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....