About a week ago I briefly told you about a restaurant called Michello’s near my house that was starting a gluten-free menu. Not just any menu — this one includes pizza, pasta, beer, and cake! Talk about really plunging into a niche market. The whole place isn’t gluten-free, but a gluten-free person can go there and get a complete meal. — Yes, that includes gluten-free garlic toast with spaghetti.
So the five of us went out Monday night to try the restaurant for the first time. I was craving pizza and a night when I didn’t need to cook. I did call ahead as requested so they could start warming up the gluten-free oven. When we got there, I think Ida and Emma had the best time. This was the first time since coming to the United States that Ida got to have pizza at a “pizza place”.
The gluten-free pizzas at Michello’s (pronounced Mih-KEL-lohs) are all about 8-9 inches. I would say the size of a typical “small”-sized pizza. The crust is a medium/homestyle thickness (not too thin or thick) The pizzas run about $9.00 and up depending on your toppings. I had a sausage pizza and Ida had “Meat Lover’s”. I loved mine. I ate the whole thing — hey I was starving! Ida was excited to bring two pieces left so she could enjoy cold pizza the next morning.
Emma ended up having spaghetti (sauce on the side) and Italian sausage (she chose ‘mild’ over ‘spicy’) and she thought it was really good. They also cooked up garlic bread for her. It wasn’t fancy. I believe it was EnerG bread toasted with garlic and butter. But hey, that’s the first time I’ve been to a restaurant that’s actually included a bread with the entree. The owner said she was working on perfecting some home-made gluten-free bread to replace the bread they were serving, but as we all know that trial and error process takes time! Emma also had enough food to bring leftovers home.
The two page gluten-free menu also boasts of lasagna, chicken wings, “pig wings”, chocolate cake, carrot cake. The atmosphere is much more casual like a “pizza joint” which is exactly what we were in the mood for. Next time you’re craving a gluten-free meal this is the place to be, where you can get salad, bread, entree, dinner and a beer — all in one place. Great job Michello’s!
Tags: beer, cake, gluten-free, Italian food, michello's, pasta, pizza
February 25th, 2009 at 8:04 am
It’s good to know that these restaurants exist and that they are interested in expanding their basic choices. Since they use a separate oven that should eliminate the cross contamination that would occur with trying to do GF pizza in the same oven everything else is baked in. I especially like the fact that the crust was of reasonable thickness, I prefer the thick variety and the frozen GF pizza’s definitely aren’t that.
Good article. It gave me some idea’s of what I can ask for ahead of time at a couple of places near me that serve GF pizza.
February 25th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
My husband loves the pizza and lasagna. It is nice to have lasagna as an option in a restaurant since it is so labor intensive to make at home. We usually don’t order dessert but their chocolate cake was wonderful. They seem like they try really hard to give everyone an enjoyable experience.
We also enjoy Lori’s Zebra Pizza in Ramsey and ZPizza in Roseville. Pizza Luce in St. Paul has a gluten-free menu on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Not as convenient but nice for a treat.