GF German cuisine at The Berlin Inn

I was craving cheese fondue the other day, which made me think of a popular local German restaurant that I have always loved.  I won't name names, but we loved it so much that is where we had our rehearsal dinner when my husband and I got married a million years ago.  I went on Google & Yelp, searching for GF reviews on the restaurant. There were a lot of iffy & negative reviews regarding GF, so I used my handy iPhone app, Find Me GF. After searching & googling reviews, I found The Berlin Inn in SE Portland (OR)

When we got to the restaurant, I was surprised to see that it was in a house. I worked through my apprehension & we went inside. It was pretty small, but everyone was friendly. The menu was HUGE and everything looked amazing. All of the GF items were well marked, plus they had a page that was "Gluten free at a glance" that made it even easier to find my choices. Our waitress was also GF, so she was helpful. We finally settled on our orders. 

http://www.berlininn.com/Pdf%20Menus/complete.pdf

We started with a Gouda cheese fondue. They brought out a big platter of brown & white New Cascadia bread cubes & apple slices. The fondue was good. It had a little thicker texture than I am used to but the Gouda has a nice smokey flavor. The fondue is thick & GF bread isn't the sturdiest, so I used a spoon to scoop the cheese onto my bread.  The bread was good though & had a better texture than most GF bread I have tried.  The plate was also sprinkled with a beautiful purple flower.  I meant to ask what kind of flower it was. 

I love schnitzel but it's breaded and I assumed it would be off limits. The Berlin Inn offers a GF schnitzel option. Usually it is served with spatzel, a pasta, and they do have a GF option, but I wanted to try something different. I had the warm red cabbage salad and potato pancakes.

The schnitzel was very good. It had a more crunchy crust than I was used to, but it was very. very good. The sauce that came with it was awesome! The red cabbage was delicious also. My husband was impressed with the perfection of the crispy potato pancakes. They were good, but next time I will definitely ask for sour cream to go with them.

They had 4 GF dessert options that night. I was very full from dinner, but who am I to pass up a GF dessert? I took two to go :-) 

The fist was the Chocolate Raspberry Rembrandt. It was delicious. 

The second was the Cashew Cream Cake. Equally as delicious. Not too sweet, but tasty all the same.

 

 Overall we really enjoyed the experience.  I am eager to go back & try new dishes.  My husband loved his dinner also. Plus our waitress told us a little secret about a plan for the restaurant that I was VERY excited about. I will update this post when they announce it officially! Follow The Berlin Inn on FB!  It is a small restaurant, so I recommend reservations on a weekend or holiday.  503-236-6761

Going GF at PF Changs!

I've heard a lot about PF Changs being GF friendly, so I decided to check it out. I've always had great experiences at PF Changs, but this was my first time GF.

I don't know what it is about PF Changs' waitstaff, but we have always gotten great waitresses/waiters. They listen, make suggestions & all have let us see a bit of their personality. (Shout out to Victoria at the Roseville, CA location)

Here is PF Changs GF menu

At first I was a little disappointed because I ordered a martini with potato vodka. In their well stocked bar they didn't have any non-grain vodka. (There are potato, corn & grape vodka options) However the waitress apologized and the manager said he would put in an order for some.

 We started with their chicken lettuce wraps. I have tried different versions of this meal at other restaurants but none come close to PF Changs recipe!

 

Chicken Lettuce Wraps

 

My Mom, who is also GF, ordered the GF Philip's Better Lemon Chicken. I tasted it and it was lemony goodness.

I ordered the GF Ginger Chicken with Broccoli. It was beautifully presented with a ring of broccoli and the chicken in the middle. I highly suggest either meal.

 

A nice thing about PF Changs is that they bring out their GF meals on a different style plate than the regular meals. It made me feel a little safer knowing that the kitchen staff knew my meal needed to be gluten free. The waitress brought out our own GF soy sauce, which I was happy about.

It was a wonderful meal, great staff & I love a place that a celiac can feel safe.

