Blue Corn Cafe, Restaurant Review

I had an awesome dining out experience the other evening at Blue Corn Cafe, located on Ninth Street in Durham. Blue Corn is owned by husband and wife team: Danielle Martini-Rios and Antonio Rios, the same owners of Tosca. See my earlier post on Tosca here. Blue Corn Cafe offers Latin American foods in a casual atmosphere. There are several options that work in a gluten free diet. Our server, Nala, was extremely knowledgeable and willing to accommodate my GF needs. In fact she just about new what questions I would ask, before I asked them. She assured me that the chips are made on site and prepared in a designated fryer. She made several recommendations on menu selections. Although my first choice was salmon, (which they ran out of that evening) I settled for Vegetarian Fajitas with rice and black beans. She offered to bring me corn tortillas instead of flour but I chose just to mix the veggies with my rice. The service, gluten free options and quality of food was excellent. I would recommend you try Blue Corn Cafe.


Phone: 919-286-9600
Directions:
Located on Ninth Street right near the University

From I-40, take Durham Freeway North, Exit #14 (Swift Ave.), turn right; 1st light - left on Main Street; next light - right on Ninth Street-1/2 block on the right.

Hours:
Mon - Thurs 11:30 to 9:00
Fri & Sat 11:30 to 9:30

Gluten Free Week at Camp Kanata-2010

Registration has opened for campers to sign up for Camp Kanata's Gluten Free Week. The 2010 camp week will be June 27-July 3 and "Olympics" will be the theme for the week. This camp is one of two guided by the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America (GIG) and is located in Wake Forest, NC. The Philosophy of the GIG camp is stated as:

GIG believes that kids following a gluten-free lifestyle need to learn to be kids in the real world. Therefore we operate GIG Kids Camps as a part of the mainstream camping programs. As a mainstream camp we are able to get to know every GIG Camper by name and better meet their needs because our total number of campers is less than the dedicated camp. To read more about camp from GIG click here.

This will be my fourth year as the Dietitian overseeing GF week and Camp Kanata! It is a great week for both volunteers and campers. To read my previous post about camp click here. Camp Kanata will have an information table at the Gluten Free Fair at Raleigh Whole Foods on Saturday, October 17th. Stop by to ask me questions or talk with other volunteers.

Note: camp usually fills very quickly. In past years most slots are full by the end of January. To register go to the Camp Kanata web site.

Gluten Free Fast Food Guide

Wendy, who writes the Gluten Free Greenie blog in Durham, has posted a very helpful tool to her site. She has taken the time to compile 17 pages of information from various fast food restaurants including: Arby's, Boston Market, Camille's Sidewalk Cafe, Chick-fil-A, Fire House Subs, Panera Bread, and several others. She has put the document on Scribd. I was able to download the document once I signed up for a free account with Scribd. To access the resource click here. This is a valuable reference to keep in your car, so you have gluten free information on hand when you need it! As always ingredients can change so if you have any questions ASK and make sure you are using the most updated information for each restaurant. Thank you Wendy for sharing this with the gluten free community!

Vita, Restaurant Review

I've found a Durham Restaurant that offers several gluten free options, delicious food and an affordable price: Vita Restaurant Although they do not have a special gluten free menu several offerings work in a gluten free diet. They have salads and the fillings of several sandwiches would make a nice meal. Some sandwiches fillings that could be served as an entree include: ground sirloin burger, portabella mushroom, flank steak, chicken salad. Unfortunately they do not offer gluten free pizza or pasta but I enjoyed a serving of their "Eggplant Parmigiana della Melanzana" which was made from eggplant, mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce. Average price for a lunch item is $7.00 and $9.00 for a dinner entree. Our server was very helpful and happy to answer all my questions. If I am going to an Italian restaurant during a non-busy time I will often bring my own gluten free pasta along and ask if they would prepare it for me, (always noting the importance of a separate pot to boil the noodles and the need for a clean colander). Many Italian sauces are naturally gluten free. I hope to try this when I return to Vita for another meal. Vita offers indoor and outdoor dining. Reservations are recommended for large parties of 6 or more and take out ordering is available.

Located in Erwin Square next to Parizade Cafe at
2200 West Main Street
Durham, NC 27702
919-286-9755

Hours:
M-Th: 11:00-10:00
F-S: 11:00-11:00
Sun: closed
Bar open until 2:00

Hardee's Gluten Free Menu and Coupons

Nancy Lapid from About.com:Celiac Disease had a great post drawing the attention to the offerings at Hardees Fast Food Restaurant. Durham has four Hardees Restaurants. You can click here to review the Gluten Free information from Hardees and to download coupons. The coupons are good until November 30th and include a free side salad, Diet Coke, or Dasani Water with your Gluten Free order. You can get detailed allergy information which was updated as of 1/26/2009 by clicking here. The Hardees in Durham are located:


