Natural Food Works: Davis Gfree Bakery

Hello all!
I was rummaging through my freezer today and happened to stumble upon some frozen baguettes from Natural Food Works, a gfree bakery located in Davis, CA. Seeing as how I haven't reviewed this kitchen's products yet, I thought I would take the chance to talk a bit about them!


I was actually introduced to this small company and their products from my good friend who works at the UC Davis dining commons as the food manager (big shout out to Weilan, my best buddy! :) ). At their DC's, there is a small refrigerator that houses all sorts of gfree goodies that students can eat when they swipe in. Of course, I was jumping up and down with excitement when I saw this since most of Berkeley's DC's don't have this luxury. 


I periodically get a haul of leftover gfree food that will be thrown out if no one takes it, so I, of course, willingly offer my freezer for storage! ;) 


Since then, I've tried quite a few products from this bakery and have some thoughts about them. So, without further ado....

Cinnamon roll! :)

1. Cinnamon roll- 5 stars
-Great texture and taste; not overbearingly sweet and tastes even better after microwaving 30 sec then letting them sit in the toaster to get crispy around the edges and all warm and gooey in the middle. Oooo yummmy :)  

2. Baguette- 1 star
-Honestly, I was a bit disappointed with this bread. The taste didn't really light my taste buds on fire, and it doesn't toast amazing. The outside crust is an interesting rosemary flavor (I love rosemary, but I wasn't digging this taste). It's also pretty crumbly. I would take Mariposa's dinner rolls any day to this.  



















3. Apple Pie- 4.5 stars  


-Who doesn't love pie? I seriously missed me some warm apple pie fresh from the bakery, but this gfree replacement will make up for that craving! The pie crust itself has a pretty nice buttery taste and when lightly toasted, the overall flavor was really similar to the old pies that I enjoyed in the past. Definitely recommend this to anyone who misses some old fashioned pie! Only complaint is that there's a top crust, but no bottom crust!
Why that is, I have no clue. But, nevertheless, this apple pie is still pretty darn good. A side note: the pie comes in small containers instead of a whole pie. I'm certain you can buy a whole pie at the store location though! 

4. Carrot Cake- 5 stars
-I'm not the biggest fan of carrot cake, but the gfree version from Natural Food Works makes me think otherwise! Their carrot cake has a wonderful texture (similar to the inside of banana bread) and the frosting is simply sweet! 

5. Mushroom/Squash Ravioli- 3.5 stars
-I have mixed feelings about this product. The first time I had them, the ravioli filling burst out when I put them in boiling water from the frozen state, so I was stuck with a boiling pile of pasta bits and filling soup. It looked pretty gross. But I found out that the problem was that these raviolis have a very short shelf life. I realized this when I tried a different batch that was fresher, and the result was significantly better. If you plan on trying these, I would buy them fresh and eat asap. They really don't do that well if frozen for too long. The dough is a little chewy but the filling is tasty for both flavors. I would try them only if you can buy these fresh and if you plan to have them for a meal very soon after you purchase them.  

6. Brownie- 5 stars
-I love brownies! These brownies have a great fudge texture and no bean taste that lots of gfree brownies have. This is due to the fact that they use brown rice flour which has a great flavor and no nasty aftertaste. I highly recommend this if you have chocolate cravings like I do! (I can't live without my chocolate!!)   

7. Sugar cookies- 2 stars
- Maybe I give this the low rating because they didn't really do it for me, but there could be other reasons why these didn't make it to my top rated sugar cookies. These cookies were crumbly and overly salty for some reason- I mean, they're sugar cookies, why the hell are they so salty?? Ahem. Anyway, I would rather bake my own gfree cookies than eat these again. I ended up eating two and throwing the rest away. These could perhaps be better tasting if baked fresh at the bakery, but I don't expect to be eating these again anytime soon. 

Anyway, that's all I've tried so far. I might update this post again with Part 2 if I happen to try some other goods from their bakery/kitchen. These are only my personal experiences with these products, and so I encourage you to try them yourself and let me know what you think. I hope if you do try some of the products that I rated poorly, that your experience will be loads better! 


Until next post,
Kris

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Gfree Italian Food Exists?!

Hello all!
T actually should be credited for the discovery of this fantastic Italian restaurant that, get this, serves GFREE ITALIAN FOOD. That means gfree pasta and pizza!! Those two words almost never can be placed next to each other unless it happens to be gfree Italian night at home.

You might have guessed that I pretty much flipped out when I heard about this. So, naturally, I had to go try it out with T since she raved about it the last time she went. Her and I as well as some other friends headed down to Davis, CA since this restaurant is only offered in select locations (unfortunately not in Berkeley, but if you're in Davis, you MUST try this place!)

The restaurant is called, Paesanos and it's this dainty, little Italian themed place complete with vintage chandeliers and paintings, outdoor seating with hanging lights as well as old Italian movies projecting on the building wall lined with Italian cypresses. It seriously makes you feel as if you're in Italy (minus all the bikes parked around the area- it's Davis after all!)

Paesanos, I am proud to say, has a designated gfree menu where they have kindly laid out all the gfree food that the chef specially prepares. Not many restaurants that I've been to have a entirely separate gfree menu, so I am extremely impressed by this restaurant.

Now, onto the food!!
                                                               

Kris & T's custom pizza! YUM!

Gemelli Spinachi

Pollo de Modena

Prices are reasonable with pasta ranging around $8-10 and pizza around $11-15 for a gourmet gfree meal. Customer service is fantastic and the atmosphere is great. If you're craving some Italy and want to treat yourself, Paesanos is the way to go! 

Needless to say, T and I had very satisfied stomachs at the end of the meal and you can bet we'll be back! :)

More info on Paesanos

http://paesanos.biz/index.html

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