Thursday, November 14, 2013

Restaurant Review: The Fine Grind: A Coffee Bar (Little Falls, NJ)


I've been attending the monthly Celiac Support Group called the GF Club at the Fine Grind: A Coffee Bar (101 Newark Pompton Tpk [Rt23S], Little Falls, NJ 07424) for a couple of years now. In that time, they've expanded their Gluten Free offerings from a couple of Get Fresh Bakehouse [contain dairy] individually wrapped brownies to a full gluten free menu. A good number of these items are already dairy free or can be made dairy free. Since owners Rhonda and Jon are dairy free as well, the Fine Grind even has vegan butter on hand.

Gluten Free Bagel and Gluten Free Oatmeal
at the Fine Grind in Little Falls, NJ
I stopped in for breakfast recently and had a toasted gluten free bagel with peanut butter and a bowl of gluten free oatmeal [made dairy free with almond milk]. The staff is well versed in avoiding cc [they have a dedicated prep area] and knew which items were dairy free or how best to modify them. This is one of the few places I can get a truly gluten free / dairy free breakfast but I've also been for lunch (turkey on GF/DF roll with GF chips) as well.

As mentioned above, The Fine Grind hosts a Gluten Free Support group called the GF Club [currently the second Tuesday of each month]. It is a great way to connect with others in the area who are living gluten free, share the latest gf finds, and keep up with what is coming next at the Fine Grind (we've gotten to sample most of their GF items before they've been added to the gf menu!). [This month we tried their Thanksgiving special – turkey on GF bread (or gf/df roll) with cranberry sauce and GF/DF stuffing!] There is a $10 admission but this includes a beverage and a wide array of GF snacks/treats.

Hopefully you'll check out the Fine Grind either for the food, the GF club, or both!  If you can't make their meetings, click here for more advice on finding a Gluten Free Support Group.

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