A TNT Diner reader inquired about local eateries offering gluten-free options.
His comment: "When I walk into a restaurant and ask for gluten-free service I get blank stares, shrugs or comments like 'We don’t add glucose to our food'. "
Gluten is not glucose (a sugar).
Gluten is a protein found in many grains, and it's also used as an additive. People with Celiac disease or other gluten sensitivities must avoid gluten to remain healthy.
How about it? Anyone out there had success finding South Sound restaurants that cater to the gluten sensitive?

Three-year-old Elliott Amann has type 1 diabetes. He likes Farrelli’s pizza. But pizza and diabetes are generally a bad pairing: Refined flours and carbohydrates in the crust and high fat in cheese and meat toppings raise blood-sugar levels.

So what’s up with Farrelli’s Elliott’s Pizza, a pie that the South Sound restaurants developed for the Tacoma kid? The crust is made with 100 percent whole-wheat flour and adorned with low-fat toppings.

Voila! Diabetic pizza.

On Saturday, all five South Sound Farrelli’s (Tacoma, DuPont, Lacey, Sumner and Parkland) will help raise money for the 12th Annual South Sound Walk To Cure Diabetes. Farrelli’s will donate 50 percent of the proceeds from every Elliott’s Pizza it sells that day. (A 12-inch pie is $15.69).

Said Katie Farrell, a registered dietician and diabetes educator who developed Elliott’s Pizza:

“The pizza was created after my dad (John Farrell, founder and co-owner) talked with Elliott, who was eating in the Tacoma Farrelli's. Elliott asked, "What can I have here? I have type 1 diabetes."

Katie Farrell said the whole-wheat crust contains 38 percent more fiber than Farrelli’s white-flour crust.

“For those who live with diabetes (type 1 or type 2), they tend to find high blood sugars after eating pizza, due to the refined flours used in the crust as well as the high fat content of the toppings,” she said. “The crust tends to be the cause of the rise in blood sugar and the high fat hold the blood sugar high.”

Toppings on Elliott's Pizza, she said, are lower in fat. There’s no mozzarella, just an olive oil base, a small amount of feta cheese, roasted chicken breast, pepperoncinis, roasted red peppers, pine nuts, red onions and basil.

Unlike some finicky kids who prefer refined white flours, Elliott took to the whole-wheat pie immediately. “He didn’t even notice the difference,” said his mother, Pam, a registered dietician, who noted that Elliott’s favorite Farrelli’s pizza is the Hawaiian.

“It might not sound like a kid’s first choice, but they do like it,” Farrell said of Elliott’s Pizza. “My 14-year-old daughter and her girlfriend order this pizza every time.”

Speaking of whole-wheat pizza crust, national chain Papa John’s will debuts its whole-wheat pies on Monday.

The folks trying to organize a Tacoma chapter of the Chefs Collaborative -- a group that helps chefs and farmers network -- sent me two reminders today. The RSVP deadline is today at 5 p.m. And Kelli Estrella won't be bringing her award-winning cheeses. Read the update.

Primo Grill, since 1999.

"A relationship, I think, is like a shark. You know, it has to constantly move forward or it dies."

That's a line spoken by Woody Allen in "Annie Hall," the cinematic epitome of '70s urban-chic love.

Bitten by a Seattle food scribe's comments on their decor, the owners of Primo Grill are now moving forward on an interior makeover that will give their 8-year-old restaurant new visual life.

Here's what Seattle magazine said about Primo Grill in a round-up of Tacoma restaurants in November:

Primo serves solid Italian-inspired food.

[snip]

With its bright Tuscan tones, exposed ductwork, Jetsons menu font and kitschy artwork, Primo is the epitome of ’90s urban-chic décor.

Here's a paraphrase of what Primo Grill owners said:

"Ouch."

"Primo will be 9 years old this October,” co-owner Jacqueline Plattner said. “We feel obliged to our customers to keep the place looking fresh and we think to do so is an industry standard."

