All the way to Jupiter

Hey everyone!
It's been a while since I've last posted, but now that the stress of finals is FINALLY over I can spend the summer updating my gfree food adventures that I have collected! :)

This is my first food blog entry!! Exciting, right? I hope you find it useful to your own gfree dining experience and perhaps even take a visit if it suits your fancy.

The place I would like to share with you all is a cute little brick restaurant called, Jupiter. Jupiter is mostly known for its beer and pizza, but as all gfreers know, those two things are to be avoided like the plague unless they happen to don a bright neon sign that screams GLUTEN FREE on it.

So the story behind this visit: I actually was invited to a friend's birthday lunch and she had already made plans and reservations at this restaurant. I was worried that they wouldn't have any food for me to eat and then I would have to starve through lunch sipping iced water and make my friend feel bad. Luckily, when I opened up the menu, a miracle happened!!

THERE WAS A SALAD SECTION! I was seriously saved. Now, I know, I know, gfreers have a limit to how much "salad without croutons" they want to eat at these types of restaurants, but holy moly, the salad I ordered was soooooo amazing that my hate for eating salads vanished into thin air.

The salad I ordered was the Salmon Salad which on their website menu describes this dish beautifully: "wood roasted atlantic salmon served chilled on a salad of spinach, roasted red bell peppers, feta cheese, pine nuts with honey-chipotle vinaigrette." Oh this is making my hungry again, and I just ate...

Anyway, some tips:
-If you're ordering a salad, ask them to take out the croutons if the dish specifies that it has it.
-Most vinaigrettes are usually gfree, but if its a creamier based sauce then you might want to check with the chef first to ask if there is any gluten/wheat in it.

Now I want to make a disclaimer for this blog entry as well as future eating out food entries:

If you are extremely sensitive to gluten byproducts and cross contamination, please eat out with the utmost caution!

If you're not sure if something is 100% gfree, please don't eat it. Do a favor for your poor gut and not send it to a living hell (you guys know what I mean). Most likely, restaurants always have a small amount of cross contamination even if the dish is essentially gfree. They can't help that because they must serve a large customer base that cannot cater to only gfree consumers (although it would be nice if they did!) For me I'm not that sensitive, so small amounts of trace gluten don't aggravate me. But if you have a more severe case of celiac disease, please, please exercise caution. I don't want you to get sick!

Anyway, long story short, I enjoyed the dish very much and my friend had a wonderful birthday. I encourage you to visit if you have a hankering for an absolutely delish gfree salad!

More info on Jupiter
Website: http://www.jupiterbeer.com/jupiter/index.htm

-Kris