Happy Birthday to Me! - Mellow Mushroom & Mary's Gluten Free Goods

So, my birthday was two weeks ago.  How old did I turn?  29 again, of course.  Don't you know better than to ask a lady her age?  Just kidding.

Anyway, I am lucky to have a really close group of friends.  We have named ourself the Tuesday Nigh Movie Crew.  They have been very supportive of me through my Celiac Diagnosis and completely understand when I say I can/cannot eat certain things.  I also have to be nice to them because they know where I buried all the bodies!

So for my birthday one of them picked up GF pizza from Mellow Mushroom.  They got only GF pies so I wouldn't have to worry about cross contamination.  Does it get much more thoughtful than that?  Not for me.  The pizza was pretty good.  It was a middle crust - not thin like most GF pizzas, and not deep dish like real pizza.  They carried ham and pineapple, which is my favorite.  Actually, I mis-typed it in an e-mail once as "him and pineapple," so you can image the jokes that sprung from that mistake.

I also have an awesome co-worker named Claire.  She ordered GF cupcakes for me from Mary's Gluten Free Goods bakery.  If you haven't had any of Mary's GF baked goods, check out the link here.  Claire got carrot cake (my favorite) and vanilla cupcakes for me.  The whole office ate them even though they were GF and we all decided you can't really tell the difference. 

Several restaurants in town serve Mary's rolls, bread, desserts, etc.  Ones I know for sure carry her stuff include Cafe Eclectic, Fuel Cafe, Tsunami, Ciao Bella, and Cortona.  She also comes to the Downtown Farmer's Market.

All in all, it was a really nice birthday.  Stay tuned for future info on Outback Steakhouse, Huey's, Cipotle, and The Rendezvous.

Congrats to Hog & Hominy

Hi folks.  I've been off the boards a while because of my last glutening and an absolutely insane work schedule.  I have a few restaurant reviews up my sleeve, just haven't had time to sit down and write them. 

Just wanted to share something I read in this morning's Daily News:

Memphis has some of the best pizza in the U.S. according to Travel + Leisure Magazine.

Staff Memphis Business Journal

The magazine Travel + Leisure has released a list of the top 20 cities to get a slice of pizza and both Memphis and Nashville made the list.

Though Memphis is well-known as a culinary destination, pizza may not be the first signature food that pops to mind. But Travel + Leisure notes that, "Fun-loving Memphis takes a soulful approach to its pizza."  The article places Memphis 14th on its top 20 list siting Hog & Hominy's Red Eye pizza and the pulled pork and coleslaw pizza at Aldo's Pizza Pies.

 

So congrats to Hog & Hominy and Aldo's both.  If you haven't had a chance to visit Hog & Hominy check out my earlier review of their Gluten Free Pizza.

Also, as a Midtowner, I've been watching with excitement as some new restaurants are springing up on Union Avenue.  Panera Bread is opening up at the end of the month.  Unfortunately they don't carry any gluten free bread, but they do make a good salad and I hear some of their GF soups are very good.  Also, Five Guys is currently under construction and looks like it will be open pretty soon.  I've had very good experiences eating GF at the Five Guys on Ridgeway and hope that the Midtown one will be just as good.  They offer a delicious GF burger and their fries are safe to eat too.

I hope to be back on the blog very soon with posts on Mulan, Pei Wei, and Frida's. 

Mellow Mushroom

Okay, after a brief post to rhapsodize over Trader Joe's, I'm back to restaurant land.  Earlier this year, the Memphis Business Journal announced that Mellow Mushroom is expanding into East Memphis.  This really excited me, because as a Midtowner, I don't make the long trek out to Germantown for dinner that often.  That means that I haven't had a chance to try eating some of their GF pizza.

Today the MBJ did another story on the expansion.  In case you haven't seen it, here are some of the details:
 
The second Memphis-area Mellow Mushroom should sprout up on Park Avenue by this summer. The local development team, operating as Mellow Ventures LLC, has filed a $750,000 building permit to convert the former AAA Auto Club Group building at 5138 Park into a restaurant.
 
Project demolition has started and construction could begin in late February. Harvey said they hope to be completed by June.  The 7,880-square-foot building at Eastgate Shopping Center will have an outdoor patio when completed.

Here's another opportunity for all of us Celiac and Gluten Intolerant people to get a decent dinner.  I've heard kind of mixed reviews from friends about the pizza and the service at the restaurant in Germantown.  Have you dined there?  Anyone care to comment about their experience?  Was the pizza good?  Did they seem to understand avoiding cross contamination?

For those of you interested in their menu, here's a link:  Mellow Mushroom Gluten Free Menu.  I really liked their comment on the bottom about the precautions they take.  My only criticism is one that I've heard often on message boards and blogs about GF menus in restaurants - there are no prices.  I understand that there's a good chance I will have to pay more for a gf pizza crust, gf pasta, or gf sandwich bread, but I guess the restaurant owners are worried that people will complain about the extra cost.  I don't know.  Any restaurant owners out there that care to weigh in?

On a personal note, I got glutened recently.  No, it wasn't at any of the fine establishments that I've talked about on the blog.  It was actually on my way back from Nashville (see the Trader Joe's post).  One of my many side effects when I ingest gluten is that I lose all my energy and become very depressed and apathetic.  Unfortunately it lasts for several weeks.  I am hoping to keep up with the blog while I recover, but there is a chance I may be too tired for a while.  But I will definitely return when all the evil poison is out of my system and I feel top notch again.  Until then, stay gluten free in the Bluff City...

Hog and Hominy

Didn't feel like cooking dinner Friday night.  That's nothing new for me.  But I was tired of going to all the usual restaurants we eat at.  Luckily I had picked up the latest copy of Edible Memphis last week.  They had an article on gluten free ordering etiquette and a list of some GF restaurants.  Since they don't have a link to the list on their website, I took a picture to keep as a handy reference:

I thought I'd give Hog and Hominy a shot.  It's located at Brookhaven Circle.  The place was hopping on a Friday night with lots of folks enjoying some delicious looking food.  The waiter seemed pretty knowledgeable about the gluten free items on their menu.  He said that all their pizzas could be made on a gluten free crust.  I was hooked right then.  I don't know about the rest of you GF peeps, but I get tired of eating salads at restaurants because it's the only safe food.  It was good to have tons of options.  Here were the pizza options alone:

We decided to go for the 'Shrooms Pizza.  This is what it looked like:

 

I would never have thought to put arugula on pizza, but it was really tasty.  It gave it a nice tang.  Like most GF pizzas, it was a thin crust.  It was good - not overcooked like thin crusts sometimes are.  The pizza was a little small for the both of us to eat.  We probably should have ordered one of their side dishes to go with it.  Especially since I was starving and hadn't had GF pizza in quite a while.  I made a pig of myself at Hog & Hominy (pun intended).  Overall I was very happy with my meal.

 

On another note, I do miss a good deep dish pizza.  I would pay a lot of money if someone could invent a good GF deep dish crust.  I never cheat on my GF diet and am seldom tempted.  But the other night I worked late and my husband ordered a pizza for him and my son.  The crust was sooooo tempting.  If anyone out there knows someplace in the Memphis area with a GF deep dish pizza, please, please, puh-lease let me know!  In the mean time, the thin crust pizzas at Hog & Hominy make a pretty good substitute.