I just received six new bars from Bakery On Main. These True Bars have “nothing to hide”, are dairy and casein free, low in sodium, have no transfat or cholesterol and are a good source of Omega 3′s. I’m excited to try these six bars, especially the coconut cashew and apricot almond chai! Stay tuned for photos and my review!
Glutenfreegal is back! I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written, but I have good reasons! Work is busy, wedding planning is crazy and whatever time I have to write I’ve been using to post to the Vancouver Observer. Please check out my posts and recipes on there to keep updated on my latest cooking and baking experiments!
Now, onto this post.
I spent a weekend down in Seattle a couple weeks ago and spent most of my time checking out grocery stores. As usual. Joel and I go down to Seattle every so often to visit family and I’m always amazed at the variety of gluten free foods available in the States. Sure, the grocery stores here are getting better in their selection, but they are nothing compared to some of the stores in Seattle.
One chain store that I have fallen in love with is PCC. PCC Natural Markets is a chain based in western Washington, primarily in the Puget Sound area. They pride themselves on carrying high quality foods, supporting local sustainable agriculture and celebrating food, among other things. PCC is similar to Whole Foods, but almost without the pretentious feel you sometimes sense while in a Whole Foods. Now don’t get me wrong, I like Whole Foods, but I think a lot of what you’re paying when you shop there is because of the name.
PCC carries everything you could need, and their gluten free selection is simply part of the store, not a separate aisle or tucked away in a freezer. Gluten free items are easily identifiable by orange tags on the shelves and the stores all employ gluten free shopping specialists and train their staff in all things gluten free and Celiac.
All told, PCC carries around 2000 gluten free products. Compare this to your local Safeway or Save-On and this is incredible!
Another thing I love about this store is that they offer gluten free cooking and baking classes. I’m looking forward to attending a few of them!
We picked up a few things while we were there, of course, and so far there have been no disappointments. Well, at least not due to the products. I managed to find a bag of Bob’s Red Mill gluten free steel cut oats, and put them in a tupperware container when we got home, and Joel left the container on top of the fridge. He came home that afternoon to a kitchen floor covered in oats and one of our cats playing in them!
Other than that, everything has been fabulous! I came home with a box of Puffins honey rice cereal (really yummy), gluten free old fashioned oats, vegan gluten free burritos, Redbridge sorghum beer and Rudi’s multigrain bread.
The cereal disappeared within three days (Joel was eating it and I had no idea!), the oats are great for oatmeal, home made granola or baking, the burritos were a tasty after shopping snack and the bread and beer are good for anytime!
I would love for PCC to expand to Canada, but sadly I don’t think this will happen. I’ll just have to settle for visiting the PCC whenever I go to Seattle!
Check out PCC online at http://www.pccnaturalmarkets.com/
A little while ago I was contacted by Bakery on Main, a company in the States about reviewing some of their products. I was sent three granola bars, which I have previously written about, and three types of loose granola. It took me awhile to get through these granolas because I generally mix them with soy yogurt and I didn’t have any for awhile.
I recently finished them, and I was very impressed! One of the granolas was actually one I’ve posted about before; Apple Raisin Walnut Granola. The raisin and walnuts really come out in this granola, but the apple doesn’t at all. Just writing this I’m trying to remember the apple flavour in the granola and I can’t. If the flavour was stronger I definitely think it would go well with the granola.
The next kind I tried was the Extreme Fruit and Nut Granola. This one tasted quite similar to the Extreme Trail Mix granola bar I’ve previously tried from Bakery on Main. I really enjoyed this one. There were a lot of nuts in the mix and some dried fruits, and the flavours were really nice.
The last granola was the Nutty Cranberry Maple Granola. This one was my favourite. The mix of the nuts and cranberry with a hint of maple flavour was perfect.
I’ve found Bakery on Main’s granolas in the Save On Foods near me, but they’re quite expensive; $9 a bag. This is a bit steep for granola, but I might have to splurge for the Nutty Cranberry Maple Granola every once in awhile!
I was recently sent some chewy granola bars from Bakery on Main to review, so stay tuned for the post!
I had dinner at Milestones this week and had a sub-par experience. They have a gluten free menu that I ordered off of, but my meal was still served with a breadstick on the side. Below is a letter I sent to the restaurant chain to alert them to their error, as it wasn’t addressed while I was at the restaurant. I’m posting this because when I order off a gluten free menu I assume that what I am getting is actually gluten free, and this time it was not. I don’t want someone else to order off this menu and get unintentionally glutened. Just because they have a gluten free menu doesn’t mean we have to stop being diligent about our food.
I had dinner at the Burnaby Milestones on November 4th and had a problem with my meal that was not addressed by my server or by any other staff member. I have Celiac Disease and was in need of a gluten free meal. While I applaud the efforts of your restaurant for having a gluten free menu, I don’t believe that the severity of this disease and the need of completely gluten free meals has been communicated with the staff at Milestone’s. I asked to see the gluten free menu, ordered the tomato basil brown rice spaghettini and let my server know I needed a gluten free meal. I couldn’t have been clearer.
When my meal came it was served with a breadstick. Not gluten free. I questioned the food runner and she said, that yes my meal was gluten free, with rice pasta. I asked about the breadstick and she didn’t seem to understand what I was saying. I asked if the breadstick was gluten free, she admitted it wasn’t and took my meal away. She promptly returned less than two minutes later, in which time I’m assuming the breadstick was simply taken off of my plate, instead of re-making my meal.
My server didn’t mention the mistake, nor was it spoken of by any other member of the staff. When I order off a gluten free menu at a restaurant I assume that what I am served is in fact gluten free. Unfortunately this was not the case in your establishment.
If I receive a response from the chain I will post it here and keep you all informed!
**UPDATE- I received a phone call from the manager at the Burnaby Milestones a few minutes ago. He was very apologetic for what had happened and explained their policy for dealing with allergies. He seemed very disappointed in his staff that were working that night for the over-site and explained that a mistake like this with an allergy shouldn’t have happened. Although a phone call doesn’t make up for a possible glutening I really appreciate that the manager contacted me so promptly and seemed very eager to make up for the incident.
**UPDATE x2- About a half hour after this phone call I received a phone call from the Milestones area manager wanting to address the problem. He was very understanding and eager to solve the issue. I was very impressed by the follow up I received from both Milestones managers; it shows that they take these issues very seriously and don’t just brush them under the rug like many other restaurants might.
Just a quick note to fill you all in on what’s new with Glutenfreegal. I’ve started as a food contributor for The Vancouver Observer, an online Vancouver newspaper. I’ll be writing restaurant reviews from a gluten free point of view, recipes and pretty much what I post around here! I’ll also be starting a gluten free blog on the site: Wheatless In Vancouver.
I’m going to try to keep up with the posts on here, but you all can also check out my posts and recipes on The Vancouver Observer site.
Visit the Observer at http://www.vancouverobserver.com/
