Gluten-Free Lahaina

3 Penne Pastas at Penne Pasta Cafe

Last night I had an event to attend in Lahaina with some friends, so the Nerd, his sister, and I had dinner there on the west side of the island. I had been wanting to try the pasta at a restaurant I read about. Penne Pasta Cafe offers gluten-free brown rice pasta, penne shape only, for $2 extra. They also have dairy-free mozzarella cheese available for another $2 extra.

We all decided to get the brown rice pasta, but the Nerd was confused as to what chicken parmesan actually was (he was thinking chicken primavera). I asked him to ask the cashier if there was any breading on the chicken, but he got distracted and forgot. So, of course he ended up getting the brown rice pasta, but he also had breaded chicken sitting on top of it. That was a bummer, especially since he paid the extra for the brown rice pasta. He had no complaints about the food, and dug in happily. The Nerd said that everything was cooked very well, and that it was definitely worth the $11 (including pasta substitution cost). He wouldn't pay $20 for it, but he was pleased with his meal. Oh, and he said that if he hadn't known it was brown rice pasta, he would have thought the penne was high quality "regular" pasta.

He did find it funny too that they'd sell him brown rice pasta and not mention the breading on the chicken, but perhaps they thought he knew what he was doing. To avoid this, I think they should provide descriptions of their various entrees. A trip back to the restaurant is in order the next time we're over in the area, according to the Nerd.

Chicken Parmesan

(not gluten-free)

His sister ordered baby calamari in pomodoro (tomato and basil) sauce over brown rice penne. She too was happy with her meal, though she said she could have eaten a lot more. We both agreed we could have split another plate of pasta, but we're both rather gluttonous right now.

I was able to taste her dish, and the calamari wasn't tough and it had a nice smokey flavor to it. I do think it was a little too salty, but the flavors all worked well enough together. They also could have gone a little heavier on the calamari as I am a huge fan of little squid rings. The price of this dish was $12 with the substitution of the pasta.

Baby Calamari in Pomodoro Sauce

I chose to go with clams in the pomodoro sauce over brown rice pasta. The sauce was a little thinner than I would have liked it to be. The sauce on the calamari pasta seemed slightly thicker somehow. I was quite happy with the amount of chopped up clams in my sauce, but I could most certainly tell they weren't fresh. They were clumped together in places as though they were scraped out of a can (think canned tuna). I only had a tiny bit of grit from the clams, and my pasta was not over cooked or undercooked. My pasta was also $12 with the substitution.

Clams in Pomodoro Sauce

We drank water, although they do have soda, iced tea, Republic of Tea drinks, wine, beer, and some other spirits for sale.

We didn't have dessert, but they were offering bananas foster with vanilla ice cream as the special dessert while we were there.

Place Your Order Here

On one wall was a large flat panel TV showing TV Land (classic television channel). The space wasn't brightly lit, however I didn't find it uncomfortably dark either. I think the owner has the lighting just about right. My personal opinion is that some music would be better than the television.

The Dining Area

I can't speak about what they do to prevent cross contamination as I didn't get to speak to the owner, but I am feeling perfectly fine and I'm still wanting more pasta. The owner also owns Maui Tacos.

I believe the brand of pasta they're using is Tinkyada. It reminded me a lot of the penne Tinkyada pasta I make at home, but not overcooked and not wet(I need to drain my pasta better).

If you're on Maui and want gluten-free pasta you should definitely go to Penne Pasta Cafe. I think it was so worth the drive to get to dine on Italian style food at a restaurant again. I'm salivating just thinking about getting some more soon.

Penne Pasta Cafe

180 Dickenson St.

Lahaina, HI 96761

808-661-6633

Maui Tacos

Tacorritos!

Hola!

There is a restaurant here in Hawaii(and apparently elsewhere across the US) called Maui Tacos, and I will share some information on them with you, but tonight I made tacos for dinner. Well, a cross between tacos and burritos.

