Our Italian Restaurant(s): Venice, Part Three

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

 Our last day in Venice was spectacular. We finally found the gluten-free grocery store, called Mea Tutti Libre. We stocked up on gluten-free bread, pasta, and cookies to take home with us, and the guy made some restaurant recommendations - complete with good directions for finding them in the crazy streets and alleys that is Venice!

At lunchtime, we finally found Risto Bar - which is actually a generic name for a type of Italian restuarant. Here's how unassuming it is - not even a sign on the awning:

Our dishes were probably reheated frozen meals, but they were delicious. I had cannelloni beita e ricotta (cannelloni with chard and cheese), and it was delicious. I don't know about you, but it's been ages since I've had cannelloni since it's so hard to find large gluten-free pasta. The dish even made me re-think my stance on chard. The chard was chopped so fine, the texture was manageable for me - usually I think it's too chewy and give up.

Mike enjoyed another gluten-free rarity - tortellini panna e prosciutto (tortellini with cream and ham). The photo's not great, but it tasted amazing.

Best of all was the dessert - a gluten-free tiramisu, which I had been craving the entire trip. This one was definitely frozen and then thawed, but it was still delicious.

 After lunch, we took a gondola ride. Mike negotiated for a much better price - forty euros instead of eighty - though it didn't hurt that we went during "off" hours. The gondolier pointed out the palazzos of people like Marco Polo and Casanova, which are now occupied by banks and insurance companies. It was chilly, and even though it was definitely all it's cracked up to be, we were glad to get off the water when it was over.

For dinner, we went to Ala Vecia Cavana. They gave us a grapefruit juice cocktail and a delicious sampler plate of gluten-free bread with wonderfully crunchy breadsticks.

Our first course was mussels and clams in a light tomato broth, and our second course was pasta carbonara. Both were absolutely perfect. For dessert, I had another tiramisu, which was exactly the same as the one at Ristobar, but with a lovely presentation.

If you ever make it to Venice, I definitely recommend  stopping by Mea Libera Tutti, Ristobar, and Ala Vecia Cavana. 

That's it for our Italian Restaurants! To see all of the places we dined while in Italy, just click here.

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Venice, Part Two

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

On our second day in Venice, we visited the island of Murano, where the famous Murano glass is made. After our visit, Mike was hungry for lunch, but I wasn't so we went to a dive bar where he had pasta that was definitely microwaved. Eeek!

For a dinner appetizer, we stopped at what looked like a chain - Rosso Pomodoro, where we had some wine and a meat and cheese appetizer. 

But it was at a restaurant called Muro Venezia San Stae where we learned a new trick for ordering gluten-free food at Italian restaurants. Previously, we had always asked if the restaurant could do gluten-free, and heard either "no" or only "pizza and pasta." There was even one restaurant where the owner wouldn't feed me a salad because it wasn't pizza or pasta! This time, we decided what we wanted to eat - fish, since we were in Venice, after all - and asked the waitress which dishes could be made gluten-free.  We wound up with the most delicious salmon drenched in a creamy white wine sauce with herbs. What a win!

Next week: Our last day in Venice, two delicious meals, and a gluten-free grocery store!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Venice, Part One

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

If you're planning on going to Venice, plan on getting lost! There are some real gems of restaurants, and some are easier to find than others. 

On our first day in Venice, lost and after having a seafood lunch (pasta, sea bass, tomato, scallion, and wilted arugula) that made us both a little queasy, Mike and I were not in the mood for more pizza and pasta. We were looking for "Bar Risto" which was incredibly difficult to find - and not in the plaza where it was supposed to be. Grr. We finally settled on a restaurant called Pane Vine e San Daniele, a name that made me nervous since pane means "bread," but it turned out to be a good choice.

The restaurant had gluten-free crackers, which turned out to be tasty, and we munched on them while we split a divine plate of cheese - mozzarella, burrata, smoked ricotta, and another soft, creamy cheese. We also split a plate of the house ham, which was a type of prosciutto.  It came out with a pickled onion and pickled shallot - both of which were delicious.

