Food, glorious, food!

Quite honestly, one could use an entire blog totally devoted to the food in NYC and still have more than enough material. So I will try to keep this short...er. As many of you know, my mother came to NYC with me to help me get settled in and to see the city. And as many of you know, my mom has celiac disease and has to eat a gluten-free diet. While she never complains about having to limit what she eats (god bless her!), it makes me happy to find things that she can eat and that we can share. I am figuring you can only have so much fruit and guacamole. And since this is the city where you can find just about everything, I figured we would have some choices on gluten-free restaurants. I was right. I found a blog on Yelp written by a girl who has celiac and used a lot of her suggestions in addition to some general searches. To see her blog, visit www.yelp.com/list/gluten-free-in-NYC-New-York.

1. Risotteria - This place was ah-maz-ing. It had a huge list of different types of Risotto. My mom ordered the gruyere with green onions. I ordered the gorgonzola with walnuts and chicken. My friend Lauren joined us for this one since she stayed with us Monday night. She ordered something with goat cheese and chicken. They also had an extensive list of pasta dishes, pizza, etc, as well as (and here is a the kicker) gluten free breadsticks that were so yummy. We were all in love.

2. Rice to Riches - I happened upon this place on a previous trip to NYC, and imagine my glee when I found out that it is gluten free. This place specializes only- yes ONLY- in rice pudding and is set up like an ice cream shop with at least 20 different flavors of rice pudding. It's very good rice pudding, mind you. Every sign in the store likes to remind you how fattening it is, but what the hey? It's good stuff. My mom and I shared the Almond Schmalmond flavor. Lauren had never had rice pudding before, and the concept of rice and pudding mixed, well, she wasn't quite sure what to think.

3. Peter's- Peter's is what I would consider the gluten free JACKPOT! It is located merely four or so blocks from my apartment. We initially went there because we read that they have gluten free pancakes. What we didn't realize is the extent of their gluten free menu. They have everything from pasta to burgers to cheesecake to breakfast to tex-mex. You name it, they pretty much have it. And it's good food too! Needless to say, my mom and I made several trips to this one. She was one happy lady.

4. S'MAC - The name is short for Sarita's Macaroni and Cheese because that's what they serve...only macaroni and cheese. They had 12 different concoctions of the cheesy good stuff and the option to make your own, almost all of which could be made gluten free. My mom and I shared two different types - the Parisienne and the 4 cheese- both of which came out in a little personal cast iron skillet bubbling and screaming to be eaten. I will be re-visiting this place.

5. Tu Lu's bakery- Uh...yum! Tu Lu's was actually just around the corner from S'MAC, so we headed there for a little "after mac-n-cheese" dessert. Because we couldn't decide what kind of cupcake we wanted to try, we opted for several of their bite size "minis." Between the red velvet cream cheese, buttercream strawberry, peanut butter and chocolate, and chocolate chocolate, we weren't sure which was our favorite. We just knew that they were gone pretty fast. Wow.

6. Sarabeth's - While being the snootiest and most expensive place we visited, this certainly was not the best. The waitress was extremely nice, but the food was, eh, mediocre.  It's located right next to central park and serves as a nice little place to meet your girlfriend for lunch, but I am not sure I would re-visit. There is just too much amazing food in NYC to waste the stomach space. Plus, my mom and I had to listen to a model sitting next to us ramble on and on for at least solid half hour about herself and her modeling and how fat everyone is in the USA. It made the meal a little less appetizing.

7. Pala Pizza - Yeah, wow. That's all I gotta say is wow. We headed to this place after seeing The Lion King on broadway. The only drawback was when we didn't get the address right and were heading into what seemed like the bowels of Soho wearing heels and dresses at midnight. Not a good idea. We quickly mended our ways after passing a few seedy characters with their beedy eyes and not-so-witty comments in our direction. But I think it was worth it in the end. This pizza could possibly be the best pizza I have eaten. We ordered the Zucca, which included a butternut squash puree, pancetta, and smoke scamorza cheese - all gluten free of course. I could have married that pizza. I could have.

Well that concludes the majority of what we ate while my mom visited. If you didn't want to know every last thing we ate, then too bad, you already read the blog. I should throw in that during that time I did try a Gray's Papaya hot dog and papaya drink. If you have seen the movie Fools Rush In (in addition to several other popular movies set in NYC), you will know about Gray's Papaya. The hot dog was pretty good, and the papaya drink tasted like a nice refreshing smoothie. But I am not so sure it was anything to write home about. There are many places in NYC to get a solid hot dog. It's to be decided if it was worth the sweaty trek to the upper west side, but hey, at least we got to see another part of the city.

Yesterday, I had a torta at a little Latin Bistro in Soho. Frankly, I don't remember the name of the place, which might have something to do with the large pitcher of "knock-you-on-your-butt" mojitos that I shared with Lauren and company while watching the USA get beat by Ghana in the World Cup. Eh, who knows? The torta was good, but definitely couldn't compare to the sloppy greasy ones I used to eat at Gordita's while in Galveston. Mojito's = really good. Torta = so-so. (By the way, I just looked it up, and the name of the bistro is Ideya).

NOTE:
Speaking of Lauren, if you plan to read this blog (I am aware that this classification of readers could be low in numbers), you will likely hear a lot about her. She is a close friend from med school, and she moved to NYC on the exact day that I did to start her residency in radiology. Lauren and I tend to have pretty funny adventures, and since we both are starting this particular part of our lives together, I am sure these adventures will continue. If you haven't already and you are dreadfully bored, you might check out my other attempt at a blog http://mytripjournal.com/jennifer. This blog documents the trip that Lauren and I made to Ireland, England, and Scotland at the end of our fourth year of med school. Let's just say that she and I always keep it interesting.