Review of Engine No 6 Pizza Company, Norwich, CT

Tonight I made the drive to Norwich to try out Engine No 6 Pizza Company's Gluten Free Pizza and Breadsticks.
They make their own dough so it's not the frozen, pre-made crusts most restaurants serve.

I have never been so impressed by any gluten free product, EVER!

The first thing that amazed me was the price. For a large, cheese gluten free pizza, it was $13.99. That's $3 more than the "regular" large cheese pizza. Not to bad by gluten free standards! For a large pizza with pepperoni on half, an order of cheesy garlic breadsticks with (homemade) marinara sauce, and a large antipasto salad, my total was about $30.

The second thing that impressed me was the packaging of the food. The pizza and breadsticks were in regular pizza boxes with a large GF written on the top and they were taped shut (see picture below). This shows me how serious they are about avoiding cross contamination.



The third was the look and smell of the food. I was dying on the 35 minute drive home to reach in and just try a bite, it smelled SO good! When I finally got home and opened the box, I was so excited to see it looked like real pizza and the breadsticks looked great too!




Lastly, and most importantly, the taste and texture. Texture is a big deal with gluten free foods since many have a gritty texture that takes away from the whole experience. I tried the breadsticks first and they were excellent. Not too heavy, not too greasy, just the right amount of cheese and spices on top, and best of all, the texture was just like "regular" breadsticks. The pizza was a little too thin for how I like it, but the taste and the texture were wonderful! I've tried dozens of GF pizzas that were frozen, refrigerated crusts, shelved crusts, make your own dough, and from various restaurants and this is, without a doubt, the best GF pizza I have ever had.

I would give Engine No 6 Pizza Company's GF pizza and breadsticks 5 stars and I will happily be making the long drive for it many more times!

So, on my second anniversary of being gluten free, I thought I'd start yet another blog. Maybe I can actually keep up with this one!

After finding out that my department was going to be getting Chinese food for our 'grad student lunch with visiting speaker,' I ran over to the restaurant this afternoon to see if there was anything I could eat. Chinese food is one of the hardest things for a person who is gluten free to find something safe to eat at. Between the flour coating, the soy sauce (which has wheat in it), MSG, and a myriad of other issues, it's usually next to impossible to find something to eat besides steamed veggies and white rice.
This restaurant, Chang's Garden, across the street from the UCONN Storr's campus, literally made me tear up. The woman at the front knew exactly what I couldn't have when I said I was gluten free. She explained all of the items I could have on the menu including to my unbelievable surprise (and major skepticism), Sesame Chicken. They use cornstarch to coat the chicken and use no soy sauce or MSG in it. Many other items on the menu, such as General Tso's can be made with the "white sauce" instead of the regular sauce and while the taste is a bit different, it's safe. Their egg drop soup is thickened with corn starch and safe. They also offer mei fun noodles (thin rice noodles) on request to sub into other noodle dishes. We're getting takeout next Tuesday so I'll post afterwards to let you know how it goes!

Tonight I'm going to try a pizza restaurant in Norwich, Engine No 6, that I've been wanting to try for some time. They have gluten free pizza, breadsticks, and calzone that they make themselves daily so it's not frozen! I'll report on that as soon as I eat it.