Wicked - Dedham, MA

Hands down my favorite GF pizza place. All class, all flavor, all-the-freaking-time. I cannot seem to get enough of this place and because it's not in Boston or Cambridge, I definitely don't get out there enough.

Last night the Husband and I went on a post-holiday date to see The Hobbit and have dinner at Wicked. I have had almost all of their pizzas and a few other options from the dinner menu. Although I am always tempted by their dinner menu, which I imagine would be equally delicious, I cannot pass up the opportunity to eat pizza that tastes like real pizza. There's just enough chew in the crust to make me question if they actually gave me the GF version.

This time around we started with two new appetizers: their spin on a clams casino and parmesan rosemary flatbread. First, the clams casino, a dish I've always wanted to try but never had a GF opportunity to, was served not in the clam shell but in cremini mushrooms. The mushrooms brought an earthy flavor and paired well with the clams, bacon, and cheese. What I loved most? It wasn't overly bacony or cheesy. All the flavors really shone - it might have been the accompaniment of lemon that took it over the top. Second, the rosemary-parmesan flatbread was tasty, though I think they need to rethink the dipping sauces that are served with it. The flatbread had hints of cheese, garlic, and rosemary. By itself, it was quite good - the texture was fabulous. I wasn't a huge fan of the olive oil or red sauce it was served with as dipping sauces, but it really didn't need them.

The main course is always the pizza and after much hemming and hawing, I chose to try out a new one - the Steak Florentino. This was a killer pizza and probably ties in the butternut squash and blue cheese one for my all time favorite. The steak was perfectly cooked (med rare) and tender. The roasting those tomatoes before they hit the pizza - genius. Other toppings included caramelized onions, a high quality parmesan, herbs, and a good drizzle of truffle oil. Seriously, who doesn't love truffle oil? I will be eating this pizza again and again. The Husband gave it high praise too. I've never seen him enjoy a GF pizza so much.

Oh, and did I mention that this place had GF beer? Yup. I chose to pop some bubbly before dinner, but I've had the Estrella Daura that they serve and it's a nice pick for pizza + beer.

Five stars, for sure. Go eat at this place now. It's located in Legacy Place in Dedham, MA. And in case you missed the first link to it, click here to get to their website. While I've not been there (yet), they also have a location in Mashpee, MA.

The Kinsale - Boston, MA

There is little else that bothers me than restaurants that go through the "effort" to mark items as "gluten free" and then don't do this thoroughly.  The Kinsale tries to give you a head's up on what's gluten free which I appreciate, but only marks about three items as such. If you look at those items you can deduce a fair number of other options that can be safe for a gluten free diner. For instance, their mixed grill is marked "GF" and it includes their steak tips (marinated, not in BBQ sauce), turkey tips, banger sausages, and colcannon potatoes. Yet, the steak tips entree, the turkey tips entree, the bangers & mash, and the side of colcannon potatoes - all of these aren't marked as "GF." Some of these might have an easily left to the side sauce (or so it seems), but it seems a shame that they wouldn't mark items with an asterisk that could be gluten free with a few alterations. Upon further discussion, you can discover a few other options that can be made safely for someone eating gluten free. 

So, aside from the digging you have to do on your own, this place gets some major props for having not one, but TWO gluten free beers. Um...one of those being Bard's (not my favorite, but not undrinkable) and the other being on tap!! I don't know if they always have a GF rotating brew, but last night I finally was able to try the much lauded but difficult to find Dogfish Head Tweason'ale!!!! Um, YUM. Finally a more complex gluten free brew - oh, did I mention that it was ON TAP?  I was pretty excited and damned happy to say the least. I will be reviewing the actual beer in a separate post on gluten free beer...more on that later.

In the end, I had an average turkey burger with fresh avocado and a spicy aioli - nothing to write about. This was paired with a side salad and I ordered a separate side of the colcannon potatoes. The potatoes were easily my favorite. Colcannon potatoes are a combination of spuds, cabbage, and speckled with carrots. I would totally go back for more of those. Next time, I think I may stick with Irish food at the Irish Pub. Another diner ordered the bangers & mash (aka colcannon taters) and was quite pleased. When I go back for another pint of Tweason'ale, I'll be having some sausage with those potatoes! 

Food - two and a half stars out of five.

Beef - five stars, period.