Karen McClain, the Puyallup visual designer who orchestrated and executed Primo Grill's original interior, will do the facelift.

"It's important to stay current," said McClain, a card-carrying member of the Painting and Decorating Contractors of America. "That's what great design is all about."

McClain plans to build on the bones of her earlier work. Some things will stay.

"All the wavy, abstract metal pieces that George Capestany created for the ceiling, the eggplant purple on the ceiling -- it's still a hot, trendy color. When we did it in 1999, it was out there."

Some will change – particularly the Tuscan yellow she used as a faux base on the walls, in keeping with the hand-painted Tuscan tiles that chef/co-owner Charlie McManus hand-picked for his open kitchen and bar.

"We want to play down that mustard yellow," McClain said. "If anything, that's the dated color. We want to give textures, give glow and change the ambiance of the lighting on that color."

McClain said she’ll augment her original Tuscan mustard with metallic copper and mahagony overglaze accents. Two-foot-by-two-foot panels of distressed metal will lay over the current green wainscoating.

"It completely changes the color of Primo Grill," McClain said. "It will give a different dynamic to the art shows that hang inside the restaurant. But it still works wonderfully with the hand-decorated tables that the Tacoma Community College students created for the restaurant."

Except for Memorial Day, Primo Grill will remain open for business during the 8-day makeover. You've heard of an open kitchen? Primo Grill is going to be an open studio for a week.

Starting May 19, McClain and her crew will do their work late at night. They'll work section by section throughout the restaurant. Primo Grill's crew will move and re-set tables every evening and every morning.

"Customers can watch the evolution of the fabulous rehab of Primo Grill," McClain said.

McClain said she'll be finished by the time Primo Grill opens for lunch May 27.

Whether they were off-white, beige, tan, black or clear, green is the popular color for disposable knifes, forks, spoons, take-out containers and drinking cups.

That’s green, as in recyclable, bio-degradable and all-around earth-friendly.

Such were the take-out utensils, containers and bags that bloomed in the aisles of the Northwest Foodservice Show at the Washington State Convention & Trade Center in Seattle on Sunday and continuing today.

Manufacturing ingredients for these items include sugar cane, potatoes, corn starch and wheat – all sustainable resources. They’re recyclable, compostable and, in come cases, biodegradable.

Some products can stand up to heat, too. Clamshell containers made from sugar cane, for example, are heat stable to around 410 degrees – meaning you can re-heat restaurant leftovers in the microwave without melting the sugar-based containers.

Vendors weren’t advertising prices, but one restaurateur who purchases earth-friendly utensils said such products cost him up to five times more than conventional products.

I’ve only found a few places in the South Sound that use earth-friendly flatware and containers. They are Vitals Café, Blue Lotus Café and i.talia Pizzeria, all in Olympia. If you encounter earth-friendly utensils and containers elsewhere, please send me an e-mail or comment below.

As waist lines, portion sizes and food costs have grown, so, too, has Pierce County Gets Fit, a campaign that promotes fewer calories, sodium and fat in restaurant meals.

Pierce County Gets Fit, a partnership between MultiCare, the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, the Washington Restaurant Association and Tacoma Pierce County YMCA, begins a year-long campaign on Monday, with 60 restaurants throughout Pierce County committed to offering customers four entrees that meet the program's guidelines for "healthy dining": up to 750 calories; less than 1,000 mg of sodium; and two servings of vegetables or one vegetable serving with a high-fiber side. Less than 30 percent of total calories can come from fat.

Last year, Pierce County Gets Fit featured 30 restaurants each serving one nutritionally tailored entree for one month.

Diners who order special entrees at 10 Get Fit partner restaurants -- from diners like Poodle Dog to fine-dining restaurants like Brix 25 to pubs like The Swiss -- will be eligible for prizes like a pedometer, water bottle or lunch box.

"Nutritional? Everyone thinks salad," said Anthony Anton, president of the Wahington Restaurant Association. "But your normal sandwich, if you leave off the mayo, can be less than 750 calories. Even a burrito, if you leave out the sour cream and it's not two-plates long, you'll be fine."

