why can't they make a gluten-free cupcake with decent frosting?

okay, so this is a bit of a rant. but it's legitimate. so i like babycakes cupcakes okay. and risotteria's-- not bad either. but let's be honest: who cares about the CAKE in a cupcake? what's really important is the FROSTING. and neither of these is very good. who can make me any kind of gluten-free hockey puck and frost it with something magnolia, buttercup, or crumbs-worthy???? seriously, it's butter. it's sugar. it's food coloring. it's a lot of that at once on a teeny bit of some kind of flour. any takers?

opus 82. yes, it's worth going to the upper east

so i really liked tini's a lot. granted, i only went there once. maybe everyone only went there once? but now it has been reincarnated as opus 82! it's at 82nd street and 2nd avenue. now, i am not a celiac who really misses pasta. i really miss the really good stuff (i.e., baked sweets). but i ran the nyc marathon this year, so i wanted to be like all the other guys and have a carboloading pasta dinner. although i'm not too keen on pasta, i have had pasta from sambuca and that place at 29th and 3rd whose name i'm blanking on. they are both, well, serviceable vehicles for delivering good sauces and toppings. not so at opus! the pasta here is really really really good!!!! it tastes like normal pasta! my gluten-eating family could not tell the difference! i had the penne bolognese. i even got my boyfriend to order his pasta gluten-free. of course, i can't remember which it was, but it was good. i also started with a nice shrimp salad and finished with the gf ricotta cheesecake which was light and fluffy and nice and some chocolate gelato, which was oddly not on the menu. hmm. i'm looking forward to going back to try their pizza asap!

i still love risotteria

oh risotteria. you are the best. if you have celiac disease and haven't been here, you really should go. if you are lucky enough to live in the west village, they will even deliver to you! the first few times i ate here, i suffered horribly afterwards. it seems gobbling down several of the gluten-free, olive oily, salty breadsticks they put on your table, the delicious meatball appetizer, a really quality salad, an okay pizza (sorry, r, i prefer the pizza at pala), and an incredibly "real"-tasting black and white cookie or the fudgie (as good as it sounds), will give you a stomach-ache. who knew? a lot of celiac blogger/boarder folks have complained about the service here. i don't know what they are talking about! i think the people here are really nice. it would be awesome if they served a larger bottle of d. coke, but beggars can't be choosers....

Asia de Cuba

Last night I had a dinner for work at Asia de Cuba (Madison between 37th and 38th Streets). It was fortuitous that that restaurant had been chosen, as it has a gluten-free menu! Ah, relief. For appetizers, we had some sort of grilled shrimp thing which was okay, and the rest of my party had ordered the calamari salad. Because of me, the server brought the calamari and dressing (not gluten-free) separate from the salad, so I had some of that too. Frankly, it was just dry lettuce and other junk-- would have been better for my dining companions to get the real deal, and I could have sat it out. They also had the spare ribs, which they loved, but were not gluten-free.
For entrees, we had the tuna, a steak special, and the cod-- the cod was definitely the stand-out. We also ordered sides of fried plantains (arguably my favorite non-dessert food) and lobster mashed potatoes (could not possibly not be excellent!)
Then it was time for dessert. Despite how full I was, somehow the dessert stomach opened up and welcomed in the flourless chocolate cake-- and so will yours, so definitely order that! My companions also had some donut things, but I was too busy stuffing my face (and gulping down a glass of yummy port) to notice. Gluttony!

Stanton Social bachelorette party

Saturday night I attended a bachelorette party for a friend at Stanton Social (Stanton between Orchard and Ludlow). My stomach sank when i sat down at the table and saw that my friend's sisters had selected a pre-set menu for the group of 15. While it looked like a delicious selection for everyone else, to me the menu just screamed gluten!!! However, I pulled the waiter aside and explained my situation. I was so relieved-- not only did he know about gluten, he knew which things I could and could not eat and even double-checked with the chef, despite how busy the restaurant was. (This restaurant feels more like an incredibly crowded club than a dining establishment.) At any rate, I was able to eat the chipotle shrimp (okay), the calamari lettuce wraps (AMAZING), and some green beans (too much garlic). I also was technically allowed to eat the pork, but I had filled up so much on the calamari and cocktails that I couldn't even stomach looking at it. (It was also 1 am by that time!) My second stomach (you know, the one for desserts) did, however, open right up when the time for dessert arrived. The party enjoyed trays of cookies and donuts with dipping sauces, but the waiter brought me a treat of fantastic fruit sorbets, which I hadn't even requested. Bravo, Stanton Social! The extra sugar kick came in handy for the night of dancing at Marquee post-dinner...

Falai

Last night I ate at Falai (Clinton Street somewhere). Now, I am clearly a major foodie, so it should mean something when I tell you-- I was impressed. Not only would I definitely go back, I would order exactly what we ate last night. In fact, I may begin to salivate just typing about it. I must warn you, however, that if you are a celiac who had a major bread thing pre-diagnosis, you may not want to go here because the bread (of which there are like five choices) looked incredible. We started with the grilled octopus. I have no idea what they did, but it was good. My (blind) date and I were sharing it, and I wanted to order a second one! But, of course, held myself back. (It was a date.) For my entree, I had the halibut. It came with this mixture of raisins and pine nuts and some sort of foam, and I really don't know what it all was, but it was so good that I was trying to pace myself so that I didn't just inhale it, as there are few things less attractive than your date hoovering her meal in under 30 seconds, right? Anyway, I think I did okay on the pace after all. For dessert, we shared a couple of scoops of sorbet, which was serviceable and came with some lovely chocolate shavings. This is also the type of restaurant that brings you little extras-- a nice sweet potato soup-thing to start and some petit fours at the end. I just love that stuff.

Freeman's

Freeman's restaurant hides at the end of Freeman's Alley right around Bowery and Rivington. Inside it looks like a bizarre sort of hunting lodge, with all these dead deer heads everywhere. The scene is decidedly hipster, but/and the food is decidedly tasty. I ate there the other night with some friends. To start, we enjoyed the devils on horseback, which are dates stuffed with some kind of cheese and wrapped in bacon. I am a bit of a dates-wrapped-in-bacon connoisseur. My favorite ones actually are the purest, to be found at my favorite tapas place, Xunta (1st Avenue and 10th/11th St.) I am not a huge fan of when restaurants stick an almond in there, like at Pipa (north of Union Square, in ABC Carpet store). But the cheese addition at Freeman's is pretty decent. My friends also shared the artichoke dip appetizer. Apparently the dip itself is gluten-free, but they serve it with bread, so there goes that. For my main dish, I had the chicken. Yes, that sounds boring, but, make no mistake, it was amazing! It is a roast chicken with green beans and these crunchy chickpeas (do they fry them?). I can't wait to go back and have it again!