PIca Pica’s entire menu is gluten-free Menus for Health 20 www. n A PAVA L L E Y L I F E magaz ine . c o m The request has become significant. Chef Ken Frank at La Toque notes, “There has been a huge upswing in these requests in the last two years,” though he’s always tried to accommodate diners. Farmstead is also happy to accommodate those on gluten-free diets. “We are seeing more and more guests asking for gluten-free options,” says manager Adam Kim. “Over 75 percent of our menu is either gluten-free or can be prepared without gluten.” How to av oid gluten The chefs avoid gluten in a number of ways. First, some cuisines and their restaurants are inherently gluten-free, like Pica Pica and C Casa in the Oxbow Public Market. C Casa Taqueria is 100-percent gluten-free, as it uses white corn tortillas as the base for most of its food. “Anyone with celiac disease or just gluten intolerant can order anything on the menu except some of the beer,” says owner Catherine Berner. C Casa even offers two gluten-free bottled beers. It also has a full-time pastry chef baking fresh every morning glutenfree baked goods such as Sin-a-buns, Bing cherry dark chocolate chip cookies and Mexican chocolate brownies, as well as blueberry olive oil cake, coconut pineapple cake and C Crunch, its version of granola. Likewise, Pica Pica’s menu is 100-percent gluten-free as its core ingredients—corn, plantains, yuca and taro root— are naturally glutenfree. They take care to make sure that all condiments are also gluten-free. The many Mexican restaurants in the valley all offer corn tortillas, though some also use flour tortillas, particularly for popular burritos, and many serve tortas (wheat flour sandwiches). At Compadres, owner Rick Enos says that all of its salsas and sauces are gluten-free, and most of its fresh vegetable items are. Beans are a good source of gluten-free protein, and “You can put anything in a corn tortilla. Our corn tortillas are made by Sonoma Valley Foods from fresh cooked and ground corn, not an enriched mixteca.” La Condesa’s menu is primarily gluten-free as it makes all of its tortillas from masa (corn flour). Manager Chuck Meyer says its servers are well-versed in dietary restrictions and Chef Chris Mortenson is open to preparing foods to accommodate restrictions. Many Asian cuisines don’t use much wheat flour, either. Chinese Golden Harvest restaurant in St. Helena offers a special menu, but much of its food is always gluten-free. Morimoto Napa tries to cater to different allergies and dietary restrictions. Their no-gluten options include Toro Tartare, spicy King Crab Legs, Ishi Yaki Buri Bop-bim bim bop style, steaks, sushi and sashimi, and replace the soy sauce with tamari. More dishes are available on request such as Omakase (Tasting Menu), which can be tailored to every need. Surprisingly, the dim sum at Dim Sum Charlie food trailer is glutenfree. “Many people think the dumplings are made of rice dough, but they are made from cassava (tapioca) starch,” says owner Andrew Siegal. It also has gluten-free noodle bowls utilizing rice noodles and miso broth. However, its pork buns have an egg noodle wrapper and sui may have an egg noodle wrapper. Another restaurant that is almost fundamentally gluten-free is Press, the steakhouse in St. Helena. Aside from bread and some desserts, most of its food doesn’t contain gluten. And all of Frati Gelato’s sorbetti are gluten-free, while most of its gelati are gluten-free too. Gluten-free dining is easy in Napa Valley by Paul Franson People avoiding gluten, the protein in wheat and some other grains, should find easy eating in Napa Valley restaurants. Whether they suffer from celiac disease, are gluten-intolerant or just think avoiding gluten is healthful for them, they’ll find that most independent local restaurants are aware of the issue and happy to accommodate diners. This is particularly true of the better restaurants. Many even go out of their way to make diners comfortable. Manager Jerry Lampe at Hurley’s Restaurant in Yountville, which offers a special gluten-free menu, says, “We instruct our staff during daily pre-shifts which items are gluten-free, can be made gluten-free and those that cannot be made gluten-free. It has become a huge priority for so many people that we wanted to make sure those who are afflicted with the gluten problem feel right at home with an actual menu of their own—so they feel like they are truly dining instead of being ‘taken through a menu’ trying to figure out what is gluten-free.”
NVLife_JulyAug_2013
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