Caprese Restaurant, Ottawa, Canada

[sora]

A friend took me to dinner at Caprese the other night as payment for house sitting.

It's 100% gluten-free.

It was fantastic. It was pouring rain and not too many people so we stayed at least 2 hours. It was my first time eating out anywhere since going gluten-free last year. I was nervous but kept telling myself it was safe. I was also kind of excited and kept saying "I can eat anything on the menu, right?" The waitress told us that a lot of people react that way.

My friend and I shared everything. We started with fried Zucchini. There was a lot and it was delicious. It was cut thin and breaded.

She ordered Manicotti with a Rose sauce and I ordered Penne Cacciatore. The Manicotti was rice noodle and I thought it was a bit tough and sticky. (I don't like rice pasta anyway) The filling was very good and the sauce too.

The Penne was fabulous. The Penne was corn and perfectly cooked. The sauce was amazing with fresh chopped basil. They brought bread and it was a whole loaf drizzled with a Balsamic reduction and olive oil. It was very tasty too but a bit dry. My friend (not gluten-free) ate almost all of it. She asked me if I could tell it was gluten-free and I said yes because of the texture. I think it was just overcooked.

They offered us Strawberry Shortcake for dessert but I was bursting and said no.

I thought it was a bit pricy but not too bad. I would go again.

I highly recommend it to anyone coming to Ottawa or already here.

My only complaint was the lighting, it was quite dark.