A chronic hankering for pizza finally wore us down enough to prompt a few phone calls to local pizza joints. It’s been cool to see so many pizza places coming out with gluten-free pies over the last year, but having severe Celiac disease and being very sensitive to even the slightest bits of gluten finding its way into my stomach, I’m hyper cautious and even a little bit leery of some of the places offering “gluten-free” pizza these days.
With my list of questions about how the cooks avoid cross-contamination ready, I called the Flying Goat in the Audubon neighborhood, which we’ve been wanting to try, but quickly learned that they put their gluten-free crust directly in the oven with all the wheat-crust pizzas. Probably fine for anyone with a gluten sensitivity, but bummer for someone like me with a serious allergy. Next on the list was Beneditos on the South Hill just up the hill from Huckleberry’s on Lincoln. The guy I got on the phone had enough good answers to pass the test, assuring us that their gf pizzas were baked in a clean pan and that they take care to avoid gluten ingredients getting where they don’t belong.
We were off to Beneditos to quench our craving for cheese and sauce baked on a crispy, golden brown crust. Beneditos has a distinct pizza joint feel, with dim lights and neon signs glowing and upbeat 80’s music and flickering television light filling the room. The only thing missing, we mused, were the red plastic cups for the soda fountain and noisy pinball machines and arcade games of the pizza places of our childhood memories.
The place was pretty packed for a late weeknight, and the server looked stressed. Typically a bad sign for special requests. We ordered drinks, and his long pause after I asked about gluten free beers or cider, was the second bad sign. He eventually determined that they had Red Bridge, and we toasted to the wonderful smell of pizza. By the time the server came back to take our order, I had been watching how things worked behind the bar in the open kitchen, and had a better feel for the kinds of things that can go wrong with a gluten-free pizza that can make someone like me sick.
I was tense and not feeling too confident about the server’s awareness level or the cross-contamination avoidance kitchen protocol and launched into my questions, that probably sounded more like an interrogation, and placed my order. They had already assured us on the phone that they use a clean pan for the gf pizzas, and take care to keep flour coated hands out of the topping bins, but I had been watching them use the same pizza cutter on each pie that came out of the oven. Apparently that hadn’t occurred to them as a source of gluten contamination. The server was also not totally sure which toppings were gluten free, or if the sauce was gluten free. In fact it was obvious that he wasn’t totally sure what exactly gluten is. My pizza lust was turning out to be a bust.
The safest thing on the menu seemed to be the veggie, with onions, olives, tomatoes and mushrooms, so I took a couple big slugs of my beer and went for it. The pizza arrived on a clean pan with abundant toppings without being cut with the contaminated pizza cutter like I’d asked for. It was hot, had that unmistakable, therapeutic pizza smell, and tasted good enough, but the flavors of the ingredients were a bit dull compared to other gluten-free pizzas I’ve had in town and definitely not on par with the fresh ingredient loaded pies we make at home.
Veggie pizza, hold the green peppers.
Our experience at Beneditos left me feeling like they’re not ready to take making safe and delicious gluten-free pizzas seriously, but maybe it was just a bad night. Definitely worth checking out if you’re on the South Hill (there’s also a shop up on north Indian Trail Rd.). More gluten free customers asking questions could help improve the care and quality of their gluten-free pizzas. Let’s hope so.
