A Gluten-Free Birthday at Pizza Luce

Half-eaten GF sausage pizza at Pizza Luce

We had a great time celebrating Ida’s 18th birthday.  If you don’t know, she is our –now 18-year-old– exchange student from Norway who’s staying with us.  She too has celiac disease.  For months we’ve been talking about heading to Pizza Luce in St. Paul for her birthday dinner for some gluten-free pizza.  Finally the time had come.

Pizza Luce appears to be doing some gang-buster business on Tuesday and Wednesday nights which are gluten-free menu night (they also offer their original menu).  Only the St. Paul restaurant is doing this for now.

Lots of meat on "The Bear" gf pizza

So we finally made it there Wednesday night for Ida’s 18th birthday.  We ordered gluten-free pizza which was very tasty.  Ida and her friend ordered “The Bear” which is caked with pepperoni, chicken, ground beef, Canadian bacon and Italian sausage.Emma and I shared a gluten-free sausage pizza.

Last year Pizza Luce started its gluten-free night on Tuesdays and because of high demand, management expanded it to include Wednesdays as well.  It was busy while we were there — taking us 35 minutes to get a table for 6 (if we’d had a smaller group we would have gotten in much quicker).  I saw several people there clearly taking advantage of the gluten-free options.  People at one table were enjoying Redbridge (gluten-free) beer, another patron was ordering a pizza off the gluten-free menu.

The crust that Pizza Luce is using is from Cooqi, a local gluten-free bakery in St. Paul.  I thought the crust was good with more of a “cakey” texture in the center and a crunchy exterior.  The sausage on my pizza was also great and full of flavor.  Emma — my non-pizza eating gluten-free daughter — really liked the sausage (see the picture below!).  She picked it off of several other pieces of the gluten-free pizza and quickly shoved it in her mouth.

Molly Bar Sundae -- YUM!

But the “icing on the cake” was the Molly Bar Sundae!  It is a gluten-free brownie, topped with chocolate, caramel, ice cream and whipping cream.  It was super yummy!  Ida and her friend Nikki were moaning and groaning while the were eating it.  Although Nikki doesn’t eat gluten-free, she did Wednesday night and had no complaints.  She talked about show stuffed she was (so was Ida) afterward.

The pizza prices range from a basic gluten-free cheese pizza at about $13 to $18.79 for the top-of-the-line that are usually packed with toppings. The gluten-free pizza is 10 inches and was perfect for two teenage girls to share.   All in all it was a cheap dinner for six people — with a complete tab of about $70 –plus tip.  One other note, Pizza Luce doesn’t take reservations.  So you may want to think about coming early, eating late or enjoying a Redbridge at the bar during the prime time of 6:00 p.m. and waiting for a table.  Hey I’m just glad the gluten-free lifestyle is helping business!

Wow! Emma can eat pizza!

Tags: pizza