Burgerville' GF friendly menu items

Burgerville is a delicious burger chain in Oregon & Washington. It's quite a bit spendier than, say, McDonalds, but the food is a million times better!

One day as I was out & about, I was craving a milkshake and Burgerville makes pretty delicious shakes. I decided to look up their nutritional information online. They had a section specifically addressing GF issues.

http://www.burgerville.com/wp-content/uploads/burgerville-gluten-free-menu-items-and-ingredients.pdf

The website also said that some locations have a GF bun. I decided to investigate further. I was happy that the girl I spoke with was fairly knowledgeable. I placed an order for the Pepper Bacon Burger gluten free. I asked and at my location, they have a separate fryer for just fries (no breaded items) However they did inform me that the fryers were right next to each other, so there could be cross contamination. I decided to go for it anyway. Be sure to ask at your location if they have desperate fryers.

I was given a container that was marked GF. Inside was the fixings for the burger and an individually wrapped Udi's GF bun. I love that it was sealed.

I built my burger and it was delicious!! I haven't had luck with GF buns, but this was big, fluffy & delicious. (I went back a couple of weeks later & the bun wasn't as fresh, but still not bad)

I also got the rosemary shoestring fries & they were tasty. I love that in the fall they have sweet potato fries!!

Their milkshakes are pretty amazing too. I love the Mocha Perk milkshake the best. Burgerville is known for having fresh local seasonal items on a regular basis. I would recommend checking it out!

Find a Burgerville near you;
http://www.burgerville.com/find-a-restaurant

 

Homemade Chicken Tikka Masala, Indian rice & oven roasted vegetables,tiki masala

Homemade deliciousness. I love meals that are naturally GF! I am no gourmet, and this was the most complicated meal I've made, but it was worth it!. It had a lot of steps and I had to enlist help to get everything done at the same time. I multiplied this recipe by 4 to feed 10 people. (with a few pieces of chicken left over) I get most of my spices from Penzy's.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Ingredients for marinade:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
Chicken: I used 5 thighs & 4 drumsticks or you can use 4 breasts. You can use skinless or not. Your preference.

Ingredients for sauce:
1 tablespoon butter (or Ghee)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons paprika
3 teaspoons garam masala spice
1 teaspoons salt
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp cornstarch
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

In a bowl, combine yogurt, lemon juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, cinnamon, cayenne, black pepper, ginger, and 4 teaspoons salt. Place chicken in a gallon zip bag, add sauce & mix sauce around really well. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. I marinated for 5 hours.

Preheat a grill for high heat. We used a Traeger. Alternatively you could cook in in your oven. Time varies based on method. Cook until juices run clear. One of my "samplers" said the chicken was delicious fresh off the grill.  By "sampler" I mean a sneaky teenager who stole a piece of chicken while I was cooking.

Sauce:
Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute garlic and jalapeno for 1 minute. Stir in tomato sauce and cream. Add cumin, paprika, garam masala and salt. Mix cornstarch with a bit of cold water & add to sauce. Simmer on low heat until sauce thickens, about 10 minutes. Add grilled chicken, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, turning chicken on occasion to make sure all get covered in sauce. Transfer to a serving platter, and garnish with fresh cilantro. (Optional)

Indian Rice:
1 cup brown Basmati rice
2 1/2 cups water
2 teaspoons salt
2 cloves
2 cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon chile flakes
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
3 chopped garlic cloves
1/4 teaspoon turmeric

*note* cardamom pods are expensive. They last forever, but since you only need a couple, I would suggest asking a friend if they have any.

METHOD
1 Place rice in a fine mesh strainer and run cool water through it to rinse it until the water runs clear. Add rice to water in pan & soak 15 minutes. Add the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and bring to rolling boil. Cover and simmer 20-30 minutes or until water is absorbed. Stir often the last few minutes so it doesn't burn to the pan.

