El Pelon Taqueria Now Offering Kids' Meals Starting at $1.99

El Pelon Taqueria (Brighton Location) is now offering Kids' Meal Combos complete with a drink and TOY! 

2197 Comm Ave., Brighton MA 02135 | P: 617-779-9090
http://www.elpelon.com

Gluten Free: Mass Bytes at the Gluten Free Expo Report!

Crunchmaster products.

Last Sunday was the Gluten Free Expo at the Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood.  Despite an administrative snafu upon arrival, I enjoyed this tremendously.  The event attracted far more attendees than Healthy Villi or any of the vendors had expected -- it was packed!  I failed to make it to any of the workshops due to timing (and honestly, comparatively to the vendors, interest); some vendors left within a couple of hours of the start having run out of their wares.  But the ones that remained were incredible enough to not miss or be sad about the ones that had prematurely left the building.  I'm sure I'll be writing about the businesses and their food for some time to come.

The most amazing thing was that for the first time in several years I didn't have to think about whether the food I was eating contained any gluten or about cross-contamination.  If I wanted to try something -- and I made a point of trying everything, even little sips of the alcohol with prior approval by my prenatal provider -- I could just shove it in my face.  As could Liberty, for the very first time in her life.  The freedom I felt being able to just enjoy food without worry was truly incredible.

Number 9 salsas.  Another local company.

Number 9 tortilla chips.  Delish!

Some highlights, in no particular order (and I'm in the pictures):

Gluten-Free: MassBytes at the GF Expo This Sunday!

Counting down the days.

I'm so excited to be going as media with my trusty assistant Bill -- as well as Liberty, my mother and my mother's friend as regular attendees -- to the Gluten Free Expo being held by the Healthy Villi  this Sunday, October 21, 2012 from 10am to 4pm at The Four Points by Sheraton in Norwood.  Despite having to get up before 8am on a weekend to make it there in time, I've been looking forward to this for months!  It's the very first gluten free expo to be held in Massachusetts and is intended to become an annual thing on the gluten-free calendar.

This day-long event will include six workshops running three times each at 10:30am, noon and 2pm on a first-come, first-served basis.  They differ from the Healthy Villi's quarterly meetings that have more specific workshops like cooking for [insert seasonally-appropriate Judeo-Christian holidays here].  These will be about more general topics consisting of a traveling & eating out panel, a newly diagnosed workshop, gluten-free children and parenting panel, nutrition workshop and two cooking demonstrations with a variety of medical professionals and fellow celiacs.  I'm personally thinking about attending the traveling and children's panels as well as the cooking demonstration that mentions pumpkin muffins.  Mmm... pumpkin muffins.

Will there be the Healthy Villi's traditional gluten-free buffet its members are used to at the quarterly meetings?  I haven't found an answer to this, but it might not matter after a (long, slow) walk through the vendor's area.  There will be shopping & sampling from more than eighty-five purveyors of gluten-free food, celiac healthcare, cosmetics, gluten-free magazines and more.  This includes many national and local companies I've written about in my column here on MassBytes including Pierce's Pantry, Nantucket Pasta Goddess and Against the Grain; businesses I've had on my list to write about in forthcoming blog posts not limited to Something Sweet Without Wheat, Rudi's Bakery and Taza Chocolate; big names like Glutino, KIND, Schar and Bakery on Main; Hannaford and Wegman's supermarket chains; local restaurants such as the Chateau and Burton's Grill; and a treasure trove of small suppliers I'll be pleased to avail myself of for the first time.

Entrance to the expo is $20 for Healthy Villi members, $30 for non-members and $5 for children under 12.  Online registration here or call (617) 262-5422.  If you see me, please come up and say hello, mentioning MassBytes!  Of course, stay tuned for many future posts about the Gluten Free Expo and many of its vendors!  Seriously, SO EXCITED.

Gluten-Free: Bittersweet Shop & Birthday Cake!

Liberty turned two yesterday. Her birthday party was on Sunday the 19th; incidentally, my mother's actual birthday.  All the specialness made it imperative to get the absolute best gluten-free cake I could find.  A possibly excessive amount of research narrowed this down to two options from an initial shortlist of five.  Bittersweet, located conveniently inside an office park in Woburn, utterly blew away the competition in the finals.

Oh yes.

Of primary importance was to have a truly gluten-free cake.  Although Bittersweet does serve glutenous food, they have a regular gluten-free menu consisting of pastries, scones, pies, cupcakes, cookies, tarts, signature cakes, lunch specials that can all be made gf and of course custom-designed special order cupcakes & cakes.  It was explained to me in detail how the store has separate regular & gf kitchens with equipment exclusive to that kitchen, exactly like a kosher kitchen would have.  Gluten-free foods are created first in the morning for extra steps to avoid cross-contamination.  As an added bonus, no artificial flavors or preservatives are used in any of their products.  Leftover cake does need to go into the freezer, not in the fridge!

