Pearl #37: Gluten-free at New Day Gluten Free, Ellisville

Update as of 2020 – New Day Gluten Free is now closed 🙁

For the past couple years, I’ve bought New Day Gluten Free products from the grocery store, but a couple months back, I decided to take the plunge and eat at the Cafe, which is located in Ellisville. It was like finding the Gluten-Free Holy Grail. All of their food is made from scratch in a dedicated gluten-free and peanut-free facility. They also have many menu items that are soy, egg, tree nut, casein, or dairy free.

As I drove out there with Ken (who I owe a thank you, btw, for joining me on this extreme GF endeavor), I was like a kid on Christmas morning.

As we walked in, Kelly, the owner, greeted us from behind the counter, asked how long we’d been eating gluten-free, and handed us a bread sample. #winning

There was a neat map in there, showing where their visitors came from – and it was all over the world. The walls were lined with baked goods of all kinds: breads, rolls, coffee cakes, muffins, etc. A freezer case was lined with cakes pies, and goodness.

We had a nice chat with Kelly, who gave us a little backstory on the place and her own Celiac diagnosis, and then motioned at her daughter, who was also working at the shop that day. Then she left us to peruse the menu – no rush. Finally, after taking our own sweet time analyzing the menu, we ordered.

I went a little cray, but hey, it’s only so often that I can make it out to Ellisville. I ordered a lot of food…but it’s all in the name of the blog, right?

Kelly sold us on the cheeseburger soup to start, and then I ordered a meatball sub. Ken ordered the Italian melt. Oh, and we may have also gotten a cinnamon roll. I really wanted to get the cheesy garlic bread, but Ken convinced me that may be a little excessive.

Here’s a rundown of what we got:

Cheeseburger soup – This seemed to be a cream-based chowder, with hamburger, potatoes and cheesy goodness.  Ken really liked this soup, and he’s not even GF. I’m not a huge chowder fan in general, so I thought this was solid but not my favorite.

Italian Melt – Made with Boar’s Head Italian Salami and pepperoni on toasted garlic bread with provolone, American Cheese and onions, this was an impressive sandwich. Ken got this bad boy, which I stole a bite of. I was a fan, and Ken was a fan. The bread was awesome – very crusty and delicious. The potato salad that he ordered as a side was really good. If I weren’t stuffed to the brim a kind girlfriend, I would have hijacked the whole bowl from him.

Meatball Marinara Sub – Meatballs and marinara sauce toasted with Mozzarella cheese, served on french bread with a side of Billy Goat Chips. I ordered this item because it was like a GF gold mine. How often can you get GF meatballs AND crusty bread on a normal day unless you make it yourself? Not often. The bread was great – it provided just the perfect amount of bread to meat ratio. I’m a little weird about my meatballs, though, and these weren’t my all-time favorite. However, that didn’t stop me from taking the whole sandwich down like a champ.

Cinnamon roll – We could barely even take a bite of this after finishing our sandwiches, but we persevered. The interior of this cinnamon roll was delicious (that’s always the best part, #amiright) and the icing was good.

Needless to say, we were both in a serious food coma.

I will definitely be back to try some of their gluten-free breakfast items – perhaps the buttermilk pancakes, belgian waffles or french toast.

Kelly mentioned they were considering opening a location in Kirkwood, which would be amazing and much closer to my (old) part of the world.

They also have a wonderful selection of products to take home with you. You can also find many of these at Dierbergs.

 

Here’s a rundown of the ones that I’ve tried at home over the past couple years.

Dinner Rolls. These are by far the best dinner rolls I’ve had, aside from a few recipes I’ve tried making at home. They are nice, buttery and not the least bit dry. I prefer these over the Andrea’s dinner rolls. I could not stop eating these last Thanksgiving.

Mac n’ cheese. This stuff is the shiz. I’m not kidding, I could eat this all day long. I wouldn’t call this low-fat by any means, but it is a-mazing. Perfectly cheesy macaroni elbows with a creamy cheese sauce and shredded cheddar cheese on top. No picture to show for this, as I’ve always taken this down wayy too quickly to even consider this.

Pizza. I’ve had the supreme pizza – veggies, sausage and pepperoni. It’s a very good pizza – definitely worth buying if you need a quick meal. Several restaurants around town are also using their pizza crusts.

Birthday cake (Cakes by Megan). For my birthday this year, I was dying for birthday cake. No ice cream cake or cupcakes – I needed a real live cake. My parents so lovingly ordered a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting from New Day. The frosting was amazing – I’m a sucker for cream cheese frosting. I brought the leftovers into work the next day and my coworkers were none the wiser about it being gluten-free.

To make a long story short, New Day Gluten Free is a true gluten-free paradise. You can breathe easy knowing your food is safe here!

Until next time,
Kate