Here's a sample of entrees that meet Get Fit's guidelines: almond-crusted king salmon with smoked red bell pepper slaw, pot roast with mashed potatoes and braised veggies, chicken Florentine with brown rice and steamed veggies; pasta primavera with whole-wheat spaghetti cooked in low-sodium chicken stock; and filet mignon with steamed rice and veggies.

"It's our signature filet with a twist," said Stuart Moore, the chef at GoodFella's, the steakhouse inside Great American Casino in Lakewood. "We're not wrapping it in bacon like we do for our signature filet, and there's no compound butter on top like we normally do."

Of course, portion sizes are being reduced.

"They're pretty close to the same," Moore said of his four Get Fit entrees. "We didn't want to short-change anyone. People have pre-conceived notions of how large the portions should be. When you scale them back, they feel ripped off. When people go out to dinner, they want to indulge themselves. We want to make sure people can indulge themselves in a healthy way but at the same time not sacrifice quality."

Anton praised smaller portions.

"When you sit in the kitchen and watch the product as it comes back in, most customers throw away a third of what's on their plates," Anton said. "They wanted the perception of value when they ordered it, but they didn't eat it."

Now there are seven kinds of Coke
500 kinds of cigarettes
This freedom of choice in the USA drives everybody crazy
-- from "See How We Are" by X

My dinnermate dove into the mosh pit of side-dish indecision at McGrath's Fish House in Federal Way last week.

The wild roasted salmon stuffed with asparagus came with a choice of side dishes: red potatoes, pasta, rice, fries, tomato slices or cottage cheese. It also came with green salad or cole slaw, and an unspecified vegetable that turned out to be Chinese broccoli.

But, wait, there's more:

For an additional 59 cents, my dinnermate could upgrade her regular dinner salad to the one with pears and blue cheese or to the petite shrimp Louie -- or she could have a cup of chowder or seafood stew.

It didn't help that the server ran through the sides, salads and soup upgrades faster than a punk rocker on a power-chord drive.

Of course, my dinnermate said, "Huh?" and the server recited the whole thing again while I wondered why the restaurant was upselling a so-so salad instead of just raising the entree price by 59 cents. The whole she-bang, without the sales pitch.

I welcome Oregon-based restaurants like McGrath's and Original Roadhouse Grill into the South Sound market. They're casual, affordable, family friendly vein of concept restaurants. They're different from each other (McGrath's: "Pacific Northwest fresh" seafood, burgers and steaks; Original Road House Grill: burgers, steaks, peanuts on the floor) but similar in that they both give customers a number of side-dish choices.

I'll admit I enjoy ordering Whoppers without pickles and lettuce (as Burger King used to say, "special orders don't upset us"), but I've been chewing on choices since I enjoyed half of my dinnermate's salmon at McGrath's last week (she enjoyed the rest, although we both thought the early-season asparagus was stalky and stringy). It's left me with a simmering question:

Is choice empowering or burdensome?

I dared my dinnermate to tell the waiter she'd give him 59 cents if he told the cook to make the decision about her side dishes for her. She ignored me. How do you feel?

When I hear "Mediterranean cuisine," my taste memories flash back to San Francisco's Mission barrio, where 7 bucks bought me trips to Lebanon via mouthfuls of Middle Eastern shawarma sandwiches that my favorite hole in the wall served with lamb, grilled eggplant and harisa, the North African chili paste that seared Mediterranean memories into my tongue for hours onward.

Around the corner and down the street, I'd pick up cool and salty cheeses and olives at a Greek deli. One my way home, I'd duck into the Italian deli, if only to smell the prosciutto.

Within walking distance of my house, I could dive into Mediterranean cuisine -- a collision of history and shared cultures contributed by the nation-states that ring the Mediterranean Sea -- Italy, Greece, Lebanon, Morocco, to name just a few, from Europe to the Middle East to North Africa.