3 When the rice is cooked to your liking, carefully remove the cloves, cardamom and cinnamon and discard.

4 In a skillet large enough to hold the rice, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the mustard and cumin seeds and the chile flakes. Cook until the mustard seeds start popping, then add the onion. Sauté until the onion is soft & brown about 7-10 minutes.

5 Add the garlic and sauté another 2-3 minutes. Add the rice and mix well. Sprinkle the turmeric over the rice and mix well. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring often.


Oven roasted vegetables:
Preheat oven to 475. You can use any hearty vegetable you want. I used small red potatoes, sweet potatoes & carrots. Next time I am going to throw in some butternut squash, turnips & possibly Brussels sprouts.

Cut to chunky bite size. For 10 people I used 12 small red potatoes, 2 sweet potatoes & 8 carrots. I should have made a little more because they were gone & people were asking for more.

Place cut vegetables in large bowl. Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Just enough to coat veggies. Add a dash of balsamic vinegar, a sprinkling of Italian seasoning, a couple of teaspoons salt & pepper. Mix really well in bowl.

Place vegetables on cookie sheet and bake 30-40 minutes, or until vegetables are soft.

Like I said, there was a lot of steps involved in this meal but it was well worth the effort. I hope you like it!!

Is the Cheesecake Factory GF friendly??

While visiting San Francisco, I decided to stop into Cheesecake Factory for lunch.  Previously online I had found a 44 page allergy info PDF that used to be on their website.  However when I was sitting in the lobby, I searched the website and could no longer find the link.  Hmmmm....

When the waiter came to the table I gave him one of my Celiac cards, which explains my disease and my dietary restrictions.  I asked him to please give it to the chef.  I asked the waiter if the grilled fish tacos would be safe for me.  He went to ask the chef and returned to tell me that I could have the tacos, with no sauce or beans and rice.  I said that was fine.  He didn't offer me a substitution for the beans and rice, so I asked him if I could substitute a vegetable for them.  He gave me my options & I chose spinach.

The meal came with 3 good size fish tacos on corn tortillas.  They were pretty good.  The spinach came and it was swimming in a butter sauce.  Not my first choice, but I guess I should have asked how it was prepared.  Overall, they tried to accommodate me, which I appreciate, especially for a restaurant that doesn't claim to have GF options.

When I got home, I decided to search for more information about their official stance on GF options.  I found a few things disheartening about other people's experiences.  One blogger states he was told that they dust the corn tortilla's with four.  I certainly hope that isn't the case.  I didn't get sick from my visit, but with Celiac Disease, there can still be damage, even if you don't have any symptoms.

I sent a message to Cheesecake Factory asking about their GF menu or an official statement regarding their gluten free options.  This is the response I received:

"Thank you very much for contacting us regarding gluten free items on our menu. We are working towards providing a gluten free menu sometime in 2013. In the interim, I have provided some suggestions below.

Due to the possibility of a recipe change and/or product substitution, we respectfully recommend that you check with a manager prior to ordering. Our managers can confirm your selection and are happy to personally oversee the preparation of your meal. Despite these efforts, we are not able to guarantee against the unintentional or unforeseen cross-contamination of ingredients.

“As featured” Gluten Free Entrees
Lemon-Herb Roasted Chicken
SkinnyLicious Pear and Endive Salad


Favorites that can be Modified to be Gluten Free
Miso Salmon, without Sake Butter Sauce
Fresh Grilled Salmon or Mahi Mahi, without Tartar Sauce
Petite Filet/Filet Mignon, without Onion Rings and Au Jus
Classic Burger or Turkey Burger, without Bun
Caesar Salad, without Croutons

Gluten Free Appetizers Suggestions
Quesadilla, substitute corn tortilla
Fire- Roasted Fresh Artichoke, without Spicy Vinaigrette
Sweet Corn Tamale Cakes, without Tomatillo Cream Sauce
Ahi Carpaccio, without Soy-Ginger Sesame Sauce and Togarashi Aioli

Gluten Free Suggestions from our Kids’ Menu
Kids Grilled Chicken
Kid's Quesadilla, substitute corn tortilla,order without french fries

Gluten Free Salad Dressings
Caesar
Citrus Honey
SkinnyLicious Mustard Vinaigrette

Gluten Free Dessert Suggestions
Fresh Berries
Ice Cream
Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake (contains wheat husk but no gluten)

We wish you a wonderful visit and thank you again for choosing The Cheesecake Factory restaurants!

