Re: I have a (gluten-free) dream..... / Farmer's Kitchen review

June 4, 2008

For those of you who haven't been there yet, what describes

below sounds like the combo Natural Food Works grocery / Farmer's

Kitchen Cafe in . http://www.naturalfoodworks.com/ and

http://www.farmerskitchencafe.com/ I finally got there a few weeks

ago, and have been meaning to provide a review. I didn't have time to

stay for a fresh meal from the cafe, though the day's offerings

(ravioli) looked tempting. From the freezer section, I bought $60+

worth of frozen pizzas and pastas, and also got some fresh breads.

Thus far, I have tried the pizza (crust came out crispy!! yum!), the

Green Garlic Ravioli (too much garlic for me but the pasta was pretty

good, if a bit mushy), and the Gnocchi (very good but a bit mushy -

perhaps due to freezing). The hamburger buns and hotdog

buns/breadsticks are pretty good, but have that certain GF aftertaste

that I've never been able to put my finger on, and had too much

oregano and other seasoning to allow diverse uses like a peanut butter

sandwich. They also make cookies and brownies. They also had a

couple of aisles of unrefrigerated/dry goods but I didn't look too

closely.

Anyhow, they implied that business is a struggle, but they are very

eager! Next time you're passing by , I highly recommend popping

in with your cooler in hand! Also, for those of you researching

starting a cafe, you should check it out!

-ed

>

> Yeah, what they have at Mariposa is a nice start, but I think a store

> that carried a good variety of GF products would be great. I picture

> two small stripmall stores combined, grocery store on one side and

> cafe/bakery on the other. Freezer cases with all the GF frozen meals

> and breads and things, shelves with all the different flours out

> there, a huge variety of crackers and cookies, etc, a little ice cream

> freezer with a handful of flavors of GF ice cream and some of those

> Barkat ice cream cones so we could take the kids out for ice cream

> cones again... People would come in to shop for groceries and be

> practically unable to resist the draw of the fresh food from the

> cafe/bakery side, and people who stopped in for lunch would end up

> grabbing a few items from the shelves to take home.

> -

June 4, 2008

To chime in with Ed's review of Farmer's Kitchen, I would add that there wasn't

much " kid " food on the menu. My girls have simple tastes (think peanut butter

and jelly sandwiches and macaroni and cheese), which the restaurant didn't have

on the menu. That said, the cook was willing to work with us to devise simple

choices they enjoyed. I think a gluten free cafe should have kid food, since

they are now and likely to increasingly become a big part of the market.

Also, another place for research is DaVinci's cafe in Seattle. The owner of

that GF restaurant (Kalli) had to scale back her offerings--at her former

location she used to offer an amazing full-scale menu. Now she has great

muffins, breads, and pastries, and pizza only, as well as an espresso machine.

I think the espresso brings in a lot of local, non-gf, traffic (that being

Seattle!). I'm sure she would love to talk with people who want to open a

similar restaurant in our area. She offers great food, but the last time I

spoke with her she's not making much, if any, profit either.

-----Original Message-----

From: on behalf of lauracgadd

Sent: Wed 6/4/2008 9:28 AM

Subject: [ ] Re: I have a (gluten-free) dream..... / Farmer's

Kitchen review