Cooqi Gluten-Free Delights

When we find ourselves in St. Paul during the day we try to stop in Cooqi for a treat. My favorite is a brownie while Nate enjoys the blondies or pumpkin bars. Unfortunately Cooqi Gluten-Free Delights will be closing their doors on April 30th.
The good news is Cooqi will be selling their baking mixes online and in local grocery stores.

Cooqi supplies pizza crust to many local restaurants that offer gluten-free pizza. Madwoman Bakery will be stepping up to continue to supply gluten-free crusts to these restaurants. Thank you Madwoman for helping keep this option available for us.

If you live in the Twin Cities stop in this weekend to pick up your favorite treat.

Gluten-Free Pizza at Birchwood Cafe

Starting Friday, March 12th Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis will be offering gluten-free pizza. The pizza will be on pizza crust made by Cooqi. If you have a chance to check it out let us know what you think.

Gluten-Free Menu All Week

Sorry I haven't been posting more recently, I've been meaning to but I've been exhausted. Nate and I are expecting our first child in April so I have been preoccupied with sleeping when I can and trying to fight off colds. I haven't been as interested in cooking either although I have been obsessed with nutrition. We have been throwing together a lot of simple and quick meals especially tacos since I've been craving spicy foods.

I have some exciting gluten-free news for those that live in the Twin Cities. Starting December 1st Pizza Luce will offer their gluten-free menu seven days a week at their St. Paul and Downtown Minneapolis locations.

We are so excited to see this expand to include the weekends as well. Often times friends would want to meet up at Pizza Luce on a Friday or Saturday night and it was frustrating to know they had the capabilities and a menu but it wasn't the "right day." Although now that I'm pregnant we don't go Downtown often. Nate will just have to convince me that I'm craving Luce.

Boston's The Gourmet Pizza

Seriously, more pizza?

Yes, Boston's The Gourmet Pizza now carries a gluten-free pizza crust. Since they are known for their pizza they wanted to make it easier for everyone to enjoy. (Supposedly, it is the same crust that they use at Unos.) You can choose from 13 different kinds of pizzas made on a gluten-free crust. The gluten-free pizza is only available in small and is about an additional two dollars.

Boston's also offers a Healthy Hits menu for those who are looking for a healthier option. All of their locations should carry the gluten-free crust. If you have a large group they recommend calling ahead. Click here to find a location near you.

Luckily we have a BBQ planned for tomorrow night but I'm sure we'll try it soon and let you know what we think. Has anyone tried it yet?

Free Pizza for a Year?

Uno Chicago Grill is having a sweepstakes to win free pizza for a year. Translation: Free pizza for a year is one pizza a month. Click here to enter. Gluten-free pizza is available in cheese, pepperoni and veggie.

You must be an "Insider" to enter. If you are not an Insider you can still sign up to become one and be entered in the sweepstakes.

I have a separate email address for sweepstakes and things I don't want to go to my regular email. My family and friends know that I am obsessed with Sweepstakes. Someone is going to win, why not you?

Gluten-Free Pizza in Austin, TX

We seem to be finding gluten-free pizza all over the Twin Cities and while we've seen some chains adding it I've been wondering if other places are seeing the same trend. Since Ann and Becca are in Austin visiting Kristy and Kasja. They all eat gluten-free and Ann and Becca live in a small town so it is pretty rare for them to enjoy gluten-free pizza out. I began to wonder if there was gluten-free pizza in the Austin area. A couple of months ago Kristy and I were talking about it but I never found out of she found gluten-free pizza.

After a quick search I found a couple of options for them. Brick Oven on 35th has gluten-free pizza as well as a gluten-free menu that includes meatballs, pasta and flat bread sandwiches. I've read a couple of reviews and it sounds like the pizza is definitely worth trying. They do charge a little more for the gluten-free crust but that is pretty common.

Marye's Gourmet Pizza has also started offering gluten-free pizza. I haven't found any reviews on it so I am curious if anyone has tried it. We obviously haven't tried either of these yet but next time we visit them I'm sure Nate will want to fit that in.

Skosh Monahan's in Costa Mesa, CA

Nate's sister Marissa lives in California so I'm always keeping my eye open for restaurants in California that will accommodate a gluten-free diet. Especially with Marissa's wedding coming up everyone wants to know they can eat safely while traveling. Although this isn't right where we'll be I was impressed with the gluten-free menu and we'd gladly make an excuse to drive somewhere for gluten-free pizza.

Skosh Monahan's is a Steakhouse and Irish Pub that offers a gluten-free menu and a GFCF kid's menu.
Their gluten-free menu includes appetizers, soup, salad, pizza, and entrees.