Sincerely,

Whitney Dunn
Guest Services Specialist"


I will let you make your own decision if you visit Cheesecake Factory in the future.  

Chipolte-licious

I really love that I see Chipolte restaurants everywhere. They state on their website that everything is GF except their flour tortillas.

I have read reviews that the staff is happy to be accommodating by changing their gloves for you so there won't be any cross contamination from handling four tortillas.

Yes, they are making a killing charging $7 for a bowl of beans, rice & meat. It tastes delicious, is fairly quick and I love having a place I know I can go to in a pinch.

Added bonuses are the meat is hormone free & free-range. They even claim to have happy pigs!! Also in California you can get tofu as an option AND margaritas. I can't verify the margarita is GF. Gotta love fast food hard liquor though!

http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/menu/special_diet_information/special_diet_information.aspx

Crave Bakery Lake Oswego, OR

Dedicated GF bakery who has won Cupcake Wars twice?? Without a GF category, just on taste?? Yes please!

My husband and I went for a taste test. It is a pretty small bakery front & had a little table that said "for wedding cake testing only" but my hubby and I used it to cupcake test.

They have daily specials, and when we came, it was a carrot cake with cream frosting or a St Germaine cupcake. The carrot cake was a little dry. I freaking love St Germaine Elderflower Liquor & the cupcake was beautiful with flower petals..but so so.

I ordered 8 "hot chocolate" cupcakes & 2 popular "birthday cake" cupcakes. When I picked them up later, I also bought 2 "piña coloda" cupcakes. They are $3.50 each so a dozen cost $42. That is a lot for cupcakes!!

However, these are pretty amazing cupcakes. I had 10 guests and all cupcakes were eaten. The Hot Chocolate were by the far, the most popular. No one cared that they are GF, just that they were delicious!!

I would highly recommend Crave. Later I will review the fresh made hamburger bins I bought there!!

Have sweet cupcake dreams!!

http://cravebakeshop.com

Heavenly Chocolate Treat

This recipe was floating around FB & I believe originated from a Pampered Chef website. It looked pretty delicious and I was sure I could make it GF. The recipe calls for a brownie pan (individual squares) which I bought at Walmart for $11.

For the recipe you need
GF non-stick spray (not all are GF)
Bob's Red Mill GF chocolate chip cookie mix
Bob's Red Mill GF brownie mix
2 sticks butter
GF vanilla
2 eggs
Water
And the secret ingredient... Reece's Peanutbutter cups. You could use regular size big ones or minis. For this recipe we used the dark chocolate minis.

Preheat oven to 350 & generously spray pan with non-stick spray.

Mix the chocolate chip cookie mix according to package directions. It seems really dry & crumbly. I took a tablespoon from our silverware set & scooped 3 generous tablespoons into each section of the tray. Then I pressed it down with the spoon into the tray. It looked more like regular cookie dough after I did that.

Next we placed 3 peanutbutter cups upside down into each section on top of the cookie dough.

Then make the brownie mix according to package instructions. Use a another tablespoon (or two) to place brownie mix in top of peanutbutter cups. Try to spread it around and squish it in between the peanutbutter cups.

Place in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool completely. Getting them out in one piece is a challenge. I ran a butter knife along the edges of the squares. Then I used 2 forks to carefully scoop & lift the brownies into a plate. About 1/2 came out in one piece. My family didn't complain about the ones that came apart. They were still delicious. After everyone chowed down there was only 5 left. I am planning on freezing those so I have a dessert to eat on occasion.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

My GF Melting Pot experience

I love the Melting Pot. We have gone there every year for my birthday (today) and our anniversary for over 10 years. I did my research and they have a gluten free menu and online I read that their staff was especially trained on GF. Even with online information, I called ahead to ask more and was assured they were GF friendly and they had a GF menu.

