Restaurant Review: River Edge Pizza Kitchen (River Edge, NJ)

My first Meatball Parm Sub in years!

Gluten Free / Dairy Free Meatball Parm Sub

I recently had lunch (and took home dinner) from River Edge Pizza Kitchen (830 Kinderkamack Road, River Edge, NJ 07661) and enjoyed it greatly. I first heard about the restaurant from the Northern NJ Celiac Meetup. I was particularly drawn to the fact that they also offer dairy free / vegan cheese. In addition, they have gluten free pasta, gluten free pizza crust (imported from italy), gluten free fries, gluten free fried calamari (both in a dedicated frier), gluten free heros, gluten free bread crumbs, gluten free wraps, gf garlic bread, and gluten free meatballs.

The restaurant is a store front with a couple of small tables upfront to eat in. The food is some of the best Italian food I've had but a bit expensive. The pizza crust was soft and came in its own foil lined pan. The hero rolls are Schar and the vegan cheese is daiya. There is a $3 surcharge for gluten free items (and a $5 surcharge on the gluten free dinners) [not sure if there was an up-charge for the vegan cheese].

Gluten Free French Fries

The grandchildren of the owners (husband and wife) are gluten free and dairy free and even the husband himself is now finding he has issues with gluten.

If I lived or worked closer this is somewhere I would go back to – especially for gluten free / dairy free meatball parm, gf/df chicken parm or a gf/df pizza!







Here are some other gluten free Italian/Pizza options:

Pizza Fusion for GF/DF pizza

La Riviera Trattoria (no dairy free cheese but amazing food)

All NJ Restaurants with Gluten Free Menus

Restaurant Review: eat healthy deli (Fairfield, NJ)

100% Gluten Free!

Last Friday I had lunch at the recently opened eat healthy deli (24 Little Fals Road, Fairfield, NJ 07004) [Their website may not be up yet, so here's their facebook page]. They offer three brands of gluten free breads (No Way! It's Gluten Free, Get Fresh Bakehouse, and Schär) [not all are dairy free] and Applegate Farms cold cuts. All of their soups are gluten free (one was vegan the day I was there). They have a U shaped 'bar' with seating but no tables if you want to eat in.

When was the last time you saw a sign this welcoming?!?!

They also have a 100% gluten free bakery onsite and full lists of ingredients for each of the baked good. Only some of the baked goods the day I was there were also dairy free but the baker will accommodate any request she can with advanced notice.

eat healthy is open for breakfast and lunch six days a week (closed Sundays). A lot of the breakfast items can be made dairy free and they even have vegan butter! They are looking to expand eventually to offer dinner and offer grab and go dinners as well.

Both owners (who are brothers) are gluten free which is why the entire deli is gluten free! [They both limit their dairy but aren't dairy free themselves. For dairy free they had to double check a number of items but were happy to do so and happy to accommodate however they could.]

Gluten Free Panini and GF/Vegan Cookie
at eat healthy deli in Fairfield, NJ

In addition to gluten free the owners are big on non-GMO, offer organic where they can, and even have compostable flatware and plates. There are a number of gluten free products for sale (Ancient Harvest, Bob's Red Mill, Canyon Bakehouse, Contes, Feel Good Foods, Get Fresh Bakehouse, Gratify, Jovial, Kind, Namaste, No Way It's Gluten Free, and Schär) as well as a number of grocery items.

So, how was the food? Amazing! I had 'The Butcher' a grilled ribeye steak on a No Way! It's Gluten Free sub roll. They pressed the sandwich in their panini press and the roll held together through the whole lunch. And that is the nice thing about a 100% Gf restaurant, the panini press is dedicated gf, the toaster is dedicated gf, the prep area is dedicated gf, etc, etc! This is definitely somewhere I'm hoping to go back to quite often.




Looking for other gluten free sandwich options? (None of these are 100% GF)

Try Pascarella Bros in Summit

or the Bologna Deli in Sparta

or Plum on Park in Montclair

And of course, check out the full list of restaurants with gluten free menus.

Restaurant Review: Cinders Wood Fire Grill (Mine Hill, NJ)

I had a great all around experience at Cinders Wood Fire Grill (319 Route 46W, Mine Hill, NJ 07803) last night. For starters, Cinders flags the gluten free items on their menu with a small green diamond. There were nine tapas (appetizers), eight entrees, and six sides. There is also a note that any item without the sauce or without bread would be gluten free.

Woodgrilled Half Chicken in a Cilantro Lime Marinade

Their specials list wasn't flagged but I figured I'd ask about an interesting sounding swordfish with peaches and sweet barbeque glaze since I needed to inquire about dairy free anyway. The waiter was very helpful and offered to check with the kitchen without being asked (always a good sign). They couldn't make the dish both gluten and dairy free as written but the chef offered to prepare the swordfish with a gf/df garlic wine sauce instead!

In the end, I decided to try the Woodgrilled Half Chicken (naturally both gf/df), with a side of grill asparagus and gluten free shoestring fries!

Overall a great time and somewhere with enough gluten free variety on the menu that I'm sure to go back!




Other restaurants you may like:

Opa Greek Cuisine (Wayne, NJ)

Pandan Room (Hackettstown, NJ)

Or search my full gluten free restaurant list!