Sellwood Archives - Gluten Free Portland

Dave April 30, 2012 Leave a Comment

Gluten Free Event at Jade Tea House

We heard from Laura B. Russell about an upcoming super-gluten-free event at the Jade Tea House down in Sellwood.

I’m pairing up with my friends at Jade for a super fun event on Wednesday, May 9th.
Jade will be hosting a private dinner in their new upstairs dining room in honor of The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen. The meal will feature five courses from the book, including dessert from Crave Bake Shop (Kyra did the desserts in my book) and beer pairings from Harvester Brewing. I think it will be a really fun, and likely a quite festive event! I’d love if any of you and/or your gluten-free friends and customers would like to join in the fun. Books will be for sale as well, or I’m happy to sign any books that people have already purchased.

When: Wednesday, May 9th 6:30 PM
Where: Jade Bistro, Teahouse & Patisserie
7912 SE 13th Avenue Portland OR 97202
Price: $45/person (I think you need to give a credit card when you call)
R.S.V.P by calling 503-477-8985 or email info@jadeportland.com
www.jadeportland.com

Her book: The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen

Did we mention that we love her book? We keep making more recipes out of it, and they’re always really amazing. We also love the Jade Tea House.

Dave March 1, 2010 1 Comment

Restaurant Review: Jade Tea House

We were contacted by the Jade Tea House a couple of weeks ago. We’ve eaten there twice now and really enjoyed it both times. The Jade Tea House is on SE 13th in Sellwood (a few blocks from Picazzo’s), so it’s a little bit of a drive from our neighborhood.

Sienna and I both thought that the Jade Tea House would make for a great place to take a first date. The food is good, the menu is interesting, the restaurant has a bright and energetic vibe, and the people watching is excellent. Almost everything on the menu is gluten free or can be made gluten free. The food is a mixture of Vietnamese and Thai with some other Asian cuisines thrown in and baguette sandwiches. Before you get excited, I have to warn you that the baguettes are one of the things on their menu that aren’t gluten free. The other items with gluten are their wonton soup and steamed Hum Bao appetizer. Pretty much everything else is gluten-free, however.

Both times we went, the place was packed, and they seem to have a thriving take-out business going, too. For appetizers, they have items like Salad Rolls (Spring Rolls), Chicken Satay, Fried Coconut Encrusted Shrimp, and Fried Salt & Pepper Squid. For entrees, dishes like Sesame Beef, Yellow Chicken Curry, Garlic Lemongrass Chicken, and Stir Fried Green Beans. For desserts they have Black Rice Pudding, Sweet Rice & Mango, Frozen Yogurt, and Assorted Pastries.

The first time we went, we got the Fried Coconut Shrimp. These were served with a delicious Thai-style fish sauce.

Then the next time, we got some of the Fried Salt and Pepper Squid. When asked about their fryer, we were told that they don’t fry anything with gluten in it, so that’s good news. The Salt and Pepper Squid are the best gluten-free fried squid I’ve ever had. Our only complaint was that they were a little salty for our tastes. The Coconut Shrimp was really awesome, and perfectly done.

For entries, we tried the Yellow Curry Chicken and two specials which aren’t on the normal menu. We got a Fried Glass Noodle dish and a Mango Chicken dish. I’m used to Vietnamese cooking being very simple and wholesome, and that was the way these dishes were. The Yellow Curry Chicken was like a Thai Yellow Curry with chicken drumsticks, carrots, and chunks of potato in it. We both really enjoyed it. The glass noodles had a light garlic sauce with chicken, shrimp and vegetables. We enjoyed the dish, but ended up feeling like the noodles were overdone. The Mango Chicken comes with a savory brown sauce and vegetables. The slices of mango were perfectly ripe, and this ended up being my favorite dish from both nights. I hope they put it on the regular menu!