When we got there, I looked at the menu & asked the waiter a ton of questions. I told him that I couldn't have any gluten at all. My husband and I agreed on a cheese, chose our salads & agreed on a cooking style.

My husband got regular bread & a spoon to put the cheese on his bread so that he didn't contaminate the cheese. For me, they brought out GF bread cubes. Cool! The bread was still a pretty chilly from coming out of the freezer. I took a nibble of the bread plain & it had the texture of sand, which isn't uncommon for GF bread. (In my opinion) However smothered in cheese it was pretty good. Cheese makes everything better. I meant to take a photo of the cheese but it was almost gone by the time I remembered.  I did take a photo of the GF bread.  Mmmmm cheese! They used to use flour to thicken the cheese and you could request cornstarch for GF. Now they just use cornstarch as their standard thickener.

I ordered a spinach mushroom salad & it was very yummy. It had a spinach base with a ton of sliced baby portebella mushrooms & sautéed red onions. It had a tasty warm burgundy shallot vinaigrette.

For our main dish I ordered the Fondue Fusion meal with lobster & a variety of other meats. When the waiter brought out my plate, it had 2 large ravioli on it. I asked if it was GF pasta. Oops! It was not, so he took them off my plate. He did ask if I wanted a new plate, but the pasta wasn't touching anything else, so I said it was OK.

He then went on to describe the dipping sauces, which is the best part! The problem was he wasn't too sure what was GF. He thought that the cocktail sauce maybe had gluten, but everything else was ok. I told him the teriyaki sauce was not gluten free because most teriyaki was made with soy sauce, which is made with wheat. He was surprised & told me I had probably not eat the pile of sirloin on my plate because it had a teriyaki glaze. 2nd Oops! Again he offered to get me a fresh plate but it wasn't touching anything else & I didn't want to be a pain. My husband took the sirloin & because he is a very good CD husband, he waited until I was done cooking all of my food before he cooked it, so I didn't get "glutened". To make up for not being able to have the sirloin, the waiter did bring me 2 small pieces of filet mignon & two pieces shrimp to replace the pasta.

I stuck with the green goddess (my fav) and the Gorgonzola dipping sauces and hoped for the best. Later via Google, I learned that 4 of the 6 sauces were GF. Green Goddess, Gorgonzola, Curry & Plum. The sauces with gluten are the teriyaki & the cocktail sauce. 4 out of 6 isn't bad, but I was unhappy that our waiter didn't know more about what was safe. It's scary to just gamble on whether something will make me sick.

We ordered the 4 course meal but we were too full for dessert, so they gave us a dessert card to come back another time. I will review dessert when we go back.

I am happy they have a gluten free menu, but the staff really needs to be trained better. If I wasn't as informed as I am, I could have gotten very sick. They should know which sauces are GF & I certainly shouldn't have pasta and teriyaki glaze on my meat when I specifically order off of their gluten free menu.

I am disappointed and after being a dedicated visitor to the Melting Pot for over a decade, I am just not sure we will go back for dinner again. It's just not worth it to me to risk getting sick. For a $55 (per person) meal, I expect more. :-(

Update: after leaving this review on Yelp & emailing The Melting Pot, I received a phone call from our Portland Melting Pot. I spoke with Kelly and she told me that she spoke to the waiter and he said he DID know which sauces were GF, the cocktail sauce AND the teriyaki. Ummmmm no. That is not how it went down. I had to tell him the teriyaki sauce would have soy sauce in it, which is made with wheat. He did not know that. I don't want to get the waiter in trouble but obviously he is playing CYA (cover your ass)

She apologized for the pasta on my plate and said that should have never happened. When it came to the teriyaki sirloin, she said that it was printed on the menu to ask for a substitution. Ok, honestly I didn't see that. However, when you hand me a menu that is specifically a "Gluten Free Menu" I am going to assume everything on it is safe. What is the point of claiming to have a gluten free menu if it's not really gluten free & it's up to me to catch the gluten products & ask for substitutions? Also, if the staff has gluten free training, shouldn't our waiter have known that & pointed that out to me?