While our meal was not exactly a "normal" dinner, it was a combination of some of my favorite foods - cured meat, cheese, and red wine. Happy with our choice to stray from the ordinary, Mike and I meandered back to our hotel.

Next week: Another mediocre lunch, but a discovery about how to order something other than gluten-free pizza and pasta!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Florence, Part Four

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

The Club House might have had our favorite pizza ever, but Giannino in San Lorenzo had the most and best to offer for a gluten-free eater. It was so good, we went there twice.

Both times, we split this amazing caprese salad. It came out on a bed of raddichio and frisee, and had the freshest tomatoes and tastiest mozzarella. Mike's usually not a tomato eater, but these tomatoes were so good I had to fight to get some on my plate. 

On our first visit, I had tortellini in a tomato sauce that was to die for. The tortellini was amazing too - it's been ages since I've had tortellini, since it's so hard to find gluten-free tortellini. Mike had ribollita (not gluten-free), and said it was awesome.

Our waiter even brought us gluten-free bread - a roll about the size of a hot dog bun, split lengthwise and darkly toasted. It, too, was very good.

On our second visit, we split a gluten-free prosciutto pizza. It wasn't as good as the pizza at the Club House, but it was still very tasty.

Hats off to Giannino in San Lorenzo for two delicious gluten-free meals!

Next week: Venice!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Florence, Part Three

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

After climbing the bell tower of the Florence Cathedral (and being in it when the clock struck noon - you could feel your whole body shaking with the tower), Mike and I headed to The Club House, a restaurant recommended by the owner of our hotel. 

It seemed like a touristy spot, but we headed in anyways. We ordered a spicy sausage gluten-free pizza and nothing else, but it was by far the best gluten-free pizza either of us has ever had. 

The crust was amazing - thin and crispy on the outside, but chewy on the inside. It was so good, I had to check with the waiter just to confirm it was gluten-free. It was!

Somehow, we ate the entire pizza before I could think to take a picture of it. And, best of all, I felt great afterwards.

Next week: One last stop in Florence for the best caprese salad ever!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Florence, Part Two

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

While in Florence, we decided it would be fun to take a bus tour around Tuscany for a day.  We started in Siena, where this weekday farmer's market was going on. I desperately wanted to peel off from the tour and explore the market!

For lunch, we went to an organic farm and winery, Fattoria Poggio Alloro. Let's be real - this was the best part of the tour! Our tour guide went around the bus, checking on dietary needs, and gluten-free was no problem. We started with an olive oil tasting - bread for everyone else, and gluten-free crackers for me. The farm's olive oil was incredible, and I had to resist the urge to drink it straight out of the bottle.

The second course was pasta (gluten-free for us) with a light ragu sauce. The pasta was perfectly cooked, and the sauce was amazing too.

With each course came a new wine tasting - a whole bottle of wine for every four people! We quickly became friends with the people sitting around us as the wine flowed. After the pasta course was salad (with more olive oil), meats, and cheeses. I could just taste how fresh the salad greens were, and the meat and cheese were so good that we eagerly scooped up seconds when they came around.

The dessert course was cookies dunked in the farm's dessert wine, which really tasted more like liquor than any dessert wine I've ever had. The cookies had nuts in them, so I had to pass on that, but Mike said they were very good.

I hated to leave Fattoria Poggio Alloro, but I did manage to take little pieces of it with me: some olive oil and a bottle of their white wine, which was my favorite.

Next week: the best gluten-free pizza we've ever had!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Florence, Part One

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

We stepped off the train in Florence ready to dive into the sights, but famished, too. We set off in search of some good gluten-free food and happened across this sign for Ristorante il Paiolo. Pinned to the sign: We speak English! Pasta no glutine. We thought, why not give it a try?  

Well, they didn't speak much English, and in my broken Italian I had difficulty ordering. They didn't want to feed me anything other than gluten-free pasta, not even a salad! They had two sauces, and we chose the tomato.  Since we were splitting a portion, this is what my plate looked like before I dove in.  The pasta was a bit undercooked for my taste. I'm not sure if that's the way Italians like it, or if they just have a hard time cooking gluten-free pasta. Unfortunately, the sauce didn't have much going for it either - it tasted like it came out of a can. Womp, womp. 

