Wild Pear (Salem, Oregon)

The place where ladies lunch (for ladies who lunch)

For those of you who have not been to the Wild Pear restaurant in downtown Salem - you are missing out!  It has a fun atmosphere and healthy delicious food.  Wild Pear has been a treat-spot for me for some time, a place I go when I want good food and a good visit with a friend (or my Mom!).

Their menu mentions what is gluten free, and our waitress was very helpful about what was possible.  For example, she volunteered that all though the sweet potato fries were themselves gluten-free, they were fried in the same fryer as other things (too bad, they looked really yummy!)

I didn't have a lot of time for lunch before my next work meeting, so I opted for the ginger-carrot soup and salad (the one soup one salad on the menu).  I have to admit, this Wild Pear soup is a favorite soup for me, a soup for all seasons, and it was perfect yet again - and gluten free too!!.  Next time I'll have to try their gluten free pizza.....

GF Birthday Cake

My youngest turned 4 this week.  Being that her birthday is in the summer, planning for what to do is generally centered around the phrase "goodness it is hot!".  For my eldest who can eat anything, I usually either make something or if a party do the cheap option of a Costco cake, but my little one is gluten free and I just couldn't justify a cake that she couldn't eat and it was too hot to bake.  So was is a busy GF mama to do?

Baskin Robins!  The Baskin Robins in West Salem is WONDERFUL.  This is not to say that others are not, but this one has treats in the case labeled as GF and of course like all stores in the chain. the ice cream has these cute little tags that include the allergens while you are picking a scoop (e.g. soy, milk, peanuts, wheat etc).

We custom ordered an ice cream cake.  We spoke to the Manager (perhaps also the owner?) and he was very helpful about our options.  If you are thinking of ordering a cake, I would highly recommend speaking to the manager as he was more knowledgeable about how they do the gluten free cakes and how to order it than the super nice teenager behind the counter.

A regular ice cream cake has ice cream on the bottom, then cake in the middle then ice cream then icing.  A GF cake from there is just ice cream and icing (the birthday girl thought this was the best thing she had ever seen).  We got to pick 4 flavors - so most slices would just have 2 flavors, an upper and lower, but there were 2 hemispheres of the cake - hard to explain, but very tasty.

You will see from my picture that I had a chocolate and strawberry on one side, and blackberry and lemon custard on the other.  They ran out of lemon so the one side just had more blackberry - it was still delicious.

Other things I enjoyed about the experience:

1. we ordered after 5pm and it was ready the next morning at 11
2. we could pick almost any shape and design and then recolor it (birthday girl loves rainbows so we picked the leprechaun cake then switched to hearts and pink instead of shamrocks and green)
3. we picked out the flavors to go in the middle - and of course needed LOTS of samples to get the right combination 
4. manager was very nice and helpful and knowledgeable about gluten free needs
5. one very happy GF birthday girl

What places in the Valley do you like to get your birthday cakes from?

Review of McMennamins in McMinnville

Eryca and I had dinner at McMenamins in McMinnville recently during a program called Science Pub sponsored by OMSI.  Since we were there for a special event, we were seated in a separate dining area.  However, we were able to order from the regular menu.  According to the website, there is a gluten free menu.  We were not given that option, so I am not sure if the gluten free menu is only available online or the waitress just did not have any of those menus upstairs.  

When the waitress came to our table to deliver the menus, she asked us what we wanted to drink.  So, we asked if they had any gluten free beers available.  They did not, but we both ordered glasses of their house white wine that was delicious.  It was fruity, but it was not too sweet.  It was a nice beginning to our meal.

On the regular menu, there is a note at the bottom of the menu acknowledging their willingness to accommodate gluten free requests.  The waitress seemed to be aware of the gluten free options, but she was also willing to find out if we needed more information.      

We decided to order an appetizer and entree that we could share.  First, we ordered a hummus and pita appetizer.  The waittress offered to substitute more veggies for the pita bread, and this is the plate in which we were presented.

We thought the presentation was beautiful, and we really enjoyed the food.  There was plenty of food for both of us.  

We also decided to share a flame-boiled hamburger.  We were planning on getting it wrapped in lettuce or eat it with a fork and knife, but the waitress asked us if we wanted a gluten free bun.  It was an additional $2 for the gluten free bun, but it was great to eat the hamburger on a bun.  According to the gluten free menu, the french fries are gluten free, but they are still fried in the same fryer as everything else.  So, it really depends on how sensitive you are if you are willing to order the french fries.  We did not get the french fries, instead we substituted a side salad with a balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  We really enjoyed the hamburger and salad as well.  The hamburger was cooked well, and there was a lot of fresh salad alongside it.  

When we looked at the ketchup bottle to eat on our hamburger, we found out that it was gluten free.  That was a nice surprise.

  

We ended up having a wonderful dinner at McMennamins, and we feel that the restaurant provides an overall positive experience for customers.

Welcome to our new blog!

Welcome to our new site, gluten free Willamette Valley.  We have a pretty simple vision:

• connecting local restaurants, bakeries, and eateries offering gluten-free options with those of us needing a GF diet yet we not willing to be ignored or relegated to fad of the moment status

We hope to post reviews from ourselves (and you too!) about your GF experiences in local establishments, and link to some of our favorite resources.  We will focus on establishments in the mid-willamette valley, Oregon (Salem, McMinville, Corvallis etc).

We know that being gluten free is a different journey for all that travel that road.  We will try to distinguish between reviews by those "gluten-free by choice" to those severely intolerant or even celiac.  We also want you to know you aren't alone.  Over the next months we will share more of our personal stories, successes and struggles living gluten-free and we hope you might too.

So let us know what you think!

~ Eryca, Cassidy and Daryl