Fogo de Chao - Almost Entirely Gluten-Free

Nate and I have been interested in going to Fogo de Chao for awhile, especially since we heard almost everything is gluten-free. The only two items that are not gluten-free are the wheat bread and tabbouleh which are both located at the salad bar.

We started with the salad bar that included large asparagus spears, roasted peppers, salmon, etc. Nate patiently waited for me me to finish my salad but I told him to go ahead and start with the meat. Each person has a disk which will control when they are offered meat. Within 10 seconds of flipping his disk from red to green a Gaucho Chef appeared at our table offering some meat. As soon as he left three more Gaucho Chefs appeared one after another and Nate quickly turned his disk back to red so he could enjoy his meal. Shortly after I switched my disk to green and received the same prompt service.

They offer 15 different kinds of meat. Items you can choose from include a top sirloin, pork ribs, leg of lamb. Your server will also bring some traditional side dishes of mashed potatoes, fried bananas and crispy polenta which they refill as necessary. Nate loves mashed potatoes but this time he barely touched them since there were so many other items to enjoy.

One would think that Nate's favorite part of the meal would have been the assortment of meats. His favorite by far was actually the cheese bread. Their famous Pao de Quiejo cheesebread is served warm and replenished throughout the meal. The cheese bread is gluten-free and made of tapioca flour. It is a lot like the Chebe bread. Usually I gorge myself on bread while Nate waits patiently for the meal. For a change it was nice to have the bread automatically gluten-free and not have to ask for a separate basket. Our waiter commented that Nate was enjoying the bread so I explained to him that this was a treat because he usually can't eat the bread. Then he offered to bring us 2 baskets of bread. Nate declined his offer.

We decided to go for lunch on one of our days off since lunch is about half the price of dinner. For lunch you can expect to pay around $20-$30. Those with a lighter appetite can choose just the salad bar. If you are going for dinner it ranges around $40-$50 not including drinks and dessert. Prices vary by city. While it is on the spendier side, the combination of great food and wonerful service make it worth it for a nice treat.

As with any restaurant menu items may change or vary by location so feel free to ask if you have concerns regarding ingredients.

Pizza Luce Gluten Free Menu Preview

Yesterday we previewed the GF menu at Pizza Luce. They handed us their new GF menu that included chicken wings, artichoke dip w/rolls, pizza, pasta and beer. I told Nate to choose 2 pizzas so he could try 2 different kinds. He decided on "The Bear" and "Baked Potato Pizza." I didn't know it was possible for someone to smile the whole way through dinner but he managed to. Out of the GF pizza crust that I've tried at restaurants this pizza tasted the most like "regular" pizza.
Laura, co-owner of the St Paul location stopped at our table to talk with us. Laura is a vegetarian so she is familar with a restricted diet. However, since it is a choice and not for medical reasons she decided to go GF for 2 weeks to understand the GF diet more. The training Laura and her staff went through is amazing. They really want to do this right.
Since the pizza is made with crust from Cooqi they had samples of brownies and pumpkin bars. Even people who are not GF were raving about the brownies.

It looks like we'll be spending a lot of Tuesday nights in St Paul.

Chebe Cheese Rolls

The other night we tried the Chebe Bread mix for the first time. I planned on making half of it and freezing the other half of dough. Nate didn't like that idea so we made all of it. I added some cheddar cheese and then Nate added another handful of cheese and we rolled them into small rolls. Nate used them as bread for Italian Dunkers and ate the rest for lunch the next two days. Since I had my own bread I only snuck one but they were very good, next time I might take more. I would like to try making bread sticks or sandwich buns with it.