Recently my wife bought a Groupon for Amerigo’s on West End. She had been trying to use it for weeks with me and I kept pushing her to go with a friend instead since the last place I wanted to go is yet another Italian restaurant where I couldn’t eat anything. Well… At least not anything that I wanted to. We were out running errands a few Saturdays ago and she cornered me into going. Thinking that I was just going to have a nice wine lunch, I was pleasantly surprised when our waitress brought out Amerigo’s own gluten free menu when I asked about options. The menu had multiple items on it, not the normal 5 items. I enjoyed mussels, which were not on the gluten free menu but they worked wihth me since they were slow at the time and some great salmon. The staff was more than accommodating and knowledgable about gluten issues. Check them out next time you’re on West End in Nashville or in Brentwood, Memphis or Jackson, MS!

While most Italian good is normally off limits, Sole Mio is there to help. While they do not carry rice noodles, they do offer to help make most of the items gluten free and are very friendly. I highly recommend the Insalata Di Mare and the Prosciutto e Melone for apps and Pesce del Giornio for dinner. The staff was very helpful, after wine it is a little pricy though.

Visit the Sole Mio site.

So for the food that is most likely the hardest to do out gluten free I find myself recently eating at a lot of Italian restaurants that end up having a gluten free menu. A great place to take the family is the Old Spaghetti Factory down on 2nd avenue. It’s been there for years, I think one of the only restaurants that is still on 2nd sine I moved to Nashville in 1989. They can substitute any pasta dish with a gluten free corn pasta that is cooked separately to avoid cross contamination. It’s a great, low expense nice meal for the fam except for the fact that most of the time you will have to pay for parking downtown to enjoy.

Had dinner the other night at the Old Spaghetti Factory on 2nd Avenue in Nashville. We use to go there all the time when family was in town, the nephews always loved sitting in the caboose. Anyway, I heard they had a gluten free menu, but was still a little scared as I always am trying some place that is mainly gluten heavy. The staff was very helpful and I have to say it was some of the best damn gluten free pasta I have had. I highly recommend it.

See the Old Speghetti Factory gluten free menu

My wife and I went to Maggiano’s this weekend to enjoy their gluten free menu options. Everything was great! The staff was very helpful in letting us know what we could order on the menu and even helped us change some menu items around to be gluten free. They can substitute Corn fusilli in any of their non-stuffed pasta dishes or they can create a customized meal just for you! We had the new gilled artichoke without the bread crumbs and it was fantastic. Thanks to everyone at Maggiano’s for a great evening!

See their site.

A couple of friends have emailed me in the past week about Lazzaroli Pasta in Germantown. They have a Spelt Pasta that is made without semolina and subsitutes Light Spelt Flour. Check them out at 1314 5th Avenue North * Historic Germantown * Nashville and let me know what you think!

http://lazzaroli.com/id2.html