Gluten-free goodies: These Chicago-area spots go against the grain by providing gluten-free fare.

Today, going gluten-free is as much a health trend for fitness junkies as it is a necessity for those with wheat allergies and Celiac Disease. But cutting gluten from your diet isn't easy when the bulk of our foods are made with wheat, rye, barley and oats. Fortunately, there are a number of alternatives to your favorite gluten-fueled foods, and we've got a list of the spots that serve them.

C-House
World-renowned Chef Marcus Samuelsson offers a special C-Bar menu that can be prepared gluten-free upon request. The seafood menu includes dishes like octopus with blood orange and pancetta, cobia with preserved mushroom and tuna with pine nuts and toasted rice vinaigrette. You can also choose from a selection of shrimp, oysters, clams and mussels with the fanciful selection of C-House Towers, or keep it simple with a plate of chilled lobster.

Deerfields Bakery
Baking without gluten is a matter of taste at Deerfields Bakery. The suburban sweet shop offers an extensive list of cookies, cakes and brownies for those in search of a serious sugar fix. You'll find three different categories of cookies here, including one for Chips (chocolate chips), one for Dream cookies and another for Buttons. The Buttons (including sugar, lemon, ginger and snickers) are the most basic cookie and have a somewhat chewy texture, while the Dreams have a brownie-like consistency and are loaded with everything your little pastry-lovin' heart could possibly desire. As for the Chips, well, Deerfields has found seven different ways to make them shine by pairing them with ingredients like tart cherries, dried cranberries, gluten-free oats, pecans and quinoa. For those without a sweet tooth, the bakery offers rice bran artisan rolls.

Adobo Grill
Craving Mexican? Head over to Adobo Grill in Wicker Park, where the only "special request" you'll need to make is for salt on the rim on your margarita glass. The restaurant's gluten-free menu features favorites like fresh guacamole (prepared tableside and served with jicama chips), chicken tamales steamed and served in a corn husk and cheese-stuffed quesadillas. For dinner, try the butternut squash and wild mushroom enchiladas with green mole or the popular chipotle-glazed grilled chicken. For dessert, we recommend another round from Adobo's intoxicating drink list, but if you've got a hankering for something sweet, try the gluten-free vanilla flan or chocolate tamales.

Da Luciano
Gluten-free Italian food...could it be true? Better yet, could it be good? At this family-owned and operated River Grove restaurant, the answer is yes, on both counts. After discovering that four of her children had Celiac Disease (gluten-intolerance), founder Rosalia Libreri found a way to craft an entire menu to meet the standards of the American Celiac Disease Alliance. Thanks to Libreri, the restaurant now offers a separate gluten-free menu with authentic pasta dishes like lasagna, eggplant parmigiana and puttanesca with capers, olives and anchovies. Da Luciano's also offers a selection of celiac-safe personal pizzas and appetizers like baked clams, bruschetta and garlic bread. Desserts include classic choices like homemade cannolis, tiramisu and spumoni ice cream.

Wildfire
This 1940s-themed dinner club comes complete with jazz music, vintage prints, sleek circular banquettes and an entire gluten-free menu. Sandwiches like the Portobello mushroom with goat cheese, peppercorn tenderloin steak and turkey burger are all served on gluten-free buns, while entrees include meaty dishes like lamb chops, prime rib and New York strip. You can even wash it all down with gluten-free Redbridge beer or Chopin vodka. If you've still got room, try the flourless chocolate cake or hot fudge peanut sundae.

Weber Grill
Weber Grill claims that "great grilled food can also be gluten-free," and the restaurant proves it with dishes like the black and blue burger, Midwestern-style barbecue pork ribs and New York strip. The special menu also highlights filling side dishes like baked or mashed potatoes, whipped sweet potatoes, au gratin and fire-roasted corn on the cob. And the atmosphere is just as inspiring as the menu with a ringside view of the restaurant's open kitchen, where you can watch a team of chefs prepare your meal on authentic Weber kettles.