Chinese Donuts and…

If you ever find yourself wondering how much Sienna and I sacrifice to bring you the best restaurant reviews, look no further than this example. Since desserts are one of those things that can be kind of hard to get gluten free, we take notice when a restaurant has gluten free desserts, and for the sake of our readers, we often find ourselves with no choice but to eat dessert. Yes. We do this all for you. I’m a real fan of black rice pudding. In its most basic form, this is a pudding made from black rice, which is naturally sweet. Although it’s called “black rice” it’s actually more of a very dark purple. The black rice pudding was good, but we found the coconut milk sauce to be too sweet. The Chinese Donuts are hollow globes made of rice gluten. Inside each doughnut is a mixture of sweet bean paste and grated coconut. These were really wonderful. I found myself hoping that they start making lotus seed paste ones too!

We had very few complaints about our dining experience both nights. Our food came out promptly, and the people there were able to answer all our questions about gluten and their food. We wished that their wait staff was a little easier to get a hold of, and on one night our entrees made it to the table before the appetizer did. We barely noticed, however, because we were happy with our food and enjoying the atmosphere.

On a final note, as could be expected from a place that calls itself a tea house, they have fancy teas. We tried a pot of Oolong tea and were very pleased. The thing we liked most about the Jade Tea House is that it is a little different and fun. We really enjoyed the place and plan to go back very soon.

We want to know: Do you know of anywhere in Portland to get Chinese Donuts? Have you eaten at the Jade tea House? What did you think? Let us know!

Gluten-Free Safety Rating: Gluten-Free Friendly But Ask Questions
Times we have visited: 2 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Jade Tea House
http://www.jadeteahouse.com
7912 SE 13th Avenue / 503.477.8985

Dave January 6, 2009 8 Comments

Restaurant Review: Picazzo’s Gourmet Pizza

Note to the reader – Picazzo’s changed their name to Sellwood Pizza Kitchen in May 2010.

We are excited to present another gluten-free pizza review. Not just because we love pizza but because there’s another place in Portland Oregon with good gluten-free pizza.

By now your author is used to frequenting restaurants and having to forego the delicious bread-based appetizers because of his gluten free diet. Like that wonderful bread they serve at Lebanese restaurants, or bruschetta, or just plain sourdough bread with red wine vinegar and olive oil. So if you’re like me, when you read “Garlic Cheese Bread” on an appetizer menu, you skip over it quickly to spare yourself the pain. But wait! Here at Picazzo’s you can eat the Garlic Cheese Bread!

So let’s talk about the restaurant. It is part of a small chain of gourmet pizza restaurants. It is in Sellwood, which is a little out of the way for us, but not so bad when you use the Sellwood bridge. The restaurant is relatively new and very clean. They serve beer and wine, salads, and gourmet pizzas.

Most of you probably already know that the words “gourmet pizza” means two things: 1) It’s a little more expensive than most. 2) They have weird pizzas like “Shrimp, Smoked Bacon and Gorgonzola” with an alfredo sauce. The good news is that you can make your own too. We got a half and half of two different vegetarian pizza varieties: Nonna’s Favorite and the Pesto and Artichokes. We thought both were very good, but wished that they were a little more flavorful. Otherwise I think we would have given them our “Best Italian Restaurant” award.

I know what you’re thinking: “OK! OK! Get on with the crust!” Yes. the crust is excellent. We felt ours was a little undercooked, but really even still it was excellent. Their crust is more like the bready chewy thin crust that is crunchy on the bottom, and is so much like the real thing that I actually asked our waiter if they didn’t bring us the wrong kind of crust. That was when our waiter started bragging about how there is only one item on their menu that can’t be made gluten-free. Even their sandwiches can be made gluten-free.

The wait staff was friendly, the pizza was excellent, and we were very happy. If you are on a gluten-free diet or have celiac disease, Picazzo’s is a great place to eat!

Later note: We just went by recently (January 2010) and their crust is EVEN BETTER. Before it seemed a little undercooked. Now it is very crisp and hard to tell from the real thing. They also have delicious cookie desserts which are gluten-free. We tried the chocolate chip cookie and it was excellent. It’s kind of like a large cookie baked in a dish that they serve with ice cream. The cookie ends up being a little uncooked in the center so it’s gooey. If that sounds good to you then I suggest you try it!

Times we have visited: 4+ (So we feel pretty good about our rating)
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same price, although the restaurant itself is a little expensive.

Picazzo’s Gourmet Pizza & Salads
8000 SE 13th Ave
Sellwood, Oregon 97202

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