Restaurant Review: Little Shanty (Warren, NJ)

They don't have a dedicated fryer . . . they have three!



Gluten Free Burger, Gluten Free Onion Rings, and
Gluten Free Fries at Little Shanty in Warren NJ

I had heard a rumor that Little Shanty (14 Mt. Bethel Road, Warren, NJ 07059) offered gluten free fries but needed to check it out for myself. I called them and they told me that they had four separate fryers in the restaurant and that three of them were for gluten free items, including . . . . gluten free onion rings! Of course I had to try them for myself (ah, the things I do in the name of research) so on a recent Saturday I took a drive to Warren.

The restaurant is a quick serve burger place where you order at the counter and they bring your food to the table. When I got to the counter and placed my order, as I always do I started by announcing that I have to be both gluten and dairy free.  The owner quickly rattled off everything that could be gluten free and even mentioned that their three gluten free fryers are dedicated and safe.

They offer Udi's gluten free hamburger buns for  any sandwich, gluten free wings, chicken nuggets, and three types of GF fries (only the sweet potato fries aren't gluten free)! As you can see I had a burger (on a bun!) and both gluten free fries as well as gluten free onion rings!

Other articles you may be interested in:

Full list of restaurants with gluten free fries

Full list of gluten free fast food and chain restaurants

Full list of NJ gluten free restaurants

Restaurant Review: PositiviTea (Verona, NJ)

A quirky little vegan cafe!

Gluten Free / Dairy Free Big WAC wrap

Warning: this review is mostly for my dairy free / vegan followers. PositiviTea does offer a number of gluten free options as well but they are a small tea shop with shared prep space and a shared panini press. They do offer to clean both, but caution that there still may be cross contamination.

I've eaten at PositiviTea (550 Bloomfield Avenue, Verona, NJ 07044) twice already and since it is right around the corner from me, I hope to eat here quite a bit more as well. They offer a full menu of assorted teas (most of the herbals they mix themselves), smoothies (all gloriously dairy free), burgers, wraps, and waffles.  The wraps can be made gluten free, the waffles are gluten free, and I've had them make a burger on a wrap instead as well (sometimes they have portabello mushrooms as buns for the burgers).

Gluten Free Waffles with Dairy Free Ice Cream

The first time I went I had the Big WAC as a wrap. This is their take of a McDonalds Big Mac and the taste is pretty spot-on. Two vegan patties, special sauce (vegan of course), vegan mayo, vegan cheese, lettuce, pickles and onions. All with a side of gluten free chips. For those of you who recall how much I raved about the vegan burger I got from the Green Radish (review) this certainly gives it a run for the money!

The second time I had the Apple Pie Waffles - three apple cinnamon gluten free waffles (I suspect Van's) with raw agave nectar, vegan soft serve ice cream and a side of bananas and apples.

If you go, say hi to Abe and do be sure to take a look at the ceiling!

Other vegan / vegetarian restaurants you might be interested in:

Nectar Cafe (Glen Rock, NJ)

Loving Hut (Ledgewood, NJ)

And my full list of Restaurants with Gluten Free menus is flagged with vegan/vegetarian options as well.

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.

Restaurant Review: From Seed to Sprout

Finally, a brunch where I can eat almost anything I want!

Gluten Free Vegan French Toast at From Seed to Sprout

Recently, I met one of my Celiac Support Groups at From Seed to Sprout (410 Main Street, Avon-By-The-Sea, NJ 07717) for brunch. They're closed Monday, open for breakfast/lunch during the week, and brunch on the weekends (although they do some dinner nights by reservation only). The brunch menu is a bit different from the weekday menu so some of the items we had may not be available during the week.

The restaurant is entirely vegan and has quite a few gluten free options as well (although not all of them are marked on the menu so you'll have to ask). [Only the pancakes couldn't be done gluten free, their only other gluten items were sandwich bread, rolls and english muffins, but they have a delicious gluten free millet and flax seed bread that can be substituted in (and our non-gf waitress stated the gf bread tasted better anyway)!] The juices / smoothies were all vegan (so no worries about cc with milk) although they did offer wheat grass (which if grown/harvested correctly is gluten free).

Grilled Avocado Sandwich on Gluten Free Bread

We ordered a variety of gluten free / vegan meals as well as some freshly prepared juices / smoothies. The gluten free / vegan french toast was amazing (since I can't handle a lot of egg, I haven't had real french toast in years)! Those who ordered it, raved about the grill avocado sandwich. And everyone was enamored with the coconut bacon!

From Seed to Sprout also has two dessert cases, one is for gluten containing baked goods and the other is for their raw vegan desserts which are all gluten free! Since our entire group was gluten free we decided to order one (or two) of every dessert and sample them all. The desserts were all great but the real standout for me was the lemon goji macaroon!

Our Line of Raw, Vegan,
Gluten Free Desserts

This is definitely somewhere I plan on returning to (especially to try that grilled avocado sandwich!)

If you're looking for some other shore area restaurants try:

Via Roma

Good Karma Cafe

Papa Ganache

Or check my full NJ GF Restaurant List!

Are Burger King's New Satisfries Gluten Free?

So what if they're lower fat, are they gluten free?

No gluten ingredient Burger King Fries and Satisfries

Burger King announced today new lower fat french fries or Satisfries. According to the press release the new fries have 40% less fat and 30% fewer calories than the leading (McDonald's) french fries. [Note: this is based on weight, not menu size - small, medium, large, King, etc.] [A little back-of-the-envelope math from the BK nutrition page leads me to believe the Satisfries contain 20% less fat and 20% less calories than BK's regular fries.]

