Natural Grocers: My new favorite gluten free grocery store!

Baguettes

People often ask me what the best gluten free grocery store in Wichita is.

I often tell people "Food for thought" is the best but it's expensive. 
Then I tell people you should check out "Green Acres" but it's expensive.
Then I might suggest "Whole Foods" but it's expensive.

Now I will tell you to go to "Natural Grocers!"

My wife filling up her arms with flour

The first time I went to "Natural Grocers" I was in Colorado and couldn't believe the great prices.  It was wonderful!

My wife was skipping through the aisles singing a song to herself.  Yep it's pretty darn awesome.
Make sure you check out all the purple tags that mark if it is gluten free.  I would also make sure to check for other products that are unmarked.

Tanya's Soup kitchen, put down your computer and go there now.

Several months ago I quit my job to help start City Life Church.  I sent Tanya's a message trying to lure them into giving me free food for a review on the website.  I think it weird-ed them out.   I just didn't have money at the time and I was hungry!  

Since things have gotten better financially I've called them about the gluten free options.  Usually I will hear something like chic-pea curry soup or Mango gaspatcho.   They sounded gross so we never stopped by.  However, I had a meeting at the Doughnut Whole today and we all crossed the street for soup.  It sounded good on a chilly winter day.

The place was packed.  We weren't allowed to order anything since all the tables were full!  They kept erasing soups from the chalk board as they were running out of them.   While waiting, they let me try out the two gluten free soups on the menu.  WOW!  Let me just say I hate tomato soups.  However the tomato soup they are serving at Tanya's soup kitchen is an object of my affection.  It is sweet and creamy.  I also tasted the roasted butternut squash and had to have it as well.  It has an almost smokey flavor with a wonderful curry aftertaste.  So what was I suppose to do?  Yep, I ordered two bowls of soup.  They were $3 each for a little bowl.  I was unable to finish them but I kept tasting little spoonfuls so as to enjoy it one more time.  

Okay so the soups at Tanya's are fancy.  Also they didn't give me free soup.  I guess they aren't running a soup kitchen. Ha.  From now on, no matter how weird the soups are I will get them and I will enjoy them.  Kudos to Tanya's.  I now have another fun place to share with my out of town friends.  First I probably should take my wife.

Red Lobster, suprisingly tasty!

Oh Red Lobster.  How you have taunted my dreams with those garlicy/cheesy biscuits.  I remember going with my dad to Red Lobster and hardly eating anything else.  Recently I googled Red Lobster to see if they had anything gluten free.  I was surprised to see they had a few yummy sounding options. 

The wife and I headed out with hoping we would still be full without the cheesy goodness.  I started out with a Salad which they say is not gluten free.  However, the waitress made our salad and most of the dressings are gluten free.  I didn't get sick and she made sure to not put any croutons on.  It was like any salad. 

One concern my wife and I had were the prices.  We spent more than usual but it'sa splurge worth it every once and a while.  The two item combo is about 12.75.  It comes with one side and the salad.  You can have a baked potato or mashed potatoes.  Stay away from the Broccoli.  Someone could also decide to go with the coleslaw but coleslaw is disgusting and you are gross if you like it.

As far as the main course there wasn't a whole lot to choose from.  So we enjoyed two servings each of garlic shrimp scampi.  Wow.  It was not healthy but it evoked a Pavlovian response in me.  These shrimp were swimming in a garlic butter.  If you are a terrible fatty like myself, you might dump the butter on your potato.  Hello, heart attack!  The shrimp was hot, salty and succulent.  The potato was hot as well and it was as good as a potato can be.  By the way, does anyone else type potato and hope you're spelling it correctly?  Thanks Dan Quayle.  Now I have potato typing fear.   Moving on...

We finished off the meal with a gluten free CHEESE CAKE!  There is no crust and it is listed on the menu as gluten free.  It was moist and not as heavy as most Cheese Cakes.  Covered in strawberries it wasn't overly sweet either.  It was about $6.  If you miss getting dessert, this is your place.

All in all it was a great night.  While not abundant in choices, it was an offering worth trying.  If you go, please call the survey on your bill so as to encourage them to offer more choices.  I told the manager I wanted more and he said that was the way to get it.   If you end up going please tell me how it was for you.

d'Sozo gluten free, vegan food.

It is what it is.

My wonderful "hippy" mom was in town a few weeks back and so I had a good excuse to try out our local vegetarian option.  Vegan is something I know I probably should do but never will.  I love steak.  

It took us two visits to finally try out d'Sozo but my mom felt it was worth the wait.  Make sure you find out the hours because they are not open for dinner and they have funny hours.  On our first trip we ended up having to go to the Lotus Leaf Cafe. 

However, the second time was success.  How did I feel about the meal?  Conflicted.  I ordered a pizza.  A vegan pizza is well, kinda not good but they managed to make it taste a little better.  When adding gluten free options to an already vegan meal, I can understand you have very little to work with.  The French chef at d'Sozo did a good job with what he had to work with but I would not return without my mom. 

She got a special with veggies and pasta which I envied.  When I go back I will update my review.

Hog Wild has gluten??

Hey guys,
Someone sent me a message that Hog Wild BBQ has gluten in their dry rub.  Does anyone know anything about this?