2721 Chapel Hill Rd
Durham,NC 27707
919-489-6958

1032 N Miami Rd
Durham,NC 27703
919-688-9508

3912 N Duke St
Durham,NC 27704
919-477-8830

4607 S Alston Ave
Durham,NC 27713
919-544-5362

Wendy's French Fries, Word of Caution

The summer 2009 issue of the GIG Quarterly Newsletter included an article on Wendy's french fries. According to this article and Wendy's company website "French Fries may be cooked in the same oil as boneless chicken wings, crispy chicken patty, crispy chicken nuggets and fish filets (where available) which contain a wheat allergen."
Not all Wendy's have dedicated fryers for french fries. The GIG article also recommends that if you do find a dedicated fryer to ask that the fries be taken with clean tongs directly from the fryer, to cut down on the chance of cross contamination. As always make sure you are looking at current information, the Wendy's allergen information was updated in June 2009 you can review it here.

PF Chang's China Bistro, Restaurant Review

One of my all time favorite gluten free restaurant options is PF Chang's. I recently enjoyed a nice dinner of "Singapoor Street Noodles" and "Egg Drop Soup" on their outside patio. When I asked the hostess for the gluten free menu, she informed me that the GF menu was now listed on back of the normal menu, so no need to ask for a separate menu any longer! It was also pointed out to me by our server that anything coming out of the kitchen would be on a plate that had the words "PF Chang's" on its brim, so that staff could easily identify the GF meals from the others. To check out the complete gluten free menu which was updated 7/09 click here. They also will bring you a dish of gluten free soy sauce upon request. I was excited to receive my PF Chang's warrior card in the mail today, that will give me 10% off all purchases through the end of the year; a good reason to go back again soon!

PF Chang's in Durham is located across from SouthPoint Mall
6801Fayetteville Rd
Durham, NC
(919) 294-3131

Angel Food Ministry-Gluten Free Box-Update

I first wrote about Angel Food Ministries Allergen Free Box of food back in June. Click here to review that entry. I have received an update from the folks at Angel Food Ministries to remind users that Monday, September 14th is the last day to place an order for delivery in the month of September. They also pointed out some coupons that are available if you order on-line "10FALLSP1" gives 10% off the Special box #1 of Angel Food. "SeptSig5" gives 5% off a signature box of Angel Food Products.
It appears they have updated their website with actual pictures of the food products you receive in your order. Click here to take a look! As a reminder the allergen free box is free of the main food allergens including gluten. To locate a host site for order and delivery follow this link.

Alivia's Durham Bistro, Restaurant Review

I love finding a restaurant with outside seating this time of year. I often drive by a place and wonder "do they have anything I can eat there?". Well I decided to try lunch at Alivia's Durham Bistro the other day. While they do not have a designated gluten free menu, they did have several things to select that would work in a gluten free diet. The lunch menu listed salads, pork tenderloin, tuna, salmon, shrimp, burgers, you can see the complete menu on their website for brunch, lunch, dinner and late night. Brunch looks like there might be some gluten free options. It is my personal opinion that you can tell much about a restaurant by your interaction with your server. My server was very helpful and not bothered to answer my many gluten ingredient questions! I did learn that everything is fried in the same fryer, so french fries were out. I also learned that the walnuts that were going to be on my salad were tossed into this same fryer, so due to cross contamination issues those were out! I usually always ask about the coating on walnuts, but that they used the fryer was news to me. My server also informed me that they use a pre-made stock for their soups, so that would probably exclude soups as a safe gluten free option. After a little detective work the menu was narrowed down for me and I enjoyed a yummy salad. I remembered to bring my own rice crackers from home so that was a nice addition to the salad. If you are driving around the BrightLeaf area and want to dine at a casual bistro, you may find some gluten free options that will work for you at Alivia's.

Aliva's is located at:
900 W Main St.
Durham, NC 27701
919-323-9172

Hours:
M-F 11-3 Lunch
S-S 10-3 Brunch
Sun-Thur 5:30-10:00 Dinner
Fri-Sat 5:30-11:00 Dinner
Late night until 2:00 am

Zeer Select-Gluten Free Resource

I wanted tell you about Zeer.com, according to their web page they are "a food information resource that makes it easy to find safe food. It helps people save time, stay safe, learn particular diets and live better lives." They have a very competent medical advisory board including two of the leading Dietitians in the field of Celiac Disease, Melinda Dennis and Tricia Thompson. The gluten-free service can be accessed with a Zeer Select Membership. Zeer Select provides the gluten-free status of over 30,000 food products found in grocery stores (500 new products added or updated each month). Each product page includes gluten-free status—labeled gluten-free, appears to be gluten free based on ingredients, may contain gluten, and contains gluten, as well as an ingredients list, any allergen advisory statement, and the Nutrition Facts label. To take a free tour of the site go to www.zeer.com and click on “learn more” in the center of the page. Then click on “take a tour.” A Zeer Select Membership is being offered for $4.95 per month and with 30 days for free.