We decided to take a last minute Spring Break Trip to St Louis. This was our first time visiting STL since my diagnosis.
St Louis has a lot to offer, it’s generally easy to get around, has a lot of good GF options and great attractions (many of them free).
I always use the Find Me Gluten Free app to scope out an area when traveling. I suggest that you actively use it as well – write fair reviews and suggest new businesses to add. That is a service to the gluten free community – we want to know what you know! Since I have Celiac Disease, I generally filter by the Celiac Friendly tag and see what comes up. Example – Celiac Friendly in St Louis, sorted by rating.
Our trip was really just a long weekend, so we didn’t visit a lot of places. I hope to visit STL much more often and will add to this post as I do that.
New Day Gluten Free – This place is awesome! Awesome! Dedicated gluten free bakery and cafe located in Clayton, Mo a short drive or MetroLink ride from downtown St Louis. Go to this place!
Menu board at New Day Gluten Free
Bakery case at New Day Gluten Free. Chock full of all manner of gluten free things.
California Turkey Melt, Potato Salad & Pickle
Side view of the California Turkey Melt. New Day Gluten Free has one of the best gluten free buns I’ve ever had. Almost a flaky biscuit-like texture.
Cinnamon Roll
Chocolate Chip Cookie – this reminded me of Doubletree’s cookies (sans walnuts and gluten). We snacked on this on our way home and regretted only getting one.
Lasagna and bread stick. This was delicious. I would bet that most gluten-eating people could not tell you that this was gluten free.
New Day Sub
Picky Gluten-Eating (Adult) Child Comment: My son had a sub the first time we ate at New Day Gluten Free. Afterwards he said that he liked the sandwich and said it was much better than (other place). I said… so you liked the gluten free sub better than the regular wheat bread sub (the sandwich he was referencing was not gluten free). He said… I guess so, I thought the (other place) sub was gluten free. My college aged son like his New Day Gluten Free Sub better than a regular sub at another restaurant. Not to say the the New Day Sub was his favorite sub ever, but still those are some pretty great words for a gluten free sub.
GF Meatball Sub. Delicious!
A sandwich to-go
Breakfast Rice. The menu says this is a unique dish and… they’re right. I liked it, but I’m not sure I would order it for breakfast again. Maybe for lunch.
Breakfast sandwich and hashbrowns
I’ve had a number of biscuit and gravy type dishes since going gluten free. New Day’s biscuits and gravy are the most traditional (at least what I would call Midwest traditional) that I’ve had. They are delicious. This is another dish that I think you’d be hard pressed to identify as gluten free. Bravo New Day!!
New Day’s Menu – Also Full Online Menu
New Day also has frozen items available to take with you. I got Lasagna and Biscuits and gravy. Their to-go menu has additional items available to order, beyond what’s on their day to day menu. Some of those do require time to make so, call ahead to reserve yours.
If you can only visit one restaurant while you’re in St Louis, try to get to New Day Gluten Free. It’s full of nice, caring and talented people that have a 100% gluten free environment. If all of that wasn’t enough… the food is awesome.
The Corner Pub & Grill – The Corner Pub & Grill is owned by the people behind The Tavern and The Shack Restaurants. Multiple locations of each restaurant can be found throughout the STL area. The owners of these restaurants have a daughter with Celiac Disease. Their daughter Hanna is the inspiration behind their gluten free menus and their desire to do gluten free well.
We went to the Corner Pub for two dinners
Gluten free hot wings and loaded potato skins. Each is marked as gluten free and was identified as gluten free upon delivery.
Although the Corner Pub generally gets outstanding ratings for Celiac Friendliness on Find Me Gluten Free, I was a little nervous as we went on… St Patrick’s Day. The place was hopping. After being seated I explained my situation to our wait person and was met with care and understanding. She seemed to be well informed about gluten free and cross contamination issues. When I brought up St Patrick’s Day she said that it really did not matter how busy they are, they take gluten free orders very seriously.
Gluten Free Chicken Strips and Fries
Smoothie King – as of this writing Smoothie King’s Nutritional Guide says “All smoothies are gluten free with the exception of Power Punch Plus, Muscle Punch, The Hulk, and Coconut Surprise”. Check with Smoothie King for up to the minute information.
I ordered a “Banana Boat” and explained that I have Celiac Disease and need to eat completely gluten free. I also double checked gluten content using my Nima Sensor. This isn’t a good photo, but I did get a smiley face which means gluten free.
Dear Smoothie King: You’ve got three that have three things that have gluten in them. Please consider reformulating these to exclude gluten. Your chain could be a relaible and stress-free source for those that must eat gluten free. Three things guys… just change them. I bet no one will be able to even tell the difference.
Where to stay:
We stayed at the Residence Inn St Louis Galleria. It’s right by a Metrolink station so getting downtown is easy. Whenever possible, I like to have a refrigerator, freezer and microwave in my hotel room and this location fits the bill. We were happy with the location near the Galleria Mall in Clayton, Missouri and felt like it was a nice central location for the places we wanted to visit. This Residence Inn is also very close to New Day Gluten Free.
I would also consider the Homewood Suites Galleria. That is within walking distance to New Day Gluten Free.
Didn’t Go, but wanted to…
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