Typically burritos are made with the big flour tortillas, but being gluten-free I don't eat the flour tortillas. I eat corn, and I actually now have a preference for corn tortillas. My dad told me that there is a taco stand down the road from his house now, and that he always gets corn tortillas. The woman working at the stand asks him every time wether he'd prefer corn or flour. He tells her corn, and every time he tells her that she looks very confused but gives him the corn tortillas anyway. I guess most white American men prefer flour, or at least in her mind they do.

To get back to my tacorritos here is the recipe adapted from $5 dollar dinners.

Vegetarian Lentil Spinach Tacorritos

• 1 cup brown rice, cooked (Leftover brown rice works great here to help make cooking this meal go much more quickly.)
• 1 cup lentils
• 1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 1 teaspoon Goya Adobo powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 14 Mission corn tortillas
• 1 cup Tillamook white cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1 bunch fresh spinach
• Salt and Pepper
• Sour cream or substitute, and salsa

x. Preheat your oven to 250F.

1. If you haven't already cooked up your rice, do so before beginning on the rest of your meal preparation. This could take you up to an hour or more depending on how you cook your brown rice.

2. Rinse the lentils, and then put them in a pot with water coming up to about an inch or so above them. Bring this to a boil, and then simmer it for 30 minutes, or until the lentils are soft and most of the water is absorbed. Drain off any unused water.

3. Put the lentils and brown rice into a large skillet with the diced tomatoes with green chiles.

4. Add in all of the spices, including salt and pepper, and mix well.

5. Tear up the spinach into bite sized pieces and place it into the skillet as well. Mix everything together well and let the spinach wilt for about 5 minutes. Heat all of the this through well.

6. Warm the corn tortillas in another skillet to make them more pliable. Then, add the filling to each tortilla. Add about a golf ball sized amount. Top the filling with the shredded cheese and roll the tortilla shut.

7. Repeat the above process until all of the filling is used. Place the tacorritos into a large baking dish and place the dish in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the tortillas reach the crispness you desire.

8. Top with sour cream or substitute, and salsa.

Now, to discuss Maui Tacos.

For those who are gluten-free, it's a pretty good restaurant to know about when you're on Maui.

Their website states:

Gluten Free Menu:
All items on our menu are gluten free, except for the items that include a flour tortilla. Our burritos always feature a flour tortilla, but you can order a burrito bowl instead. A bowl has all the same ingredients as a burrito except for the tortilla. All other items are made with corn. Our enchilada sauce also has some flour in it, but all salsas are gluten free. All meats, beans and rice are made gluten free.

I've never been made sick by eating their food, but you should be very clear in what you want when you order. But, this is true no matter where you dine.

They do something the website calls a "burrito bowl", but don't ask for that because they won't know what you're talking about. Just ask for a burrito, no tortilla. Then it's kind of like a taco salad. This is great for when you see something delicious on the burrito menu, but can't eat it because of the tortilla.

Their tacos are what I believe is pretty authentic for tacos. Anthony Bourdain dined at a near border taco stand on his trip to Mexico on his TV show, and those tacos were meat, soft corn tortillas, salsa verde, and cilantro. At Maui tacos, you get the soft corn tortillas, meat (or not), lettuce, and you can choose your own salsa and wether or not you want other additions at their salsa bar.

They used to use potato starch made utensils, but I think the economy drove them back to cheaper plastics. I was so jazzed when I first encountered the potato starch utensils, and I was heartbroken when I saw them replaced with the standard. Sorry earth, guess everyone's feeling too broke to care.

Here's an interesting note about Maui Tacos: their owner also owns a small Italian restaurant that offers gluten-free spaghetti for an additional dollar, and soy cheese for a dollar. I haven't had the opportunity to try it, but when I do I will most certainly blog about it.

For those of you who have been searching the web for gluten-free restaurant information, I hope this post and my post about Down to Earth help you out.

Aloha!