Godfather's Pizza offering Gluten-Free Pizza

A couple years ago we said just wait, some day you'll be able to get gluten-free pizza at one of the regular pizza places. We just didn't think some day would be so soon.

According to the Press Release the gluten-free pizza is available at select Godfather's Pizza locations in:
Omaha, NE
Topeka, KS
Overland Park, KS
Blue Springs, MO
St. Cloud, MN
Burnsville, MN
Sioux Falls, SD

Employees at these locations have received special training. I spoke to an employee who said they also sell frozen take and bake pizza if you don't feel comfortable with them baking it. Use the Store Locator to check if the gluten-free pizza is available at the location nearest you. The gluten-free pizza is available in a 10-inch size and you can enjoy cheese, pepperoni, beef, sausage, classic combo and all-meat combo. We were very excited to hear that the gluten-free pizzas are priced in line with the other pizzas.

Email Godfather's Pizza at glutenfree@godfathers.com and let them know where you would like to see gluten-free pizza.

Gluten-Free Wine Dinner

Someone left a comment about an exciting gluten-free event that is coming up on the Twin Cities. Monday, May 18th Wildfire in Eden Prairie will host a Gluten-Free dinner. The menu includes a 4-course meal, wine with each course, tax and gratuity. The Pear Tartlet for dessert sounds wonderful. They will also have a guest speaker discussing gluten-free dining and researching gluten-free products. For more information check out the Wildfire website.

Pizza Luce Downtown Minneapolis

I really only had 2 complaints about Pizza Luce offering a gluten-free menu.
1. It is only available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
2. It is only available at their St. Paul location.

I understand their logic, they wanted to control it as much as possible to eliminate any chance of cross contact. They started with offering gluten-free on Tuesdays and added Wednesdays not long after. We thought this is great, they are really seeing there is a demand and hoped they would continue to expand.

Starting next Tuesday and Wednesday you can order pizza made from Cooqi's gluten-free crust at Pizza Luce's Downtown Minneapolis location!

Pizza Luce Downtown Minneapolis
119 North 4th Street
Minneapolis, MN 55401

Gluten-Free Pizza in the Twin Cities

The Twin Cities has a few more gluten-free pizza options. Eden Pizza in St. Paul and Galactic Pizza in Uptown both serve Cooqi's gluten-free pizza crust.
Red's Savoy Pizza in Hugo and Coon Rapids also offer gluten-free pizza.

So far Nate has been showing some willpower (he's in saving mode now) but I'm sure we'll check them out soon.

Uno Gluten-Free Pizza Coupon

When my sisters and I were younger we loved going shopping at Southdale. Sometimes my mom would takes us to lunch at Uno Chicago Grill. We thought this was such a big treat. I had great memories of going there and was disappointed when I found out they closed the restaurant. We no longer have an Uno location in Minnesota. My sisters and I weren't the only ones disappointed that the Edina location closed. Nate was disappointed to find out they have a gluten-free menu that includes pizza yet we don't have a location near us. The former location was right by his work. He won't agree but it is probably better this way.

In case you have an Uno location near you I wanted to share this offer I received. Click here for a coupon to save a dollar on your gluten-free pizza. The coupon doesn't expire until 5/31/09! I have heard good reviews of the pizza so far.

Sign up for their email club to receive offers and updates.

Michello's Restaurant Review

Nate and I have been trying to be good about not going out to eat too often. After reading on The Savvy Celiac that Michello's in Blaine, MN has a gluten-free menu we thought we had to check it out. Michello's is about 2 miles from our house and has gluten-free pizza and pasta. Would we actually have a convenient location for gluten-free pizza?

We were really impressed with the number of choices on the gluten-free menu. Since gluten-free lasagna is so rare to find in restaurants we had to try it. Michello's gluten-free lasagna is the same recipe as their regular lasagna except for the rice noodles. All of their sauces are made from scratch.

The lasagna and other pastas are served with garlic bread. The garlic bread was good but not great, something you could easily make at home with store bought bread. They are working on their own recipe for garlic bread.

Nate is never one to pass up gluten-free pizza so we decided to share a pepperoni and sausage pizza. At Michello's they make their own pizza crust. The ingredients are listed on the menu which is nice for those with other allergens. I'm pretty impressed that they take the time to make their own crust. They also add toppings in a dedicated area to help eliminate cross contact.

They brought out a piece of chocolate cake and asked if they could get our opinion on it. This might be the first time that Nate and I shared a piece of cake at a restaurant. Usually if they offer a gluten-free cake it is a flourless chocolate cake which are too rich for his taste. We both really enjoyed the cake. Nate said it reminded him of one his Grandma would make which is a pretty nice compliment seeing as she's been baking gluten-free for almost 30 years now. They are working on their carrot cake recipe as well.

