So you've decided to venture out and travel around our beautiful east coast!! Fear not my gluten free friends, for I have found some wonderful stops for you along the way!
I'm from Fredericton, and always found it so difficult to eat out at restaurants, until I moved to Halifax and realized that there is a world of GF food out there! I have since been down to New Orleans, New York, Boston, California, Oregon among many other cities. I will try and be as helpful as possible to all of you, but also welcome comments on great places that I may not have come across yet.
Ok so here we go, a list of restaurants and travel tricks that make GF travelling a breeze!
1) always bring along energy bars, GF pasta and some dried fruits and nuts. You can always fall back on these staples when there really is no where to stop other than the Irving stock piled with unhealthy chips and pop.
2) Most fast restaurants nowadays have a list of GF items on their corporate site. McDonald's, Wendy's and Tim Horton's have been surprisingly good at posting the nutritional information in their products. I know that some people have had success with ordering a burger without the bun, and bringing their own, so satisfy the need for food! I usually just opt for the salad when I'm in a desperate situation *** but be careful with the dressing***
3) When all else fails, a good smoothie with added protein powder works well too!! I was once travelling for two days on a bus and had very little food, so I survived by buying smoothies or energy drinks (no red bull but stuff like the Aquafina plus) and adding a protein powder to it: this way you get protein and nutrients, without completely starving yourself. However, I would not recommend this for a long period of time, because you do get hungry!
Enough about tricks on how to just deal with travelling, below is a list of great restaurants, that I whole heatedly think anyone with Celiac's should try! I've only listed the restaurants that are fully gluten free. As stated above, if you want to go to a chain restaurant, such as Boston Pizza, it is usually fine to check out their website beforehand or ask the server for their allergy book as soon as you sit down. Generally they will send out a manager to speak with you.
Moncton:
1. Calactus restaurant
125 Church Street, (506) 388-4833
*** this is an AMAZING vegetarian, gluten free restaurant!!!**
2. Rosie's Gluten Free Gourmet/Chesnut Bistro
620 Coverdale Road, Riverview NB
http://www.rosiesglutenfree.com/
506-855-5988
** you can also buy Rosie's stuff at most supermarket's now! I love her pizza and lasagna, and cookies.... I could go on!!**
Fredericton
1. The Blue Door
100 Regent Street, (506) 455-2583
** this is a pricier restaurant, but with a GF beside all items on the menu that are gluten free**
2. Brewbaker's Restaurant
http://www.brewbakers.ca/
546 King Street, (506) 459-0067
**another pricier restaurant, but very yummy! You can even have GF dessert**
3. The Delta Hotel
** now this is more of a side note, but I was there on conference a few weeks ago, and received a fully GF breakfast, snack, lunch and dinner which included GF bread, pasta, cinnamon roll and cookies. They really went out of their way to make my day as normal as possible**
Saint John
1. Swiss Chalet
86 Consumers Dr ,(506) 657-9477
**I have not been in a while, but when I was there past, they brought me out a separate GF menu. It was great! **
- if anyone from Saint John is on this site, please post a comment on where to eat in your town. I have not been to any place other than Swiss Chalet, and would love your input on local fare. Thanks!-
Halifax (by far my favourite GF city other than Toronto or Vancouver)
1. Wooden Monkey
1685 Argyle Street, (902)444.3844
http://www.thewoodenmonkey.ca/
**Amazing, local, and fresh! This restaurant has it all, including lots of options for GF, including pizza. A little pricier than some, but worth every cent**
