NYC, NY

At the end of last week I went to visit my friend Caitlin in one of my favourite places - New York! I always love to go there and I find any excuse to spend a few days seeing sights, walking around and of course, eating good food. As a major city there are always a million options for people will allergy problems, so naturally I made a list and planned my days around where I'd be eating...

Friedman's

First up we travelled to Friedman's. On my glutenfme Instagram I had noticed a recurring restaurant for people posting about NY & it was Friedman's. What caught my eye? GF Fried Chicken!!! I couldn't believe that anywhere would have GF Fried Chicken and any chance I get to try people attempting this, I take it. I would've loved to have been there for their lunch menu, but nevertheless as soon as I arrived we ventured there and I ordered the chicken as soon as I could. 

It was unbelievable. I CANNOT believe that this chicken is GF. I just cannot believe it. At one point I didn't even need to eat the chicken, I was pulling off the coating and just eating it straight (actually a habit I did when I was little too). I ordered mine to come with herb fries instead of mashed potato (because fries...) and it also came with a kale slaw - a welcome fresh element in the sea of beige. If it had been the lunch menu I would have chosen the fried chicken sandwich, but I honestly was overjoyed with this place. If I didn't have the fear of being judged by my friend, I probably would have eaten here for every meal. 

After I ate my chicken we decided that we wanted to try some desserts because they were GF too. We weren't particularly hungry, but I said I had to have a couple of bites of each because their chicken was just so good and for blog purposes I had to try more of their menu - ha! I wasn't wrong. We had a chocolate brownie sundae and a rhubarb (what I would call) crumble, both came with ice cream. Both were delicious. Both I'd have happily eaten all of, but stuck to just a few bites. I will say that although the crumble was GF, I try and avoid oats as they hurt my intestines even if they're labeled GF, so I had a few extra bites more of the brownie. 

If you're ever in NY you HAVE to go here. They have four locations and right now I wish they could deliver across states. Although it's probably better for my waistline that that's not an option...

 

Erin McKenna's Bakery

Of course whenever I'm in town I always pay a visit to Erin McKenna's Vegan & GF bakery. It's just a given. Each day they have different items to choose from - they must be continuously creating new recipes. This time I bought a slice of the lemon cake, a maple donut, a cinnamon roll, a day old vanilla frosting cupcake with a half donut on top and finally a slice of double chocolate crumb cake (not pictured).

The lemon slice was fantastic, the donut was a bit dense-r than I remembered and the cupcake/donut was on point. I actually still have the cinnamon roll to eat and the chocolate crumb cake was moist, but there was an after taste that I wasn't so keen on. I couldn't put my finger on what it was - maybe molasses? Either way, this place never disappoints and the fact that it's all vegan is unbelievable to me. I truly love this bakery and it's still the best GF bakery in the city.

Pretty Southern

Let me start by saying I had such high hopes for this place. A second place on my trip that did GF fried chicken? Yes please! A walk over the Brooklyn Bridge to eat it? Definitely! But once I got there, it was just all downhill. I ordered three fried chicken fingers, a side of hash browns and a side of mac n cheese (something I'm actually not that keen on, but thought I should order). They were out of GF biscuits - something I really had wanted to try, so I didn't manage to have any of those (hence the hash browns order) but I eagerly awaited the rest. 

So, firstly all my food came out at different times. The chicken came out about 7 minutes after the rest of the items, which was very odd. There was no ketchup - this makes me sound like a terrible human I know, but I love ketchup on fried chicken. I know it's not the southern way to do things, but I was still disappointed and reluctantly asked for some ranch dressing to dip my food in(yuck). Then, the food...

The chicken was greasy, the coating didn't stick to the chicken, some of it had hot sauce on it and some of it didn't and the chicken underneath the coating wasn't the best. I begrudgingly ate a few bites off the edges and it just wasn't enjoyable in the slightest. The hash browns came as a waffle (is this a southern thing?) It had pieces of onion and other veggies in it, but I didn't like the texture at all. I honestly had about two bites of this (if that) and just left the whole thing (pictured!). Lastly, the mac n cheese - the item I was expecting to like the least, was actually the one saving grace of this place. It was really tasty. This was the item I ate the most of (I still didn't eat much of it because it was very rich) and was by far the only thing I'd recommend ordering if you go here. This place is new, so perhaps I just visited too soon for it to be up to standard, but overall I would not recommend eating here. I would avoid it like crazy and head to Friedman's for your fried chicken cravings any day of the week. What a disappointment! 

Don Antonio's by Starita

Pizza is always a good choice, especially in NY (the place that does THE BEST - don't even try to convince me that Chicago style is better), and so lastly, the day before I left NY I noticed online that someone had spoken about how amazing the pizza was here. They have a dedicated separate kitchen, and cooker for their GF pizza and before we headed to watch Drunk Shakespeare we made a pit stop at Don Antonios. 

The pizza was beautiful. I ordered a Kesté (tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, prosciutto di parma, arugula, pecorino, basil, EVOO) and it was delicious. I did ask if I could add garlic and was told that they do not adapt pizzas at all because the chefs created them specifically - so be aware of this when you go. Caitlin ordered a Margarita, and I almost preferred it to mine. Both of them had unbelievable crust - I would never have been able to tell it was GF; soft, pliable, stretchy dough with just the right amount of crisp. YUM! Part of me wishes I'd got one with truffle on, part of me wishes I'd got salami, part of me wishes I'd ordered a pizza of every flavour available. If you're in NYC, you MUST eat here! I will be back and it won't be soon enough! 

P.S We went to watch Drunk Shakespeare on Off Broadway and it was absolutely brilliant. Funny,
witty, engaging, and just a great idea for a modern twist on Shakespeare. If you want to see a show whilst you're in town, I would highly recommend this. I didn't stop laughing.

PPS. On Saturday we were meant to go to Senza Gluten  (and 100% GF restaurant) & I was so excited to eat french toast and pasta and desserts and pancakes, but we had one too many cocktails on Friday night & never made it before I flew home. It's top of my list to try next time I'm there. I'm so disappointed in myself and every time they post on Instagram I die a little inside!

What are your fave NY spots? Next week I'll be on tour with Caleb and stopping in various locations, so keep an eye out for new posts!