to the Deschutes Brewery before. It’s a nice place in the Pearl, a block away from Powell’s Books. The atmosphere is relaxed. Like many other Portland brew pubs, people take their kids to eat. It’s amazingly clean, and has a Northwest brew pub kind of menu. It’s the kind of place that’s almost always 98% full, so the place is hopping but there’s still somewhere to sit.

The menu has helpful markings for vegetarian options and gluten-free items. The gluten-free goods are not on the menus that can be found on their website unfortunately. Hopefully they fix that soon. What I remember is:

  • Appetizers: Chicken Wings and Oysters
  • Salads: One or two
  • Burgers: Most of them
  • Pizzas: Nope, sorry.
  • Brewery Specialties: One or two items
  • Sandwiches: A couple, including the Chicken BLT
  • Desserts: Some kind of chocolate pudding with cookies?

Gluten Free Beer - Hefeweizen
The beer they had available was the Gluten-Free Krystal Weiss. Here is their description:

100% Gluten-Free Ale! This beer is made with Sorghum and brown rice syrup for a smooth gluten-free experience. We used German noble hops, Perle for bittering and Spalter and Hersbruckens hops for aroma. IBU’s: 63 Alcohol by Vol. 4.8%

Our waitress described it as a “Hefeweizen, but filtered.” I’m used to drinking this kind of beer with a generous slice of lemon. Mmmmm. It was good, and it passed the Sienna taste test as well.

Gluten-free Burger with Sesame Bun

There was no question that I had to sample the burger and it was awesome! Our waitress told us that they had been working hard on the gluten-free bun. She said this was the fourth variety they’ve come up with. It wasn’t exactly like a regular hamburger bun, but it was the closest thing to a real hamburger bun that I’ve had yet. They’ve even got New Cascadia Traditional Bakery beat (sorry guys). One really nice thing was that it wasn’t too thick. It was literally like having a normal burger. Woo Hoo!

Sienna had the Falafel Salad, which we were told could be made to be gluten-free by omitting the flat bread. The salad was good, and the falafel were very flavorful and not greasy.

We questioned the waitress a bit about cross contamination and how they prepare food. She said that although most of their dishes are prepared in the same area as the gluten-free ones, they were careful to not get wheat or gluten into the gluten-free items. She also said that they keep the gluten-free brewing area extremely clean to make sure there’s no chance of cross-contamination. That was very reassuring.

This is a later note. We have eaten here a number of times now and with one exception were very happy with the quality of the bun. They now have their gluten-free items on a separate menu and the food is good.

The food came out hot in a reasonable amount of time and our waitress was very helpful and seemed hip to the gluten-free thing. It was very cool and we were very happy. Thanks to Gaile (and all the other helpful folks who send us tips too) for the head’s up!

We want to know: Have you had the gluten-free beer at Deschutes Brewery? Have you had something other than the Krystal Weiss? What did you think? Have you had a perfect gluten-free hamburger bun? Let us know in the comments!

Times we have visited: 5+ (So we feel pretty good about our scores.)
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Gluten-free Bun Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Deschutes Brewery
210 NW 11th Ave., Portland, OR 97209 / 503.296.4906
www.deschutesbrewery.com

Bookmark and Share
Published on July 27, 2009 in Restaurant Review. 13 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

© 2008-2010 Gluten Free Portland Oregon All Rights Reserved