Washington DC Does Gluten Free

WickedWaffle - This is a nice little dive breakfast place. Dive is even too big of a word, with a total 8 seats inside, they have more seating when it is warm outside. But the menu does note which waffles can be made Gluten Free. Plus the staff is aware on keeping GF waffles on their own waffle iron. Talking to the guy at the counter they have people come in daily asking for gluten free waffles. They are open for both breakfast and lunch as they can make savory waffle sandwiches. The waffle itself. Delicious. It was rich, I couldn't resist not getting a Nutella Waffle. It was amazing. It really hit the spot. We got a side of eggs and cheese, which were your traditional egg sandwich egg patties with cheese on them. But they were enough saltiness to hit the spot. 

We went on Exploring going to the National Geographic Museum and heading over to Union Station to get our Explorer Passes. While there we debated a couple of our usual options from home, Roti or Chipotle, when I saw a new place I'd read about; ShopHouse. An Asian Fusion restaurant from Chipotle, which with the same style of "build your own" meals they provide Asian style bowls. The best part, EVERYTHING is gluten free! I felt like a small child with my excitement that I could get anything without asking lots of questions and order straight off the menu, no Substitutions. I had to get the peanut chicken bowl. They were out of brown rice, but I was OK with that. The meal was glorious. I recently heard they are coming to Chicago, and I'm highly anticipating this now!

We wandered over to the Postal Museum then decided to pick up the Hop-On Hop-Off buss tour and went down to the National Mall. We were there until dark and started to walk back to our hotel, I must note that I had reached my target Fitbit steps about 6 hours earlier, by now I think they were tripled. Wow we did a lot of walking. On our way back we found GCDC, (which is Grilled Cheese, DC). We felt we had earned and indulging meal so this was it. They did have GF bread, and handled my grilled cheese with caution and on separate plates, pans and utensils. I actually had 2 grilled cheese sandwiches, mostly because my 2 sandwiches were comparable to the 1 sandwich my boyfriend had, and price was comparable. They also had Crispin Cider, I will say the first one was great for quenching my thirst, it was one of the times that cider was actually tasty and refreshing.

The next morning we opted for a closer breakfast option and ate in the fancy restaurant in our hotel. I went for the safest looking option on the menu Eggs, Potatoes and Bacon. When our server came over I questioned him that the meal could be made Gluten free. He pointed out that their hashbrown potatoes are flash fried in a shared fryer before they sautee them so they wouldn't be safe. Instead he brought out a generous portion of fruit to replace the potatoes. The meal hit the spot and was great for our next day of adventures. 

We really didn't do lunch, we spent the day going to Lincoln Memorial, The National Mall again, WWII Memorial, Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, International Spy Museum, and National Archives, along the way we stopped and grabbed some drinks, chips and ice cream. It satisfied our hunger while we traveled on.

When we finally were done wandering we decided to check out Legal Seafood. I had heard they could do awesome GF FRIED options and they even had GF bread. We were slightly disappointed to see that coconut shrimp was not an option, but they did have other tasty options. Their menu is a bit pricey and for people who aren't really seafood lovers, (unless it's breaded and fried) it's not a place we'd visit often, but not having a location in Chicago this was a must try. Our server was polite and when I mentioned having Celiac he informed the manager and the cook, we were seated right outside the kitchen so I heard the "Gluten allergy" warning shouted out. So I was rather disappointed when the bread brought to our table was noted to be gluten free, but was not! Thankfully my boyfriends first question was "Does it smell gluten free?" I smelled it and said "No... It doesn't...." when our server came over, he apologized and told me the gluten free bread would be out in a few. It did it wasn't as great as everyone said it was, I have had better. Dinner made up for it. It was Amazing! I was disappointed I couldn't finish the last piece of fish. I went traditional and just did Fish and Chips. They came out with fried onion straws on top, OMG hit the spot. The best part was I didn't get a stomach ache from the greasiness of the food!!

The next morning we went to The Old Ebbit Grill, it was closer to the National Building Museum our first stop for the day. It was a 40 minute wait for the dinning room, or immediate seating at the bar. We went for the bar. It's a very "East Coast" style meal, oysters and eggs, crab cakes, fish and eggs... My boyfriend and I both went with the Healthy start, Egg White Omelet, and Turkey sausage and fruit. When I ordered the Bartender called out "Allergy" and asked if we were both Gluten allergic. We said no, just me. My meal came out first with the runner calling out "Allergy" before me placed down my meal. The bartender brought over my meal and said the non-allergy would come out next. They bring them out separately to ensure the correct meal is given to the right person. Tasty food. The funny part is for a "healthy" omelet. It certainly tasted like they made it omelet in full on butter, it was rich! We continued on to the National Building Museum and the Newseum, we had some time before their 4D movie started so we opted for some Ice cream to quench our hunger, and continued on the Smithsonian Castle/visitor center and Modern Art Museum. By then we were hungry and tired, and it was getting chilly out. We went for our favorite standby meal Chipotle. Chilling in our room and relaxing before heading out for some drinks.

Sunday we opted for checking out the Capitol grounds and Supreme court buildings, and doing some shopping before we headed to Roti for a quick lunch, before heading back to the airport to start on our return to normal life. I enjoyed DC they had some nice options for dinning out and everyone seemed in the Know!