Gluten Free In Nola

[floridanative]

I got lots of help from listserv on places to eat in New Orleans when on vacation. We stayed in a B&B and the hostess/owner went out of her way to feed me breakfast safely. Artichoke/parmesean fritta one day and Canadian bacon one day, Crawfish omelet another (coverted from crepes recipe but offered to go buy gluten-free flour for me) and one the day we were the only guests she made us bananna French toast with my own bread. She asked me to check the bacon/sausage ingredients when we arrived. We had a large communal fridge to store snacks and my own scone for the day she made scones and souffles. I went over cc issues with her and she really blew us away with the service she gave us. If you want a B&B experience in NOLA, check out the Southern Comfort Bed and Breakfast. Search the term on Trip Advisor and google for her site. They have free wifi there too! It was fantastic! She does need to know if advance if a guest needs gluten free food.

For our first dinner out we opted for a burger joint one night (baked potatoes the size of your head) called Port of Call. It was quite the experience and our only cheap meal of the trip. Mostly we ate here because we could not get in anywhere else as it was Mother's day and we forgot to make reservations.

Next night we went to the #1 rated place in town, GW Fins. The Chef that fed me was on Live with Regis yesterday and said they are opening up in Charlotte NC soon. Can't wait to go see the in-laws and check it out!

The overwhelming choice for best gluten-free place in town was Irene's Cuisine and that's shocking since it's Italian fare. However, their house specialty 'chicken rosemarino' or somthing like that, was naturally gluten-free. Just had to sub potatoes for the pasta side. Their gluten-free choc. cake was scrumptious for dessert!

On the last night we went to a tourist trap but the food was still outstanding. Their bronzed fish dishes are gluten-free but blackened ones are not. I can't stand blackened so that worked for me. They only had creme bruless for dessert but I'd been spoiled the other nights so I skipped it so hubby could have their signature award winning pecan-sweet potato pie. He LOVED it!

We chose NOLA for vacation to help support the community without thinking too much about the regional cuisine - gumbo, beignets......many things I can't eat. I could not get over how well the nicer places' staffs there are trained re: gluten free food prep. and so many things on their menus needed little or no modifications at all. They are after all a tourist city (with international Celiac tourists) so they were well ahead of the curve in my opinion. I thought Atlanta was pretty good but NOLA is a step above us here.

Also, we stopped in to Orange Beach, AL for a few nights and had one good meal out and one bad. Both were gluten free. Calypos Joe's is a tourist trap with bad food - gluten-free or not. Upstairs their sister restaurant Mango's is wonderful. Their Chef knew about gluten, cc and his choc. dessert was something I ate on for three days.

If you want to visit NOLA again, or for the first time, I highly recommend it. It was noticeably quiet on Bourbon Steet. Still great music everywhere but it was sad that there weren't many tourists down there.

Who knows maybe one day they'll come up with a gluten-free beignet for us! Someone there is eating a lot of gluten free food because their WF is well stocked with all the brands we have here.

[Lisa]

Oh so jealous! But, what a wonderful experience.

[smowheet]

Oh so jealous! But, what a wonderful experience.

I was lucky enough to visit NOLA about 3 weeks before Katrina and found it a wonderful and welcoming place. I agree the big easy was easy for celiac dining. I will be back

[rajawali]

I got lots of help from listserv on places to eat in New Orleans when on vacation. We stayed in a B&B and the hostess/owner went out of her way to feed me breakfast safely. Artichoke/parmesean fritta one day and Canadian bacon one day, Crawfish omelet another (coverted from crepes recipe but offered to go buy gluten-free flour for me) and one the day we were the only guests she made us bananna French toast with my own bread. She asked me to check the bacon/sausage ingredients when we arrived. We had a large communal fridge to store snacks and my own scone for the day she made scones and souffles. I went over cc issues with her and she really blew us away with the service she gave us. If you want a B&B experience in NOLA, check out the Southern Comfort Bed and Breakfast. Search the term on Trip Advisor and google for her site. They have free wifi there too! It was fantastic! She does need to know if advance if a guest needs gluten free food.

If you want to visit NOLA again, or for the first time, I highly recommend it. It was noticeably quiet on Bourbon Steet. Still great music everywhere but it was sad that there weren't many tourists down there.

Who knows maybe one day they'll come up with a gluten-free beignet for us! Someone there is eating a lot of gluten free food because their WF is well stocked with all the brands we have here.

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Thanks for your complimentary note. My wife and I have called NOLA home for the past 6 yrs, and were never bored. It is a great city.

Rajawali