Gluten-Free Goodness in Provincetown--Karoo Kafe

Bradley and I are officially getting back into the swing of things after a wonderful, two-week vacation together. We spent the first week up on Cape Cod, and we spent our last day of that week in Provincetown. Finding places that are willing and able to accommodate gluten-free diets (not to mention all our other food allergies/intolerances) is always a challenge, especially on vacation. When we were in P-town last August, we spent a great deal of time walking up and down Commercial Street, searching for a gluten-free restaurant that we had found online. We were finally informed that the place had gone out of business. Starving, we ended up at Big Daddy's Burritos. (Ummm...yeah...) We were thankful to have found the place. Mexican food is often a safer option for us as we can usually modify the dish pretty easily. While the food rescued us from starvation that night, we had been hoping for something a bit different. 

This year, we discovered Karoo Kafe! We actually walked by Karoo Kafe in our wanderings last August and we almost stopped to check it out. While I wish that we had checked it out last year, it was an amazing discovery this trip! 

Karoo Kafe is a lovely, casual restaurant featuring South African fare. The staff was more than willing to take the time to help us figure out dishes that would work not only with our gluten-free diet, but also with our plethora of other food allergies and intolerances. 

We each enjoyed an appetizer. (Sorry I don't have a picture to share! We were so excited and started digging in right away!) Bradley had the Vegetable Pakoras and I enjoyed gluten-free falafel, one of their new items. Delicious! 

Bradley enjoyed the Curried Lamb Stew for his entree...

...and I enjoyed the Peri-Peri Chicken Wings

Amazing! I've had cravings for this dish since eating there a couple of weeks ago! Seriously. And the dish isn't too spicy. I typically can't handle much when it comes to spicy foods, but this dish was just right.

As you can see from the pictures, Karoo also offers gluten-free Redbridge beer. Awesome!

As we were finishing our meal, Sanette Groenewald (chef and owner), came out to chat with us. She explained how they've just started labeling gluten-free menu items this year. After having many guests ask if they served gluten-free dishes, Sanette realized that some of the dishes were naturally gluten-free, and others only needed some modifications. She said they used this past winter season to experiment and then rolled out the new menu this season. It's obviously a hit! In the time that we were there, Bradley and I overheard at least three other guests talking about the gluten-free dishes. Sanette is committed to working with guests to meet their dietary needs. Because everything is made fresh, it's easier to accommodate special diets. But Sanette also says she'll be honest about ingredients and possible dish creations; she won't just throw something together and claim it's safe like other places might. She's obviously very careful and committed. 

As we were heading out, the staff shared a couple of recommendations for South African restaurants in DC. We'll definitely be checking them out! (And I'll be sure to share the scoop.) And we'll definitely be back to Karoo Kafe the next time we're up in Provincetown! Unlike other business in P-town, Karoo Kafe has been around for a while. In fact, they're celebrating their 10th anniversary! Congratulations Karoo Kafe, and thanks for offering an amazing gluten-free dining experience!

A relaxing, gluten-free get-away in Annapolis, MD

This past Friday, Bradley and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, we took a short trip to Annapolis, MD. Bradley planned the entire trip, and he did a wonderful job! The trip was relaxing and refreshing! (Yes--I really did relax.)

We arrived in Annapolis Thursday afternoon and checked into the lovely Marriott on the waterfront. Then we went on our first sail (ever) aboard the Woodwind. (We learned that the Woodwind is the sailboat featured in The Wedding Crashers.)We had a two-hour sail out to the Chesapeake Bay. The crew was wonderful, and the weather was just perfect for sailing! Bradley would love to learn to sail and (eventually) own a sailboat, so this was a good test for us. Neither of us had been sailing before, and I am prone to motion sickness. We passed the test, though! We both enjoyed the sail, Bradley even had a chance to help raise the sails, and I did fine wearing my "sea bands"! Hopefully more sailing is in our future!

After our sail, we freshened up and then headed out to dinner. Bradley had made reservations at Chart House after doing some research online and seeing that they were known for accommodating special diets, specifically celiac disease. We took a water taxi over to Chart House (right across the river from the Marriott). When we first started looking at the menu, I was very discouraged. But when we told our server, Jason, that we had several food allergies, he assured us that they could provide a great meal for us and he brought out Chef Chris LaCasse.Chef LaCasse was amazing! He spent several minutes talking with us about our food allergies and intolerances...and we certainly presented him with quite the list! 

We started by telling Chef that we both have celiac disease and, therefore, cannot eat gluten. Additionally, we are both allergic to eggs, and Bradley is extremely lactose intolerant and I can only tolerate small amounts of dairy. Then we went on to some of my other allergies. I'm allergic to beef and fish. There was only one chicken dish on the menu, so I asked if he might be able to modify that dish. "Not a problem," he said, and then we went over the modifications. The side for the chicken entree is a potato dish, but I'm allergic to potato. Chef said he would make me grilled chicken breast with asparagus sauteed in olive oil and garlic. Perfect! We let him know that I'm also allergic to citrus, just in case. Bradley's dish was easier to modify. Bradley and Chef worked out a salmon dish with green beans sauteed in olive oil and garlic. 

Then Chef asked if we would like any appetizers and we told him that we had been eyeing up the Hummus Trio. Chef let said that we couldn't have the edamame hummus, but the other two were safe. Also, since the pita chips were obviously out and the plantain chips are fried in a shared fryer, Chef said he would prepare slices of cucumber and carrots. He was concerned that the traditional hummus has a bit of lemon juice in it, but I told him I could "cheat" a little bit with the little bit of lemon juice. (And I cheated a bit more with one glass of wine, too--a delicious Pinot Grigio our server recommended. But, thankfully, my citrus/citric acid intake was small enough and I didn't have any swelling!)

Dinner was delicious! Chef LaCasse came out again during our meal to see how everything turned out. Fantastic! We were so impressed with the service and the food at Chart House and had such a wonderful anniversary dinner! We were so excited (and hungry!) that we didn't think of taking a picture until it was too late. Next time!

After dinner, we took the water taxi back to the Marriott and then walked around downtown Annapolis for a bit. Pretty much everything was closed, but the town was all lit up. It turns out that there was a Lincoln commercial being filmed that night. Below is a shot of the downtown "square" area lit up. Here's a link to more photos of the shoot: http://www.flickr.com/phot​​os/9628602@N03/sets/72157​6​27146384826/ (Flicker pics taken by a guy we met downtown)

Friday morning we had fruit (bananas) and coffee at the downtown Starbucks. (This was a very small breakfast for us, but it is extremely difficult to eat breakfast out with all of our food issues!) We walked around the harbor and the shops for a bit and then we headed home where we were lazy and watched two movies (The Joneses and One Week) via Netflix Friday afternoon/evening! See, I did relax! :) It was a wonderful little get-away!