Green's Quest Tripel Blonde Beer

Brand: Green's

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Product Name: Quest Tripel Blonde Beer

Location Purchased: Liquor Mart (a local Boulder liquor store)

Cost: $6 for one large bottle

Note: This product was part of Z's Blind Beer Taste Test! See the results!

Total From A to Z: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * * *
This beer has a darker taste and really reminds me of sake. It was my third favorite of the blind taste test.

Z's Review: * *
This beer has a weird rice-y taste. It reminds me more of grain alcohol or sake than beer. Also, it is really expensive. It was my least favorite of the blind taste test.

Pamela's Products' Spicy Ginger Cookies

Brand: Pamela's Products

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~ This item is in A&Z's Store!

Product Name: Spicy Ginger Cookies

Location Purchased: King Soopers

Cost: $4.39


Note: This product was part of Z's Blind Ginger Cookie Taste Test! See the results!

Total From A to Z: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * * *
These cookies were really hard but at the same time chewy. They were very gingery. I think they had the best flavor, but they had a strange texture.

Z's Review: * *
These cookies are really hard right out of the box - so hard that they almost taste stale. When you eat them they are chewy, but not exactly in a nice way. They have a really string ginger flavor and the name of the cookies isn't kidding - they are actually spicy! The flavor is actually really good but I couldn't get past the texture, which is why they ranked so low on my list.

RESTAURANT: Noodles & Company

A&Z

at
Noodles
&
Co.

Restaurant: Noodles & Company

Locations:
National Chain

Location We Visited:
South Boulder - 2850 Baseline - (303) 247 - 9978
Full-scre
Gluten-Free Options: The Pad Thai (without chicken), beef (braised and sauteed), shrimp, and cucumber tomato salad. Apparently it may be possible to get them to substitute rice noodles in other dishes, but we're not positive about that.

Total From A to Z: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * * *

I was surprised when I heard that Noodles & Company had GF noodle dishes. The staff said there was only one dish they could guarantee, the Pad Thai, but it looks like you can substitute rice noodles in just about every dish. Z ordered chicken, which apparently is not GF, but this wasn't mentioned by the staff. We were lucky since Z can handle the occasional dose of gluten, but this would be unacceptable if someone were really sensitive. I would say check with the staff to make sure, but evidently this isn't even a certainty. The best bet is probably to explicitly ask about every single item in your dish and if they don't know or don't make you feel confidently, don't eat it.

Z's Review: * *
We have heard from a couple of different places (like Gluten Free Steve and Celiac.com) that Noodles & Company might actually be quite accommodating to gluten-free guests (though other sources disagree, like Gluten Free in SD). To me, a chance to get quick, reliable, gluten-free noodles was worth a shot. However, our experience at the South Boulder Noodles & Company didn't turn out so well. At first they told us that most of the dishes could be made with rice noodles, which sounded great. Then they changed their minds and said that only the pad thai would be ok. So I ordered the pad thai with chicken breast. Now, to be fair, I don't remember if I specifically asked about the chicken breast. However, the staff was well aware that I was looking for a gluten-free option. When I went to write this post I did some research and discovered that the chicken breast at Noodles & Company is apparently not gluten-free. Luckily, I'm not celiac, so it didn't make me sick. While part of the blame might be on me for not checking more carefully, I thought it was handled pretty poorly by Noodles too, since they were aware that I was gluten-free.

UPDATE: The official stance on gluten-free dining at Noodles & Company can be found on their website, which says:

Currently, the only menu items that do not knowingly contain wheat/gluten are the Pad Thai, beef (braised and sautéed), shrimp and cucumber tomato salad. The noodles, sauces and preparation methods all contribute to the gluten content of our food and substituting rice noodles will not make a dish gluten-free.

We’ll try hard to accommodate your needs, but please consider that we do have wheat in our restaurant and we can’t guarantee no cross contact. We urge you to inform a manager of your needs every time you dine with us.

The lesson I learned? If you are really sensitive/concerned about gluten, you may need to do the research yourself before visiting a restaurant because unfortunately it seems you can't always depend on the staff to inform you properly. Either that or ask for a manager!

Starfish's Crispy Battered Cod

Brand: Starfish

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Product Name: Crispy Battered Cod

Location Purchased: Whole Foods

Cost: $6.99 for 10 oz



Total From A to Z: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * * *

Something was not quite right about these. The fish was really tough and the "fishy" taste was overwhelming. Cod seems to be standard restaurant fish & chips fare and I don't remember it ever being this tough or fishy. Still edible, but not as good as the other two.