After lunch, we went to the Uffizzi Gallery, where we saw just about every single work of art I ever learned about in Art History class. It was fun and overwhelming at the same time. Looking at all that art worked up an appetite, so we set off in search of a better meal than our first one.  We found it at a restaurant called The Chimera. They didn't advertise it on the menu, but they said they could do any pasta gluten-free.

Mike and I split the house red, and finally caught on that it's cheaper to order a liter of wine in a pitcher or carafe than to buy a bottle of wine at a restaurant. You can see how disappointed I was about having to drink all that wine:

We split an arugula salad that we dressed at the table with salt, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. I had this pasta with clams, a light butter-herb sauce, and lots of pepper:

This time the pasta was perfectly cooked (hey! maybe Italians do know how to cook gluten-free pasta!), and absolutely delicious. Mike had torellini stuffed with ricotta and dressed with oil, tomatoes, and zucchini (not gluten-free, but he said it was pretty tasty).

The next time we're in Florence, we'd love to stop by Chimera.

Next week: Our whirlwind day trip around Tuscany, complete with a stop at an organic farm for a wine tasting and gluten-free lunch!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Rome, Part Two

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

Lest you think all of Rome was a bust when it came to gluten-free food, I want to share the culinary bright spot of our trip to Rome: Mama! Eat. This place was so good, we went here twice: on our second night in Italy, and our last.

This restaurant has a whole menu of gluten-free food. (They also have a regular menu.) You can get just about anything gluten-free, from fried chicken to pasta to pizza.

That's the gluten-free menu up there - so many options it was almost overwhelming! On our first trip, we split a liter of wine, an appetizer of prosciutto and mozzarella, spaghetti with half a lobster and tomato sauce, and panna cotta with chocolate sauce. All were delicious, and definitely gluten-free!

Our second trip to Mama! Eat was a late lunch/early dinner on our last day in Rome. We split a Besaola con rucola e scaglie di parmigiano (above - arugula salad with big slices of cured meat and parmesan), which could have been a meal all by itself.

 

But we didn't stop there. We ordered the gluten-free bread, which was tasty, and a pizza topped with ham and thin shavings of zucchini, which was also quite tasty. And then, because it was our last night in Italy, and because we weren't already stuffed after all that food, we split a panna cotta, this time drenched in caramel sauce.

Next week: Florence!

Our Italian Restaurant(s) - Rome, Part One

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

 We stepped of the plane, and my first thought was COFFEE! Unfortunately, we arrived at the hotel just after they stopped serving breakfast, so our very first mission in Rome was to find coffee. We landed on this spot, the Caffe' delle Arance (Orange Cafe) in the Santa Maria Trastevere Square. An itty bitty cup of coffee was €4,50, but it had caffeine, and we had a lovely view of the square.

After going back to the hotel and showering, it was time for lunch. We wandered around looking for restaurants with gluten-free options, and ended up here, at the Ristorante Carlo Menta.

They had one gluten-free pasta dish - penne in a creamy tomato sauce, with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. The pasta was a little on the al dente side for me, but it was my first hot meal since our wedding reception. Here's how I felt about it, and the jet lag:

After lunch, Mike proceeded to drag me around Rome - to the Colosseum, to the Roman Forum, to the Trevi Fountain, to the Pantheon. (All gorgeous. And all a blur, between the amount of time we spent at each - not much - and the jet lag.)

Somewhere in there it was time for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Il Miraggio, which is near the Trevi Fountain. There we had gluten-free pizza and a fantastic bottle of wine, but I somehow failed to take a picture of either.

When it was time to head back to the hotel, we got lost. One wrong turn and everything looked like we were almost at our hotel, but we were walking in circles. And then, I started to feel icky. Like I had been glutened, but I'm not sure if it was something I ate or the jet lag. Yikes!

Anyways, I don't think I'd go back to either of these restaurants. The food wasn't great, and I'm not sure whether they kept the food truly gluten-free.

Stay tuned for next week's installment, where Rome redeems itself with good truly-gluten-free food!