But lets face reality, we're much less concerned about fat and much more concerned about gluten. For that, it mostly comes down to cross contamination. Just like Burger King's regular fries the new Satisfries contain no gluten ingredients. If your local restaurant has a separate fryer and safe handling procedures then the fries should be gluten free. Here are the ingredients from the BK website:

SATISFRIES™: Potatoes, vegetable oil (contains one or more of the following oils: canola, soybean, cottonseed, sunflower, corn), tapioca starch-modifies, contains 2% or less of corn starch-modified, paprika extract (color), rice flour, salt, sodium acid pyrophosphate (to maintain natural color), turmeric extract (color), xantham gum.

I stopped at a Burger King on the way home tonight and purchased a small regular fries and a small Satisfries (pictured above). [The satisfries were $.30 more by the way.]  Personally, I thought the new Satisfries tasted better and were fluffier on the inside.

In the end it really comes down to the cross contamination in the fryer and after they are fried (the BK I stopped at didn't but most share a warming bin for the onion rings and fries with just a metal divider between them). With so many other dining options now, I don't often risk a stop at Burger King.


For more thoughts on gluten free french fries, including a list of which restaurants and chains offer them click here: Gluten Free Fries!

And click here for more Gluten Free Fast Food / Chain Restaurants!

Bakery Review: Pink Frosting Bakery (Verona, NJ)

Last year a vegan cupcake shop opened up next to the barber I go to.  They had decorated their front window long before opening and announced that not only would they be totally vegan but that they would cater to gluten free customers as well.  I have had cupcakes from Pink Frosting (534 Bloomfield Avenue, Verona, NJ 07044) a number of times since then and have been quite pleased (even though it has taken me way too long to finally review them).

Vegan / Gluten Free Cupcakes (Vanilla Spice / Banana Split)
from Pink Frosting Bakery in Verona, NJ

Their shop is a store front on Bloomfield Avenue directly across from Verona Park.  [There is no street parking directly in front of their shop but a large municipal lot down Park Place around the corner.] They have display cases of pre-made vegan cupcakes including two to four gluten free varieties (flavors vary). They are not just a cupcake shop however, they offer to make any of their cupcake flavors as cakes with advanced notice and they do special orders on flavors of cupcakes as well.  Their menu lists a dozen different cupcake flavors and states that nine of them can be gluten free!

Over the past year, I've noticed that both the number of daily gluten free offerings and the variety of flavors has increased quite a bit.  Their frosting is surprisingly light and airy / fluffy.  Truth be told, I'm not really sure how to describe it other than to say it is the best dairy free frosting I've had.

The entire shop is vegan and although they charge slightly more for vegan/gluten free cupcakes it is still a reasonable price compared to other gf bakeries.


Other bakeries you may want to try:

Papa Ganache Vegan Bakery

Or any of the others on my New Jersey Gluten Free Bakery List.

Food Truck Review: The Green Radish (vegan with gluten free options)

A vegan burger so good, I'd consider giving up meat!

The weekend before last, I attended the annual summer Montclair Jazz Festival in Nishuane Park.  I had found out about the Festival from a press release announcing a new vegan food truck: The Green Radish. Being dairy free and mostly egg free, vegan food can often be quite safe (unless there is a lot of wheat gluten used as a meat replacer).  

Vegan Black Bean Burger on Gluten Free bread
from The Green Radish

When I arrived at the truck, I was a little concerned that the menu doesn't mention gluten free at all.  A quick inquiry revealed that not only were a number of their menu items already naturally gluten free, they offered gluten free bread for all of their sandwiches as well!

[Just a quick note, since I'm not vegan and my issue with eggs is minor, I only confirmed the bread was gluten and dairy free, I did not confirm it was egg free as well.]

For lunch, I had the Black Bean Burger.  This was by far the best burger (beef or vegan) I have had in years (and possibly ever)!  The bread held together nicely and the vegan chipotle mayo was incredible (I can't handle mayo made from egg so this was a nice change).  I was actually too full afterwards to immediately go back for dessert.

Being both dairy and gluten free means I almost never get dessert.  There are two gluten free / vegan desserts at The Green Radish: Grilled Seasonal Fruit in a Vanilla Sauce and a Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunchy Quinoa Cup (which I did get to try later in the day). It is a vegan chocolate candy about the size of a large marshmallow with a hard outer chocolate shell studded with quinoa and a soft peanut butter and mint center [no not mint flavor, actual fresh mint leaves].  Their other two desserts currently contain gluten but they have trialed them using gluten free flours and hope to change over at some point in the future.

Diners lining up for some amazing
vegan fare from The Green Radish!

And now for the downside - the Green Radish is a brand new food truck and they are still working out the details of where and when you can catch up with them.  From their facebook page it appears they've been out and about for a couple of weeks now.  Hopefully their website/facebook/twitter will be filled with appearances soon!  

I'm already stalking them here: The Green Radish on Facebook and here The Green Radish on Twitter and hope to eat from them again soon!



If you're looking for some other great take-away vegan / vegetarian food in NJ try the Nectar Cafe (review) in Glen Rock. For sit down dining I've flagged the vegan friendly options on my list of NJ Restaurants with Gluten Free Menus as well.