2. Morris East
5212 Morris St, 902.444.7663
http://www.morriseast.com/
**GF Pizza, wood fired..... yum!!!! need I say more?**
3. Talay Thai
1261 Barrington St.
http://talaythaihalifax.com/
** If you like thai food, please go hear and eat amazing thai food, that is GF and at a great price**
4. Bann Thai
1569 Dresden Row
http://www.baanthai.ca/
**This is a new thai restaurant, but also one of my favourite places to go in Halifax**
5. The Cellar
5677 Brenton Place
(902) 492-4412
** GF dessert, and Pasta!!! Go here for a great pasta dish, some good wine and mouth watering dessert**
6. Local Joe's Coffee Shop
2959 oxford street, (902) 455-6225
** GF cookies and treats to eat while you sip on your fair trade coffee or latte**
7. Pete's Frootique
http://www.petesfrootique.com/
** another great place to get a quick salad or smoothie and go**
8. Hamachi House
5190 Morris Street
*GF sushi and gf soy sauce and miso soup. This place is amazing. Best sushi in Halifax**
http://www.hamachirestaurants.com/morris_street/index.html
9. Check out the Saturday morning market for locale treats that are gluten free. Big Life makes GF turnovers and pizza, which are so awesome!
PEI
I've just been searching online and found a forum that may be helpful for people travelling to PEI: http://www.celiac.com/gluten-free/lofiversion/index.php/t5864.html.
Safe travels and enjoy gluten free food all along your road through Atlantic Canada. If anyone has comments or knows of other places in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland, please post a comment.Thanks!
Enjoy your day:)
Ally
Hey Pizza town and Bramaso's offer gluten free pizza's now. I'm also a huge fan of crumbsbakery, her molasses sesame bread is to die for!
ReplyDeleteSarah
Racine's Restaurant on Queen Street in Fredericton has some GF options. It's one of my favorite places to go!
ReplyDeleteHi, this is Sara from Saint John!
ReplyDeleteLocally owned restaurants in SJ with GF menus:
Opera Bistro is FANTASTIC for allergies; run by a professional chef and his wife who is a nutritionist. They even have GF desserts.
Relish Gourmet Burgers carries GF hamburger buns.
The Urban Deli has GF bread for their sandwiches, and they even have GF pastas and soups, and a few desserts.
Thandi's, the Thai Hut, Suwanna's and Lemongrass have GF Thai options.
Chains:
Boston Pizza has an allergy menu and even has GF pizza crust (I cried the day I found that out!).
Montana's is another spot with an allergy menu: lists what products and sauces you can have.
The Wok Box has a few GF items on their menu as well.
There are definitely more restaurants in SJ but the ones above are the best for accommodating food allergies.
Sara, what a wonderful list of restaurants!! Thank you :) I am going to make a separate post with all this information for my followers in NB!
ReplyDeleteI'm from Halifax and have come across some great restaurants that offer GF dishes. I would recommend Heartwood Cafe on Quinpool Rd (great cookies!), and there is also a Superstore across the street that has a good selection of GF snacks. Boston Pizza also does a GF pizza crust.
ReplyDeleteRosie's has not been open in almost two years now. So sad. They were going to do my wedding cake, but they closed for the summer and never reopened.
ReplyDeleteI was back home for the holidays and also heard about Rosies.... so sad! What a loss for us Celiacs
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to point out about Hamachi, in Halifax/Dartmouth: for the last while, their miso has NOT been GF. Most of the servers know this though, and will let you know. Also, in my experience, most servers there are unaware that pollock (in the California rolls - it's imitation crab) contains gluten.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this list - especially the NB stops since I go through there every now and then and have no idea which restaurants are safe! :)
Calactus in Moncton is not gluten free according to the Chef.
ReplyDeleteHey, if you are in NS you have to try the school house bakery! They make the beat carrot cake and There super nova muffins are to die for! You can go on there site and it tells you where they sell there product! I know Pete's sells it and the Halifax market on Saturday's. I have been gluten free for over 15 years and They make some of the best stuff I have tried and I have tried a lot!
ReplyDeleteBonne Cuisine on Spring Garden Rd. in Halifax offers a lot of gluten free options. They have a cafe style lunch menu that always has a gluten free option. Also they do catering and have a bakery that have gluten free foods on the menu. The prices are reasonable and the food is amazing. Definitely worth a look if you're in the area.
ReplyDeleteSatisfaction Feast is another great place for GF and Vegan options!
ReplyDelete