David Burke's PrimehouseThis downtown restaurant offers a slew of gluten-free items, but it's the Kobe beef sashimi that catches all eyes and appetites. The thin slice of beef is served sashimi-style on a Himalayan pink salt tile (the same tiles used in the restaurant's in-house dry aging room) with mushroom chips and truffle mayonnaise. Typically, the dish is served with a side of toast, but gluten-sensitive guests can request a no-toast option or substitute a small veggie side. For dessert, choose from executive pastry chef Jove T. Hubbard's unique selection of ice cream and sorbet flavors like Angry Mango, bubble gum cotton candy, bourbon and pink grapefruit.


This article was first published on Centerstage.
Photo: Kumamoto with honeydew granite at C-House.

Marcus Samuelsson: The man behind C-House has a lot on his plate, but he still likes to peel carrots.

Chef Marcus Samuelsson does it all. He cooks, he writes, he teaches, he paints. And he still finds time for soccer on Sundays. Dividing most of his time between New York and Sweden, Samuelsson recently paid a visit to his Chicago restaurant, C-House, where I had the opportunity to catch up with him over a cup of coffee.

Just in town long enough to host a wine dinner with Brian Duncan of Bin 36 and a signing of his 2006 book, The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa, Samuelsson didn't seem jet-lagged at all. He wanted to reintroduce the James Beard Award-winning book (for Best International Cookbook) because he thinks African cooking should be more approachable. He says that not enough people are familiar with African cuisine and seeks to change that. He refers to the text's accessibility in terms of conversation. "It's what you and I are doing right now," he explains, "We're creating this dialogue."

C-House and Samuelsson are just as approachable as the recipes in the book. "I want people to feel comfortable coming here in their jeans and still be able to enjoy a good meal," he says. It doesn't take more than a quick glance around the room to see that everyone here does indeed fit that description. The crowd includes everyone from denim-and-t-shirt types to young professionals sporting the expected attire. Whether they're curled up in the restaurant's sleek, cushioned banquettes or parked with the morning paper at C-House's communal table, the space's understated interior provides a perfect backdrop for each guest.

Before opening C-House, his first Chicago—and first American—venture, Samuelsson sampled a wide variety of the city's culinary offerings. It was chefs like Charlie Trotter, Takashi Yagihashi and Rick Bayless, combined with authentic ethnic spots (like Uptown's smattering of Ethiopian joints) that served as fuel for C-House. But Samuelsson's greatest culinary influence goes back to his grandmother's Scandinavian roots. "She made everything from scratch," he says with a smile, "even her own liquor." He went on to explain that, in Sweden, his grandmother's dishes were quite literally referred to as "poor man's cooking." Peasant food, however, is far from what you get at C-House. Even the simple dishes here arrive looking like a page pulled from Gourmet magazine, which, incidentally, recently featured Samuelsson.

The lauded chef has also appeared in other national publications like USA Today, Food & Wine and Bon Appetit and at 37, is the youngest to ever receive two three-star reviews from the New York Times. Flattering and extensive as his resume may be, those successes don't add up to Samuelsson's biggest achievement, which he says is continuing to be able to work, especially in the midst of a stressed economy. When he first left for New York to apprentice at Aquavit in 1991, he had little more than $300 in his pocket.

But passion, skill and an eye for aesthetics quickly turned that $300 into a priceless experience. With three restaurants, three cookbooks, a line of cooking tools and a television show under his toque, Samuelsson is still as humble as his grandmother's Scandinavian recipes. "I love cooking. I even like peeling carrots," he says and explains that there's a certain joy envisioning the end result as a beautiful carrot soup.

Samuelsson's attention to detail from start to finish might have something to do with his affinity for painting. "It makes you think about positive and negative space," he says, as he reaches over for my notepad and pen. He begins to draw a diagram. Something similar to a brainstorming session—an outline that brought me back to my old writing classes with charts of plots, themes and motifs. But, unlike the ever-changing subjects in my own scratchpad, the main element of Samuelsson's diagram always begins with flavor. From there he extends three separate branches: one for texture, another for the season and then one more for fish/seafood. The flavor tree then expands to a myriad of subtopics, all working together to form one plated masterpiece.

When he's not busy crafting new dishes, instructing courses all over the world and revising recipes, Samuelsson hikes it to the local soccer field, where he says the energy and adrenaline of the game is similar to that rush you get in the kitchen. "The pulse of being on a team is similar to the pulse in the kitchen. It's an energy that's hard to translate."

This article was first published on Centerstage.