I am definitely worried about the damage to my wallet and waistline with this being so convenient for us.

Bunky's Cafe

The other day I heard that Bunky's Cafe in Madison, Wisconsin will make almost anything gluten-free. We don't make it to Madison very often although, my mother-in-law Ann takes the girls there often for doctor appointments and to run errands.

I had to check this out for them and Teresa informed me "Our whole menu is or can be made GF (with the exception of the ravioli)." When I told my sister-in-law Becca about it she was a little disappointed because she wanted ravioli. I don't think she'll be too disappointed considering they have gluten-free pizza, pasta, garlic bread and desserts. I don't think I'll need to twist their arms very much to get them to try it and let us know what they think.

Note they are not open on Mondays so try to plan around that. They also have many vegetarian and vegan options available.

ZPizza Restaurant Review

After reading Katie's blog I told Nate there was another place with gluten-free pizza. Since ZPizza has a location close to us he decided we just had to try it. All I have to say is their pizza is Amazing!

We ordered the American and Mexican to share. Both pizzas tasted like the perfect balance of everything. ZPizza definitely uses fresh quality ingredients. Thanks again Katie for posting about this.

American

Mexican

ZPizza has locations in Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Call ahead to make sure your location offers the gluten-free pizza or request they carry it.

Pizza Fusion has Gluten-Free Pizza

Pizza Fusion is the pizza place for everyone and prides itself on being environmentally friendly. Pizza Fusion offers gluten-free pizza crust, beer and brownies. They also have options for those who are vegan, vegetarian or lactose intolerant.

Pizza Fusion is very conscious of being earth friendly. These are just some of their environmentally friendly action items:

• Disposable silverware decomposes in 50 days
• Customers receive a discount for returning pizza boxes to be recycled
• Pizza is delivered in company hybrid cars
• My favorite, the counter tops are made from recycled detergent bottles

Unfortunately we don't have a Pizza Fusion near us. They have many locations across the country including Atlanta, San Diego and Seattle with more coming soon.

Marissa - They are opening one in LA!

Gluten-Free Pizza, Lasagna, Ravioli & Wraps

Nate has a lot in common with his Uncle Dan and Uncle Tim. For example, all three of them are obsessed with Jeeps, boats and gluten-free pizzas. Both Dan and Tim have called Nate in the same night looking for gluten-free pizza in different areas of the Twin Cities. While the first two obsessions tend to be spendy it is the pizza that can be hardest to find. The locations never seem to be in the right place at the right time. We have some good pizza recipes to make at home but it is not the same as going out for pizza or picking one up before a football game.

Donatelli's in White Bear Lake offers gluten-free pizza, lasagna and ravioli. Now this will be a difficult choice since these items are all hard to find gluten-free in a restaurant.

Zebra Pizza in Ramsey now offers gluten-free pizza crust and wraps. They even have a choice between thick crust and thin crust! According to their website the thin crust pizza is corn free.
They do not have dine in but they can make it for you or you can get a "take n bake." Lori's Zebra Pizza also recommends to call ahead at least an hour before you need the pizza. They try to keep things on hand but cannot gurantee they will have everything in stock.

Pizza on Wednesdays too!

As I checked my email tonight I found a nice little surprise. Pizza Luce will now be offering their Gluten-free menu on Wednesday nights in addition to Tuesday nights! I knew it wouldn't be long before they saw that the demand was there. While at the same time I really respect that they are slowly expanding it to eliminate cross-contamination as much as possible.
Please note the Gluten-free menu is only available at their St. Paul location on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Go support their new menu and enjoy some Gluten-free pizza.

Park Tavern Review

After visiting baby Layla we decided to stop for lunch. The hospital happens to be right by Park Tavern where they offer GF pizza. They use pizza crust from Cooqi. Here's a picture of our pizza. As you can see they really load on the toppings. They mentioned they are working on adding personal size pizzas to the menu too. FYI - Nate likes having the leftovers cold the next day while watching football.

Godfather's GF Pilot Program

Godfather's is currently testing GF pizza at their corporate location in Omaha, Nebraska. It is only offered at this location so they can focus on eliminating any cross conatimination issues. They will look for other locations to agree to their strict guidelines and offer a GF pizza crust. The hope to have this available sometime in 2009.

I really enjoyed the fact that we weren't one of those families that ate pizza every week. With all of these GF pizza options I might not be able to say that much longer. My grandma will like to hear this though. She's a big fan of getting Godfather's for family get togethers when she's in town so we don't have to cook. Maybe Nate will be able to eat more than just a salad.