Healthy Living Market and Cafe

I was in Vermont again last weekend.  This time I went for work.  I had to sit at a table in Burlington for several hours and hand out information about my company.  Not my normal job, but I'm always willing to help out when needed...especially when it means I get to go home for free.

Knowing that I was going to be sitting at a table for the majority of an afternoon, I wanted to bring lunch with me.  I went to the trusty Gluten Free Travel Site and searched Burlington, VT.  It was there I stumbled upon a review for Healthy Living Market and Cafe across from the University Mall.  It was a perfect quick stop before I headed downtown for an afternoon on the waterfront of Lake Champlain.

At the risk of sounding like the dorky gluten free person I am, Healthy Living Market was amazing.  They have an entire gluten free section when you first enter the store.  I don't mean a small section of an aisle.  I mean a whole mini store within the store.  It gives G-Free NYC a run for it's money.  Here's a low quality picture I took in my excitement:

You can't really tell how amazing it is from the picture, but they have everything.  What you see here are mostly the dry goods.  There is a row of freezers all along the left hand side with only gluten free stuff.  To the right before the food there is a section with gluten free magazines and books.  In the middle there is beer and behind that fresh baked goods and bread.  Nearly every gluten free product I've ever seen was here.  I even saw (and purchased) the new New Planet beer everyone's been talking about.  I also got the Bakery on Main instant oatmeal I've been wanting to try.  Seriously, this store has everything I could ever want for my gluten free needs.

But that's not all!  That only covers the market part.  They also have a cafe with lots of gluten free goods.  I got a gluten free raspberry muffin that was great.  And then... I was able to order a sandwich from the deli for the first time since I was diagnosed with Celiac 2 years ago!

For those of you that don't know me, this is very exciting.  I miss sandwiches and being able to order them for lunch.  We had to play an icebreaker with the summer interns at my job in June.  Everyone had to write down a t-shirt slogan that describes them and then other people have to guess who's slogan goes with who.  Mine said "I miss sandwiches."  I hate icebreakers.

I wish I could tell you I loved my sandwich, but I wasn't that happy with the bread. I did really really appreciate it though.  They have a hot bar with lots of gluten free options and I hear they even have gluten free pizza sometimes.

If you are gluten free and live within an hour of this place you have to go.  Or, if you are visiting lovely Burlington, VT, make sure to stop by.  Honestly, it's better than Whole Foods.  That's right, I said it.

Joan's GF Great Bakes

I've been hearing about Joan's for a long time now but hadn't had the chance to try her products until recently.  Not only was I able to finally give her products a try, but I was able to meet Joan in person at Whole Foods a few weeks ago.  I was there for a book signing, but there were also a lot of gluten free vendors around the store giving out free samples.  Joan was one of them and Erin, the leader of the NYC Celiac Meetup Group and author of Gluten-Free Fun, told me I had to go try some of Joan's products.  I'm glad I did!

I sampled Joan's Corn Toaster Muffins, English Muffins, and Double Chocolate Muffins.  They were all amazing.  I ended up going home with the Corn Toaster Muffins and Multi Grain English Muffins.  The English muffins make a great addition to breakfast and the Corn Toasters are a nice evening treat.  Next I'd like to try Joan's pizza.

Not only were Joan's products really good, but she was very nice herself!  Overall, a winning combination.  Nice work Joan, and thanks for the great products!

Vic's Bagel Bar

*Update 5/5/13: I recently learned that Vic's is now closed.

Yesterday I read on twitter about a bagel place in NYC that has gluten free bagels.  I was instantly intrigued.  I've had a few gluten free bagels in the last 10 months, but they've always been bought frozen at the grocery store and not very good.  The thought of going into a normal bagel store and ordering a gluten free bagel was oddly exciting.  My google search of Vic's Bagel Bar informed me that Vic's is only a short 4 block walk from my office.  I obviously had to go this morning.

Vic's describes itself as a "specialty bagelry".  I'm not sure bagelry is a word, but it is special in that instead of having different flavors of cream cheese, they have a few basics and then you mix in whatever you want.  It's also special, in my mind, because they have gluten free bagels.  Not only that, but I was amazed to find they have 4 different flavors of gluten free bagels: plain, poppy, sesame, and everything.  This morning I had an everything gluten free bagel with low fat cream cheese.  In with the cream cheese I mixed carrots and green peppers, because I like the crunch of veggie cream cheese, and I like to pretend I'm being healthy.  I also got a medium tea.

Here are my thoughts: it is very exciting to be able to order a gluten free bagel for breakfast.  The idea of adding your own mix ins to your cream cheese is kind of fun.  But, and unfortunately there is a but, the gluten free bagel was very dense - as is the problem with many gluten free items.  Not only that, but the breakfast put me back $7.95.  Yikes.  While I appreciate the fact that they have gluten free bagels as an option, I don't think I'll become a regular at Vic's.