As some of you already know, I do a lot of writing about food for 14850 Dining, an offshoot of 14850 Magazine, so I’m using this 5 Days event to explore the gluten-free offerings around town, as well as on campus. I know quite a few restaurants in town can cater to those with a variety of dietary restrictions, and some have entire gluten-free or vegan menus.
Omission is a tasty, barley-based beer from Portland that uses a gluten removal process.
One of my favorite eateries these days is Agava Restaurant, near campus on east hill, and I’d learned a while ago that they had a GF menu. Why not explore it this week? First, I decided to try a bottle of Omission’s new Pale Ale, a gluten-free beer that’s brewed with barley and a process that removes the gluten. (At less than 1 part per million, it’s considered safe for all but the most gluten-sensitive.) I often enjoy a beer with dinner, so I was glad gluten intolerance awareness has reached a point where someone out there is catering to GF beer-lovers. Distilled spirits are also gluten-free, even if they’re made with wheat, so even one of Agava’s margaritas should be fine.
We also ordered an appetizer of the brussels sprouts, which are roasted in the wood-fired oven and tossed with pecans and grated parmesan. Agava has lots of GF offerings on their menu, including salads, tacos made with corn tortillas, and their excellent burger served on a bed of salad greens instead of a bun. In fact, we were seated next to a family that included a gluten-free diner who simply ordered the grilled New York strip steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. He didn’t seem to feel he was depriving himself!
But I wanted to try something that didn’t just happen to be gluten-free, and since Agava is big on flatbreads cooked in their wood-fired oven, I wanted to try the GF version of those. They warn that the gluten-free flatbreads (which use a corn tortilla shell as the crust, instead of the usual pizza-like dough) are baked in the same oven as the regular flatbreads, but apparently that isn’t a cross-contamination issue for most folks. (The corn-based tortilla chips are also fried in a fryer that’s also used for wheat items, so the menu warns that the chips aren’t officially gluten-free, even though they contain no wheat.)
The Shrimpster features shrimp, cherry tomatoes, corn, and awesome pesto.
If I hadn’t had Agava’s regular flatbreads countless times before, I would never have known there was anything “different” about my gluten-free Shrimpster. Unless you’re from the United Kingdom, it might never occur to you to put seafood or (especially) corn on a pizza, but trust me, it’s a good idea. This gluten-free flatbread was hot and crisp and delicious, and the guy next to us admitted he might have to give it a try on their next visit.
We didn’t have dessert, but if we’d chosen to, Agava says their crème brûlée is gluten-free, and I imagine the ice cream is, as well. As it was, I was quite satisfied with my gluten-free dinner at a popular restaurant that clearly puts a lot of thought into accommodating diners who need a restricted diet.
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