gluten-free – Page 3

Broadway Market: A Go-To for Gluten-Free Foods

Published on September 15, 2014September 19, 2014 by The Crimson CraveLeave a comment

By Danielle Leavitt ’17

Move over Whole Foods and Trader Joes! There is a new marketplace in town. Broadway Market, located at 468 Broadway Street in Cambridge, is rapidly gaining the support of new foodies every day. Broadway Market originated in 1995 as a full range market. From organically grown produce to hot, ready-to-eat specials, Broadway Market continues to delight customers by offering high quality, fresh products. George Hickey, the manager of Broadway Market, explains, “Broadway tries to cater to everyone because it is a small neighborhood grocery store.” Although each customer enjoys something special at the market, for me, it’s the vast array of gluten-free items that catches my eye.

So what does gluten-free even mean? Gluten-free food does not contain the protein gluten; this protein is found in grains such as wheat, barley, rye and triticale. Some research suggests that gluten-free foods can potentially help decrease symptoms of a variety of conditions, such as migraines, allergies, immune diseases, and other chronic diseases like Diabetes, Crohn’s Disease, and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

In 2004 at age 13, my brother was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, an autoimmune disorder in which the consumption of gluten leads to damage in the small intestine. Since my home pantry was always full of gluten-free goodies, I started to eat a gluten-free diet with my brother and have personally felt healthier ever since. At first, there wasn’t really a variety of gluten-free food items available, but over the years the gluten-free diet has become somewhat of a fad, and gluten-free food has become extremely popular in restaurants and grocery stores worldwide.

When I first came to Harvard, I was worried that I would not be able to find a market that sells all of my favorite gluten-free foods, but then while exploring campus, I luckily stumbled upon Broadway Market. In the back of the market, there is a whole aisle solely dedicated to gluten-free items, indicated by a black “GLUTEN-FREE” sign on the aisle. According to the manager, George Hickey, Broadway Market completed the addition of gluten-free aisle about 18 months ago. With gluten-free crackers, bars, noodles, cereal, to cakes and cookies, this marketplace has become my new favorite spot. If you think gluten-free items are bland and tasteless, just try a few of the items at Broadway Market, and you will see that gluten-free food can be quite delicious and flavorful. Sometimes gluten-free items tend to be more expensive than their counterparts, but for some, the benefits outweigh the price. My two favorite gluten-free go-to foods sold in Broadway Market are the Glutino chocolate wafers and salted pretzels. The perfect combination of sugary and salty, these two snacks taste amazing!

In addition to selling delicious food, Broadway Market is much closer to most locations on Harvard’s campus than Whole Foods or Trader Joes. The market is conveniently located on Broadway Street near Annenberg, making it an easy stop between classes. And don’t forget about the full service made to order deli, soup bar, homemade sushi, and a hot entrée station, which offers many gluten-free items daily. Furthermore, the customer service is spectacular, and the staff always make great recommendations on new gluten-free items to try. The manager is not only helpful in guiding his customers to the items they desire, but will also order items for any special diet a customer may have. So if you are ever in the mood to experiment and try gluten-free food, or are already on this type of diet, check out Broadway Market. It is not just a corner grocery store, it’s a gluten-free lover’s heaven.

Red Lentil: Eclectic Vegan Cuisine

Published on September 8, 2014 by The Crimson CraveLeave a comment

By Katja Lierhaus ’16

I walk into Red Lentil and the garish green walls immediately overwhelm me. I don’t know where to look. My eyes jump from the white square ceiling tiles to the oddly fancy linens. The haphazardly placed tables add to my initial confusion. As the hostess leads my sister and I to a table next to the window, I wish that we just went to Life Alive in Central Square. At the first glance of the menu, however, I know that this place will be good. The menu offers eclectic cuisine options – edamame to a hummus platter, Belgian sweet potato fries to chips and guacamole, Chimichurri Seitan and Jamaican Jerk Tempeh to Pistachio & Coconut Herb-Encrusted Tofu. I now begin to understand the seemingly random décor of the restaurant.

As my sister and I peruse the menu, we share a nonalcoholic ginger brew. Reed’s Original is light and does not have an overwhelming amount of fizz. As my sister put it, it has the “perfect amount of ginger punch.” If you’re sensitive to ginger’s tanginess and sharpness, this drink is the perfect introduction to the exotic spice.

We finally decide to start with Gobi Manchurian – cauliflower tossed with Indian seasonings, breaded with chickpea flour, fried, and finished with sweet and spicy tomato sauce and fresh cilantro – and the Hummus Platter – pita slices served with chipotle hummus and accompanied by baba ganoush (flame-broiled eggplant), red pepper dip, and olives. These two dishes pair perfectly with each other. The cauliflower isn’t overly breaded or oily. Although I wouldn’t say it is light, the seasonings awaken my palette leaving me satisfied with just a few pieces. This dish alone could be easily split between 2-4 people as a starter. The hummus platter is also a delight to the senses. The pita bread was soft with an ever-so-light crunch and the three dips—hummus, a spicy red pepper dip, and baba ganoush— pair perfectly together.