Kelly assured me that the staff, our waiter specifically, would go through their gluten free training again. That's great & hopefully it will make a difference for the next person, but sadly I will not be going back for dinner. Also, honestly when Kelly spoke to me, I felt like she was placing the blame on me. I should have caught the changes on the menu & the waiter contradicted my story. My husband was right there with me & when our waiter walked away, we even discussed that we were surprised he didn't know that. Yes, obviously I should have seen that you need to ask for a substitution, but why not just give me a regular menu that said the same thing? Why give me a dedicated gluten free menu if it isn't actually gluten free?

*****update 6/2013

We went back to use our dessert gift card. We had a better experience for sure. I was very very clear to our server that I needed to be gluten free. We like to get the turtle with dark chocolate. It is a chocolate/caramel dessert that the they flambé.

My husband is not gluten free, and yes, his platter looked much better than mine, but you kind of get used to that when you have Celiac. You just don't have as many options. 

My husband's platter 

My platter: They did say I could get as many dippers as I wanted. 

But you know what, smothered in chocolate it is all delicious! Be sure to use a spoon for the gluten items so you don't risk cross contamination. 

Overall we had a very good date night this time at Melting Pot. So basically, IF you go to the Melting Pot, you need to be on the ball. You can't count on the staff to keep you safe. You need to take control. The plus side is I get sick easily from cross contamination and I didn't get sick here either time, even with the massive mistakes. Happy fondueing! 

Jeny's hearty potato casserole

Ok, really this should be Grandma Ginny's casserole. She gave me the base of the recipe as a side dish of potatoes, cream soup, sour cream & cheese. I adapted it into a main course, and then again GF.

It originally called for Campbell's cream of asparagus & potato soups, but they are loaded with wheat.

Again, I make massive amounts of food, but as you will see in the last photo, 3 teenage boys do a lot of damage! I was hoping this would make dinner for 2 nights. :-/ You can use whatever meat you want, but I always make this after Easter to use up all the leftover ham. I have also used crumbled bacon.

1 cup Bear Creek Cheddar Broccoli soup mix
3 cups milk
2 packages frozen shred hash browns thawed (Safeway brand is GF)
1 24oz container sour cream
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
4 cups broccoli cut small (fresh or frozen)
1 bunch green onions diced (inc green)
1 lb cooked meat of your choice cut small
Garlic to your hearts desire
Salt & pepper to taste

Boil 3 cups of milk & add 1 cup soup mix. Whisk to blend. It only takes a couple of minutes to thicken up. This is not the recipe on the package. I cooked it this way to be the consistency of a couple of cans of cream soups with milk. 

Place your thawed hash browns in a huge bowl. I mean huge! Add soup & toss really well. I use my trusty ikea salad spoons or you could use a couple of pasta spoons. 

Add all other ingredients 1 at a time, mixing after each ingredient. Transfer into an oversized casserole dish & pat it down to pack it all in there. 

Cook at 400° for 40 minutes. My family likes to add Frank's RedHot (I put that **** on everything!)

Major comfort food, very hearty and super easy. I did quickly pack the little bit of leftovers into individual servings to take in my lunches.

Score at Big Lots!

Big Lots had a display of Bob's Red Mill items and there was actually quite a few gluten-free items at huge discounts. My favorite was the GF cornbread mix. At BRM it is $5.95 each. At Big Lots I paid $2.90! I also bought shortbread cookie mix & brownie mix (they were $3 something)

It was a display with a giant cardboard Bob, so I assume it will be there a while. I stocked up just in case.

Not to brag, but I live in Oregon about 3 minutes away from Bob's Red Mill & I have met him. He is a lovely man who treats his employees very well. :-)