I know gluten-free food extremely well... but other than making simple wheatless ones at home, I'm a cake idiot.

Gluten-Free: Romano's Macaroni Grill

Bill, Liberty, & I were in Burlington for Celebrate Burlington Day recently.  I know, I know, yuk it up -- but the last 25 years has made Burlington an increasingly wealthy town.  All of the (impressive) rides at the fair are free due to corporate donations, it ends with a concert and a spectacular fireworks display, and the food is heavily discounted.  (Thanks again to Boston Events Insider, my go-to site for local events, for the tip to this one.)

Unfortunately, the auspices of wealth are now found within the selection of restaurants in town as well and the gluten-free food at the fair was limited to boxes of popcorn and cotton candy.  Liberty and I were *starving* by the time it was dinner.  I had seen from Find Me Gluten Free searches that Romano's Macaroni Grill offered a gluten-free menu and was reasonably priced for Burlington so we we went to check it out.  Upon looking at their slightly hard-to-read allergy menu -- which reminded me more of the allergy menu on the wall at Wendy's than it did any similar restaurant to Romano's -- we decided to stay.  This may have been a mistake.

Gluten-Free: Wild Willy's Worcester

I've wanted to go to Wild Willy's in Worcester (say that three times fast) since I heard two things: 1) almost their entire menu is gluten-free and 2) the gentleman who runs this particular franchise is the person who brought the concept of gluten-free food to the entire chain.  They close at 8, so I finally made it there this past week.

Upon entry, it was clear this would be a fun meal.  You order at the counter and they bring the food to your table, which is located within a well-decorated dining room (such as a stagecoach etiquette sign) containing big booths spaced out far enough from each other to be able to have private conversations.  We took one in the corner with fantastic views over trees, where we could see the Wachusett reservoir and the mountains in the distance. 

The cashier was exceptionally knowledgeable about their gf offerings.  He explained to me that not all of their burger toppings are gluten-free so some of the styles of burgers are not, but that only leaves a handful which aren't.  The fries, onion rings, chicken & steak sandwiches, haddock fillets and specialty drinks are all safe to eat.  They even make their own buns, which are literally stamped "gf" to reassure and avoid any confusion. 

Gluten-Free: Chuck E. Cheese's

Another national chain has announced a trial of gluten-free food in the last week with substantially less fanfare than Domino's wet glutenous blanket in my last post.

Chuck E. Cheese's is testing gluten-free pizza and cupcakes in all their Minnesota stores with the potential for roll-out across the US!


This pizza & games restaurant for children is putting all other dining establishments to shame. Following their training by the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness's GREAT Kitchens program (nice acronym), Chuck E. Cheese's has chosen to be emblematic of best practices to avoid cross-contamination. The personal cheese pizza is manufactured at Conte's Pasta and will arrive at individual store locations in frozen & bake-in-bag packaging that will remain sealed until it's delivered & opened at the table by an adult customer with a personal pizza cutter. Likewise, the single-serve chocolate fudge cupcakes from Fabe's All Natural Bakery -- which are not only gluten-free but also naturally sweetened with fruits, vegetables & grains -- are never touched by anyone after leaving the factory until they're in the hands of gluten-free adults or kids as well.


If these products meet the chain's taste & quality standards and there's enough demand, which there should be given the "overwhelming response from families requesting gluten-free items" according to Joe Elliot, Chuck E. Cheese's vice president of research and development, gluten-free options will eventually be launched across the country.

I agree, Chuck.  Thumbs up!

Additionally, they are considering offering gluten-free birthday parties (but even sooner than the full wheatless shebang) as well as other special dietary products nationwide if the test markets do well, including at all their eleven Massachusetts locations.


Chuck E. Cheese's, I promise your company lifelong loyalty that if you provide a place "Where a (gluten-free) Kid Can Be a Kid." I will have every one of my daughter's birthday parties (& any future children) at one of your franchises until she or they are inappropriately old. I will also find a myriad of reasons to go at least once a month for the rest of the year. Possibly by myself if I don't end up looking like a pedophile, because you are way safer for me than the adult-oriented Dave & Busters. You can hold me to it.


I urge you to contact Chuck E Cheese's guest relations on their website form or by phone at 1-888-778-7193 if you feel as strongly as I do that all American children should be able to enjoy their family dining, games and entertainment.


I'll meet you by the skee-ball.

Yes.

Nana's Sunday Food Funnies - April 8, 2012

Nana's Sunday Food Funnies - April 8, 2012