Gluten Free In Portland, Oregon: Sweet Treats
So far, Portland is my absolute favorite city to visit for amazing gluten free and vegan eats (no, I'm not vegan - but I have a preference for it, especially while on the road). There's just so many options and sometimes it feels like I'll never make it through my long list of places I still need to try there. Good thing I'm only 3 hours away, so a quick trip down to Portland is a realistic option.
First I want to tell you all about a bakery started by one of the blog friends I met in real life at my first blogging conference last year. Geanna is funny and delightful in person and I'm always inspired by people who start their own businesses. A month or so ago, Geanna asked me if I'd be interested in reviewing her tasty treats from her bakery, Cinnamon, and I said of course. Generally, I don't do reviews but in the case of small businesses started by awesome blogging friends - I feel like an exception is appropriate.
Geanna sent me 3 varieties of her donuts; a plain one topped with cinnamon and sugar, a chocolate one, and two of the new seasonal lemon ones (my personal favorite). They were by far the best I've had since going gluten free and the fact that they're also free of the common allergens and vegan - total win. I love products that just ditch all the common allergens since that makes them friendlier for a greater number of people. Both my husband and I were truly impressed by the fluffy texture (none of that graininess that comes with a lot of gluten free treats) and how moist they were, especially after being shipped. These donuts were heads and shoulders above the other gluten free frozen ones I've found in grocery stores.
Tula Bakery is one of the places that has been on my list for a long while and when we took our first hotel trip with our pup - I finally got a chance to try their treats. The cafe itself was such an incredibly charming place, definitely one I could see myself frequenting if I lived in Portland. Tula's offers a wide variety of gluten free treats and other baked goodies including paninis and pizza.
One of things I liked about Tula's was that they labeled all the other goodies in their pastry case with notations for other common allergens. Since I'm also intolerant to cows milk dairy and avoid soy - this made it even easier to choose my treats. I ended up with a peach pie, salted chocolate chip cookie, mini orange bundt, and I think the other item in the picture above was a scone for my husband. Everything was very tasty and definitely high quality.
Finally, I want to mention another restaurant where we had an amazing dinner but as I was writing this post, I learned that Northwest Public House has closed. I'm incredibly disappointed since it was one of those really friendly places where almost everything on the menu either was or could easily be adapted to be gluten free. Plus, they served one of the most indulgent treats I've ever had - apple fritters. They were incredibly delicious and I'm sad I won't be able to get them next time I'm in Portland. Guess it's another thing I'll have to add to my list to recreate at home.
More Gluten Free in Portland posts;