Friday, January 23, 2009

Gluten Free Pizza Update

Gluten Free Pizza is usually a hot topic for people living GF and recently there has been a lot going on with Gluten Free Pizza in the Raleigh area. Keep watching this blog for more detailed information over the next few days/weeks!

Just a couple of quick updates/recap of events...
  1. Bella Monica Flatbread Company pizzas were released in December... See posts about it here.
  2. Bella Monica Italian Restaurant in NW Raleigh will soon have a brand new Gluten Free menu which features a ton of GF items including the pizzas mentioned above. Should have the final menu and a review of the restaurant posted very soon.
  3. Rosie's Plate will begin offering Gluten Free Pizza in February.
  4. ZPizza (Raleigh and Cary) is now offering Gluten Free Pizza. I have spoken with the ownership of both locations and will be tasting/reviewing the pizza early next week. I have discussed the prep of the pizza and have lots to share that should make people feel safe eating this new pizza.
  5. UNO Chicago Grill released GF Pizza nationwide this month, including their Raleigh location at Brier Creek. I plan on tasting/reviewing this pizza as well as soon as possible. I have not yet had discussions with the local ownership (have spoken with corporate folks) about the prep process and my opinion on whether it is safe for GF consumers.
More to come on all of this! Stay tuned.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I ate a GF Pizza at the BC Uno yesterday. The short review is that it is ok. You can only order Cheese or Pepperoni and cannot add any other toppings becuase they are afraid of cross contamination. They cook the pizza on its own aluminum tray that they put on your plate with the pizza. Knowing they use the tray to prevent cross contamination in the oven doesn't make up for the fact that it prevents anything but the very edge of the crust actually getting crisp. The rest of the crust under the toppings comes out like warmed up white bread. Flaky, spongy, tasty, white bread. We need some new technology here to prevent cross contamination but still allow hot air to rush under the pizza. I hastily designed a cooking pan in a vector drawing program last night, now I just need someone to fund me, get it made, and market it to Uno and pizza establishments worldwide. :) Uno's pizza is a start. Let's hope they continue to improve it along with the rest of their GF offerings. Something Uno desperately needs is to educate their staff about GF needs. My server was very understanding and wanted to learn about it but Uno has not provided the necessary education. While she was carefult to bring me everything separately for my Caesar salad, she still brought croutons.

Emily said...

I wonder if these pizza restaurants might be able to provide us with a list of their ingredients?
A very common flour used in GF baked goods is Tapioca. It seems that whenever I eat tapioca, I break out into acne all over my face. Do you think we could get ingredient lists to review before visiting these fine establishments?

Sarah said...

Bella Monica's gluten free menu is now available: http://www.bellamonica.com/pdf/BellaMonicaGlutenFree.pdf. I'm having stuffed shells and marscapone pannacotta when I go!

Anonymous said...

Emily,

Bella Monica supplies the ingredients to their pizzas and pasta dishes.

Best,

Trevor Chambers, Bella Monica

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