Z's Review: * *
The gluten-free crispy battered cod is also nut free, soy free, milk free, and egg free. But compared to the halibut and the haddock, I was a little bit disappointed with the cod. It was much mushier than the other types of fish, and I felt like I could taste the corn in the batter because of the mushiness. I didn't opt for seconds of this one. If you are craving excellent gluten-free crispy fish, I think the dollar or two extra to get halibut or haddock is totally worth it.

~~~
Guest Reviews!
We shared this meal with friends and thought we'd share their feedback with you too!

Our Friend RK's Review: * *
This fish is mushy, and not very tasty. It isn't bad - just very mediocre. The breading is the most prominent part of this experience.

Our Friend BM's Review: * *
This has the texture of chalk. It is mushy and tastes like bread dough. It needs seasoning and the meat even looks sort of gray.

Arrowhead Mills' Gluten Free Pancake & Baking Mix

Brand: Arrowhead Mills

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~ This item is in A&Z's Store!

Product Name: Gluten Free Pancake & Baking Mix

Location/Cost Info: Arrowhead Mills' website


Note: This product was part of Z's Blind Pancake Taste Test! See the Results!

Total From A to Z: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * * *
My first thought when biting into one these pancakes was of cookies...snickerdoodles to be exact. There was a very strong flavor of cinnamon. Strange and not very good as pancakes but they might be better if the batter was re-tasked as cookie dough.

Z's Review: * *
This mix made a pretty thick batter and these pancakes didn't really brown on the griddle. The pancakes had a sweet, almost cookie flavor, which I actually enjoyed. However, the downfall of these pancakes was the texture. It was extremely grainy - almost like chewing sand. I would have liked these pancakes more, because the flavor was actually good, but I just couldn't get past the grainy texture.

RESTAURANT: Sushi Zanmai

A&Z
at
Sushi
Zanmai

Restaurant: Sushi Zanmai

Location:
Boulder - 1221 Spruce Street - (303) 440-0733

Gluten-Free Options: They actually have very few gluten-free options, but they will provide Tamari soy sauce and edit sushi orders (if necessary) to make them gluten-free.

Total From A to Z: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * *

The food is really good...but that's about it. Although the hostess assured me that they had gluten-free options, further questioning of our waitress revealed that the gluten-free options were limited to tamari sauce...and that was it. So anything that already had sauce or was marinated was out. The waitress did do her best to help us, so she can't be blamed. But couple the lack of options with the fact that this restaurant is perpetually packed and you potentially have a very frustrating experience.

Z's Review: * * *
Boulder County Celiac has a restaurant list of gluten-free friendly restaurants in the Boulder area, which is where we originally saw Sushi Zanmai. Before visiting, we called Sushi Zanmai to confirm that they really did have gluten-free options. Over the phone they told us that they didn't have a separate menu but that they could certainly modify things to make them gluten-free and that their servers were very knowledgeable. I lived in Japan for a summer and I have a soft spot in my heart (or stomach?) for Japanese food, so I started to get excited about the prospect of getting to have things I have missed since becoming gluten-free.

However, when we arrived at Sushi Zanmai we discovered that their gluten-free offerings were actually quite limited. They couldn't modify tempura or katsu or teriyaki or yakisoba or gyoza, which basically left me with nothing to order but sushi, which I can pretty much order at any Japanese restaurant. Still, after asking a lot of questions they were able to provide Tamari soy sauce and make unagi (eel) rolls with the sauce on the side. The sushi was delicious and I really enjoyed it, but I was still a little bit disappointed that they indicated I would have more options than I did.

Arrowhead Mills' Gluten Free Brownie Mix

Brand: Arrowhead Mills

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~ This item is in A&Z's Store!

Product Name: Gluten Free Brownie Mix

Location Purchased: King Sooper's

Cost: $4.89

Note: This product was part of Z's Blind Brownie Taste Test!
See the results!

Total From A to Z: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * * *
Listen up, because you won't hear me say this very often about any GF baked good: it was actually not dense enough. I know, shocking. It was more cake-like, but in a weird way. Not how brownies should be. The flavor was OK though.

Z's Review: * *
This mix made a 9x13 pan of brownies. At first it seemed like there wouldn’t be enough batter for such a big pan, but it filled the pan in the end. In my experience, these larger pans seem to produce more crumbly gluten-free brownies. I gave these brownies two extra baking minutes (for a total of 27 minutes), because I was afraid to let them get too hard. However, maybe a few more minutes would have improved their ability to hold together. Unfortunately, these brownies were my least favorite of the other brownie mixes we have tried. I thought they were really crumbly and way less chocolaty than the other brownies. In my opinion, something was a little “off” about them.

Amy's Spinach Pizza - Rice Crust

Brand: Amy's
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Product Name: Spinach Pizza - Rice Crust

Location Purchased: King Soopers

Cost: $7.99 for 10-inch frozen pizza

A to Z Review: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * *

As with many GF breads, the crust is crunchy and cracker-like, which for pizza is quite good. My main complaint about this pizza, which was otherwise quite good, was the use of not nearly enough soy cheese instead of real dairy cheese. The crust, sauce, and other toppings were all great, but that was basically all I could taste. I am no fan of imitation cheese, but I've had worse than what was used on this pizza and there should have been a lot more. If the genuine pizza experience is what the crew at Amy's is going for, then this should be covered in cheese so it is hard to see what else is on there. As it was, it was difficult to tell there was much on there besides sauce and spinach.

Z's Review: * * *
When I purchased this pizza I was so delighted to see that it was gluten-free that I totally neglected to notice that it was also dairy free. This meant that it had some kind of soy cheese on it. I wasn't a huge fan of the taste of the soy cheese, and, in any event, there wasn't enough of it! The crust and the sauce was fairly tasty, but there was so little "cheese" that it hardly reminded me of a pizza at all. It might be possible to fix this problem by adding some of your own cheese on top while you bake it, but out of the box I didn't really think this was a finished product. Unless, of course, you are gluten-free and lactose intolerant, in which case this is the pizza for you!

Simply Boulder's Truly Teriyaki

Brand: Simply Boulder
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Product Name: Truly Teriyaki

Location Purchased: King Soopers

Cost: $5.49 for 12 oz bottle


Total From A to Z: 2.5 Stars

A's Review: * *
I made teriyaki chicken with this sauce and on a whim, I added some crushed pineapple and Mongolian Fire Oil before I threw the pan in the oven. Without the additional flavors, this would have been very, very bland. I can only hope that there are other gluten-free teriyaki sauces out there that take themselves more seriously than this one.

Z's Review: * * *
This was a nice, sweet teriyaki sauce, but it was slightly on the plain side all by itself. We added a little bit of tamari sauce to give it a more savory flavor and a little bit of Mongolian fire oil to give it a little bit of a spicy kick. Then we had it on chicken with pineapple chunks and it was very pleasing. But I think the sauce itself needed a little bit of help to make a good meal.