The next round is a healthy serving of the Kale Carnivale Salad – kale with sweet roasted corn kernels, apple, jicama, red cabbage and tamari almonds, tossed in creamy tahini maple dressing – and Moussaka Pizza –  grilled eggplant, grilled onion, roasted red pepper, goat cheese, and mozzarella cheese topped with fresh basil. My sister and I are a little disappointed with the kale salad. The maple doesn’t shine through the dressing and the apples, jicama, and corn aren’t discernable enough for our taste. Although it isn’t bad, I wouldn’t order it again.

Kale Carnival salad — Kale Carnivale salad

The pizza is also a little lackluster. We chose the gluten free crust, which was thin, crunchy, and a little sweet – everything I could ask for in a thin crust pizza. However, the melted mozzarella cheese dominates the pizza. It unfortunately masks the earthiness of the eggplant, the sweetness of the onions, and the deep flavor of the red peppers. The goat cheese, however, enhances the pizza by offering surprise bites of creamy tang.

Shamelessly a little stuffed for the night, I begin to plan another trip, particularly for brunch where they offer eggs, omelets, tofu scramble, vegan waffles, French toast, and pancakes, and even vegan gluten-free pancakes. The latter I will try the next visit as anything vegan and/or gluten free intrigues me. What then are they made out of?! Made with sweet potatoes and dates and served with a fresh fruit compote and maple blueberry sauce, these pancakes are a must-try for my next visit.

Found at 600 Mt. Auburn Street in Watertown, Red Lentil is located two miles east of Harvard Square and is a must-try for those who enjoy eclectic cuisine. Simply follow Mt Auburn Street toward Watertown by bike, zipcar, or by foot if you want to go for a little bit of a walk until 600. Alternatively, you could take the 71 busline right from Harvard Square toward Watertown Square via Mt. Auburn St. Get off at Mt Auburn St @ Kimball Rd, and then by foot, head southwest on Mt Auburn St toward Kimball Rd. Red Lentil will be on the right. This trip takes about 15 minutes by car.

Note: The chef of Red Lentil worked closely with HUDS to develop new vegetarian and vegan options this year as well as the kale and beet burger, and sweet potato and black bean burger. Also, if Red Lentil is too far from campus, they offer delivery service through the app Diningin.

Violette: A Gluten-Free Bakery for Everyone

Published on August 14, 2014 by The Crimson CraveLeave a comment

By Caroline Gentile ’17

Hidden away underneath O2 Yoga on Mass Ave is Violette, a gluten-free bakery that even gluten-lovers need to try. Violette offers a smorgasbord of cookies, cakes, pies, cupcakes, bread pudding, empanadas, sandwiches, and both sweet and savory breads—all hand-made from scratch, using gluten-free, organic, and locally-sourced ingredients. Though Violette’s treats are a little more expensive than typical bakery goods, they are worth the extra cash given the high quality of their ingredients and the great effort put forth to make each and every treat by hand. Violette’s main goal is to offer gluten-free baked goods that aren’t “good for gluten-free”, but just plain good. I would venture to say that they definitely achieve this goal, and in fact, surpass “just plain good”.

I had the pleasure of going to Violette on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. On a nice day like that, sunlight streams in through the windows, reflecting off of the glass cake-stands containing their delicious offerings. Strings of white Christmas lights line the walls and the display area, giving the whole place an angelic glow.

After I got over how adorable and inviting the décor was, I focused on why I was really there: the baked goods. Everything looked amazing. There was peanut-butter glazed apple bread pudding, chocolate chip walnut cookies, nutella macarons, cranberry oatmeal cookies, salted caramel cake with chocolate ganache, orange almond cake…the list goes on and on. I probably spent a solid 10 minutes trying to decide what I wanted to try, until I finally gave up and asked the server what their most popular treats were. “Our breads,” he said. “ I really like our bread pudding, but most people come here for our breads because they find it hard to believe that gluten-free bread is any good. Also, our cookies are pretty good.”

So my friend and I grabbed a loaf of chocolate chip banana nut bread, an assortment of cookies (peanut butter, peanut butter chip, chocolate chip walnut, cranberry oatmeal, and both raspberry and nutella macarons) and two cupcakes, one chocolate with dark chocolate buttercream and the other vanilla with apricot rose buttercream. Call us gluttons, but we hadn’t eaten lunch and simply had to try it all.

The highlights of our feast were the cupcakes and the banana bread. Usually, I am not a fan of chocolate cupcakes because the cake itself tends to be dry. The chocolate cupcake I had at Violette, however, was moist, intensely chocolate-y, and almost melted in my mouth—definitely the best chocolate cupcake I had ever had. As for the banana bread, I had to eventually hide it from myself so that I wouldn’t eat the whole loaf in one sitting. Fragrant, and also very moist, it was bursting with banana flavor, with the occasional hint of dark chocolate and crunch of candied walnut. The cookies that we tried were also pretty good, but they did not stand out nearly as much as the bread and the cupcakes.

A peanut butter chocolate chip cookie, a cranberry oatmeal cookie, and a plain peanut butter cookie

With a great ambiance and delicious food, Violette is a must-try. Unfortunately, however, their landlord has tripled their rent, and on August 24^th, they will temporarily close until they can find a new space. On their website, violettegf.com, is a link to an Indiegogo campaign to which anyone can contribute money to help them open a new bakery. With a loyal following of gluten-free dessert-lovers, which now includes me, I am sure that Violette will be back in business soon. We will keep you posted as to when exactly that is, but until then, try to get over there before August 24^th and stock up on their banana bread and cupcakes!