Mediterranean is the flavor of the season in the South Sound. In addition to the "Mediterranean by Northwest" menu at at seven-year-old Primo Grill in Tacoma, (more on that in paragraphs to follow), Mediterranean wines and dining styles flow from Olympia's four-month-old Acqua Via (reviewed today) and more Mediterranean is promised from Merende, Jeff Bishop's upcoming restaurants in downtown Tacoma.

At Adriatic Grill Italian Cuisine and Wine Bar near Tacoma Mall, chef Bill Trudnowski takes his menu up and around the boot to the waters east of Italy. Different seas, similar culinary sensibilities.

As for Greek Mediterranean, two full-service, sit-down restaurants two have opened in the past six months (Opa! Greek Cuisine on Sixth Avenue, and Giggling Greek in downtown Puyallup). Mr. Greek is now open in South Hill, joining Johnny's Greek Cafe in Lakewood and It's Greek to Me in Tacoma and Federal Way in the casual, faster-food front.

Given the Mediterranean's geographic sweep -- Spain, Morocco, Greece, Italy, Turkey, Lebanon, France -- can "Mediterranean cuisine" be boiled down to one easy-to-swallow category?

Is "Mediterranean" a way of not saying "Italian"?

"Mediterranean gives us a much broader aspect," said Charlie McManus, the Irish-born chef at Tacoma's Primo Grill.

While Primo Grill's accent is Italian, McManus said his menu is "not only the food of Italy but also of France with tapenade, aioli and confit and gratin, Spain with tapas-style appetizers like piquillo peppers, North Africa with charmoula, harissa and couscous, and Greece and Lebanon with garlic and citrus flavors."

Jeff Bishop, formerly the chef at Il Fiasco in Tacoma and Brix 25 in Gig Harbor, said Mediterranean "is a healthy way of eating. Lots of fish, lamb, fresh regional ingredients, olive oils, simple preparations."

A sneak peek at Bishop's upcoming restaurant, Merende, looks like this: lamb and chanterelle risotto; Barolo-braised beef short ribs with chestnut potato puree; calamari with hot peppers, garlic, oregano and lemon aioli; toasted couscous with spiced carrots, sultanas, pine nuts, thyme, parsley, orange zest. Some of these are meal-sized dishes, some are small-plates, reflecting not just the ingredients of the Mediterranean but way of eating in the Mediterranean.

"When I label the cuisine as 'Mediterranean,'" Bishop said, "I wish to give respect to the regions of that area."

At Adriatic Grill, Trudnowski said, "Our position is 'Italian Cuisine & Wine Bar.' But, as the name states, we can pull from the entire region for ideas and food that we can have fun with."

Trudnowski goes easy on the dried-pasta-and-red-sauce Italian fare (but you can still order darned good lasagna) and stocks Adriatic Grill's menu with seafood -- swordfish with artichokes and capers, herbed salmon, smoked ahi carpaccio with baby arugula.

And what about McManus' "Mediterranean by Northwest" motto?
McManus said it "means the flavors of the Mediterranean but with an American Northwest sensibility rooted in seafood and produce from the Northwest."

Indeed, that locally-grown spearmint on those locally-grown carrots I enjoyed recently with McManus' Guinness-braised lamb evoked the Mediterranean. So did the sultry saffron broth that bathed wood-roasted calamari. And double-ditto for the new falafel sandwich at McManus' new place, Crown Bar, where, for $8 you're served six delicious nuggets of fried chick-pea dough on soft flat bread with shredded lettuce, tomatoes and zippy yogurt sauce.

What's in store for restaurants in 2008?

The latest issue of the Washington Restaurant Association's trade journal lists trends that are likely to affect restaurants in 2008. The list is full of platitudes -- "let's start considering some commonsense solutions to help solve this problem," WRA president Anthony Anton writes in regard to nutrition and obesity -- and virtually devoid of actionable solutions.

I've got a few ideas, so I'll share them here. Whatever appears in italics is from the WRA's Anton; all other opinions are mine. Feel free to chime in. We are all restaurant customers, and as you know from another platitude, the customer is always right.

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