True Food Kitchen Opens in Austin!

About a year and a half ago, my fiancé Aaron and I discovered True Food Kitchen...in Houston. It was a fantastic fresh food and gluten-free experience and we were hoping that some day it would make its way 2.5 hours down the road to us.

The Seaholm Power Plant area of downtown has been under construction for quite some time and the "coming soon" signs continued to showcase new, exciting businesses that would be opening. During a run around Town Lake, Aaron looked over and said "Look!!! True Food Kitchen has been added to the Seaholm sign!" - we couldn't wait.

So when I received an email invitation to attend the soft opening, I jumped at the chance. Tonight we had a chance to try this new downtown restaurant, and were not disappointed.

Upon arrival we were greeted by a friendly staff, who encouraged us to have our first drink at the bar. After ordering a refreshing Skinny Citrus Margarita, we were seated and immediately ordered the hummus appetizer - which came with gluten-free pita bread. We requested a side of veggies to go with our hummus as well and the plate was beautiful. The vegetables were so fresh and not your typical collection of carrots and celery, but root vegetables and unique seasonal offerings.

Since it was our chance to try it all, we then decided to split the grilled chicken salad and it did not disappoint. Note: we did have to request that the farro be left off because of my Celiac Disease. Along those same lines, my waiter made quick note of my severe gluten-intolerance and brought a manager over to answer any questions I had. I did suggest that they make sure to tell those with gluten-intolerance that items that are not marked can be iterated to be safe as well.

For my entree I ordered the Spicy Thai Curry with Chicken and it was amazing, the perfect amount of spice and a tasty side of brown rice mixed with quinoa, which was such a nice change of plain rice! Aaron ordered the turkey wrap, which we learned later could be made in the pita as a sandwich as well - definitely next time.

We closed out the night with dessert, which included the lemon ginger frozen yogurt (similar consistency to sorbet) for me and the flourless GF chocolate cake for him. Even though we were quite full by this point, we enjoyed every bite we DID take.

Overall, True Food Kitchen did not disappoint - actually the complete opposite. We are SO excited to have another option downtown for my special dietary needs that allows us to not only feel safe eating but also have fresh and real food paired with a full cocktail bar.

I suggest everyone check them out and soon! Enjoy :)

Cross Contamination - For the Bar

Are you a restaurant looking for help with gluten-free customers? I've created a series of guides for both the front and back of the house.

Here's #1 - cross-contamination at the bar!

Back to the Blog!

Hi Friends of G-Free in the City,

For four years now, I have been successfully running my company, G-Free in the City as a website, but unfortunately, late last year it came down with a case of malware and I have not been able to fix it. Luckily...I never shut this one down and have been DYING to blog and share once again.

Since last posting I've had some major milestones. I graduated from the full-time MBA program at the University of Texas (where I launched my company!), have worked for two entrepreneurship accelerators as a consultant and marketing guru and am now working for the brand spanking new 365 by Whole Foods Market store concept as the Marketing Programs Manager. Phew! My new job has been exciting and time-consuming but I'm learning even more about food than I knew before.

While I was "gone", I worked with 9 different cities and added over 950 restaurant menus to G-Free in the City. I plan on continuing to post and share those here as I work on fixing my broken baby.

I'm excited to be back AND planning a wedding. Don't worry - there will be many updates and posts on the process (wedding cake, all gluten-free and vegan already ordered) as I navigate that process.

Chat soon!
Jaime