In Love with a Mediterranean Climate: Souvenir and Wrap-Up

When we went to Italy, the first thing I noticed was plants. They were everywhere! Spilling from balconies, planted in public parks, growing out of walls, on restaurant patios. Everywhere I looked,there were plants. Each week, I’m sharing a different aspect of the plants I saw in Italy. Last week it was flowers. This week, I’m wrapping up and sharing my favorite souvenir from our honeymoon!

Thanks to all who followed my botanical side tour of Italy! Even though I'm out of photos to share with you here, I'm still living the vacation at home with some fresh flowers in my favorite souvenir - this little Tuscan pitcher!

This was a premixed bouquet at Whole Foods...not too expensive given how long it's lasted and how bright and cheery it is!

P.S. If you've missed any of the posts in this series, you can see them all by clicking on the tag "Italian flora" below!

In Love with a Mediterranean Climate: Flowers

When we went to Italy, the first thing I noticed was plants. They were everywhere! Spilling from balconies, planted in public parks, growing out of walls, on restaurant patios. Everywhere I looked,there were plants. Each week, I’m sharing a different aspect of the plants I saw in Italy. Last week it was fruit. This week, I’m sharing flowers - perfect for brightening up a gray winter day!

I'm a total sucker for flowers. When we first got to Italy, and I started taking pictures of flowers, Mike looked at me like I was a little nuts. Maybe I am. But I love having some bright, happy flowers to look at when it's cold and snowy outside, so here we go.

Cyclamen were everywhere - in front of a restaurant menu, tucked into succulent gardens...

And sitting on pedestals in lovely pots.

Then there were the roses. Ah, the roses. Like this one in front of the Murano glass factory.

And this one at a farm and winery we visited,

 And these, that graced the Roman Forum...

 There were also lots of geraniums, like this one that I almost tripped over...

Butterfly bushes...

Violas...

Thanksgiving cactus...

And dahlias, like this one in a public park in Venice.

I hope these flowers brighten your January day. They've certainly brightened mine!

In Love with a Mediterranean Climate: Fruit Everywhere

When we went to Italy, the first thing I noticed was plants. They were everywhere! Spilling from balconies, planted in public parks, growing out of walls, on restaurant patios. Everywhere I looked,there were plants. Each week, I’m sharing a different aspect of the plants I saw in Italy. Last week it was plants spilling into the streets. This week, I’m sharing the fruit we saw hanging on trees.

How would you like to walk outside and just pick your afternoon snack off a tree? Sign me up! 

Grapevines aren't just for wineries - we saw some grapes just begging to be eaten in Venice.

In Siena, there was a farmer's market that I was just dying to visit. Unfortunately, the tour guide didn't think that was touristy enough.

At Murano, where they make their world famous glass, I saw this pomegranate tree.

And there were oranges everywhere. When the oranges get ripe, the leaves often fall off the tree. I thought it looked like an orange Christmas tree.

And then there was this little plant on my patio in Rome. Anybody know what it is? My guess is an ornamental pepper, but I'm not sure.

In Love with a Mediterranean Climate: Plants in the Streets

When we went to Italy, the first thing I noticed was plants. They were everywhere! Spilling from balconies, planted in public parks, growing out of walls, on restaurant patios. Everywhere I looked,there were plants. Each week, I’m sharing a different aspect of the plants I saw in Italy. Last week it was plants filling up balcony spaces. This week, I’m sharing plants that spilled out onto the street!

There isn't much dirt on the ground in Italian cities...at least, not the ones we visited. So gardeners have to use pots, and the first rule of container gardening is to go big! That's what this street gardener did with these bushes.

But sometimes, you have to go small, like the moss below this neat water fountain.

My favorite place in all Italy was San Gimignano, where we saw this walled garden, not to mention the vines on the house to the right.

At the edges of San Gimignano, was this house with its garden spilling out onto the street...

...As well as these potted plants lining the stairway between buildings

In Venice, the streets are literally made out of water. And this restaurant, like many others, had boxes overhanging its outdoor eating area right over the canal. (And look at all that produce on display!)

Also in Venice, we saw quite a few private gardens spilling out into the street, like this one: