Virgil’s Root Beer is the Best
April 26th, 2010

Virgil’s Root Beer is the Best

Virgil's Root Beer is the BEST!

The Best, by a landslide. Virgil’s Root Beer is hands down the best root beer I have ever tasted. You think IBC is good and you think Stewart’s is better, but you haven’t had Virgil’s. Last Saturday I had a bite to eat at San Francisco’s Ferry Building and snagged Virgil’s Root Beer at Farm Fresh to You market. It’s been one of the best $2 I’ve ever spent. It’s so smooth and has a nice mix of natural ingredients as listed below from their website. The ingredients are subtle, yet complex and none of the cinnamon, anise or licorice overpower the drink. In fact I normally hate cinnamon and licorice and can’t stand the smell of them, but in this true brew, I’m totally digging it. The other brands don’t brew their root beers and don’t use the variety of ingredients that Virgil’s does.

“Virgil’s Microbrewed Root Beer contains these key all-natural ingredients:

carbonated water unbleached cane sugar

Along with these natural herbs and spices (including point of origin):

anise from Spain licorice from France vanilla (bourbon) from Madagascar cinnamon from Ceylon clove from Indonesia wintergreen from China sweet birch from the southern US molasses from the US nutmeg from Indonesia pimento berry oil from Jamaica balsam oil from Peru cassia oil from China”

Virgil’s is part of the Reed’s Inc family of products and I’m really starting to become a huge fan of them. They use real old style brewing techniques, quality ingredients, and have an affinity for ginger. How could I not love them. Anyways back to the root beer… As I was drinking it I was wondering what it must have been like when root beer was first brewed with sassafras. The more I thought about this the more I’ve been thinking about brewing some at home. I love the idea that these drinks contain so many medicinal ingredients and that these non-alcoholic beers can be actually really good for you and gluten-free. Licorice is suppose to be great for inflammation and reducing redness in skin tone. So I’m going to pick up some ingredients and try making a simpler recipe at home. I’ll post when I can get something drinkable, but until then I’ll keep spending the $2 for Virgil’s.

PF Chang’s Has a Great Wall of Gluten-Free Food
April 20th, 2010

PF Chang’s Has a Great Wall of Gluten-Free Food

PF Chang's Gluten Free menu satisfies all types of Chinese chain bistro cravings.

Last week I found myself in Walnut Creek, CA looking for something good and something gluten-free to eat. Around the corner from the Apple store, and Sur La Table, there are a bunch of chain restaurants to choose from. There’s Il Fornaio, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse and PF Chang’s, a Chinese Bistro, all within a block of one another. After a quick search, the choice was obvious, PF Chang’s was and seems to be the only chain major restaurant that has a dedicated Gluten-Free menu. Check out their impressive online menu at www.pfchangs.com/menu.

There’s a total of 28 items, ranging from appetizers, to main entrees and even dessert. I ordered the Gluten Free Egg Drop Soup, Lettuce Cups, and Mongolian Beef. They substitute flour with corn starch, and soy sauce with wheat free soy sauce, making each item taste delicious. I know Chinese food and I was really surprised that everything was so good. They even plate g-free items on different plates so you don’t get them mixed up with other regular dishes. Also try out the local specials, in the East Bay it’s $39.99 for a four course meal for two people. Totally worth it and the menu allows each person to choose their own dishes so mixing up gluten-free and regular items for a companion work out just fine. For a major chain restaurant I throw up 2 woks to them and hope more people try out this menu.

Bulk Up at Whole Foods with Bulk Foods
April 13th, 2010

Bulk Up at Whole Foods with Bulk Foods

Bulk up with bulk items at Whole Foods. Cornmeal and almonds.

In the corner of Whole Foods, I’ve figured out that everything in the Bulk Food section is the best place to spend your time in the market. I’ve gone about a month looking for roasted almonds that aren’t 1lb and meant to feed an octuplet family. I just want a little snack. Why can’t I get that? I can, I just haven’t been looking in the right place. It feels like I just found the awesome shirt on sale at Bloomingdale’s for the price of something at Forever21! Going to “Whole Paycheck” doesn’t have to be so bad.

All I had to do was go to the corner of Whole Foods that no one is ever in. Seriously it’s usually empty except for a few granola mom types or the 20 something girl who just stepped off the treadmill. I wasn’t watching the clock but I think I spend about 20 minutes looking at all the items there and ended up with cornmeal for polenta, slivered almonds and my roasted almonds. All of them are high quality and a total steal. Tons of gluten-free stuff there, and they’re labeled with a little “G” to help you narrow down what you can have.

Next time I go, I’m going for some more snacks and dried fruits. The only thing I need to figure out is how I can bring my own jars to fill and avoid using a big new plastic bag.

**For those of you wondering…NO, I do not work for Whole Foods. I just love the products they carry and what more people to love them too so that they keep getting good products.

Taste Off, It’s Coco-nuts
April 1st, 2010

Taste Off, It’s Coco-nuts

The lineup. Check out the cool coconut I got. It even had a spot to stick a straw in.

After my last post about the coconut water, I got a bunch of questions and interest from people. So I thought I’d do a little taste off to find out if all coconuts are created equal. If you know my blog by now, you know I love a good matrix chart to compare products. So here’s the line-up, 2 cans from Thailand, and 2 popular boxed drinks from Brazil. 6 people blind taste testing the drinks and giving their unedited comments about them. Let’s see what happens.

Turns out some people have never had coconut water (water and juice refer to the same thing) and they learned they aren’t big fans of this sudden fad. Others are intrigued by the city dwellers craze for this drink.

Real Coconut
(13.5 ounces of water drained) C20
Pure Coconut Water, no pulp
17.5 oz Amy & Brian’s
Coconut Juice,
no pulp
17.5 oz Zico
Pure coconut water, no pulp
11.2 oz One
Coconut Water, no pulp
11.2 oz Origin Thailand Thailand Thailand Brazil Brazil Calories n/a 76 / 8oz 76 / 8oz 60 / 11.2 oz 60 / 11.2 oz Sugars n/a 10g 10g 14g 14g Potassium n/a 244mg 244mg 670mg 670mg Clarity Clearest of them all, least yellow of all Clear and slightly yellowish Clear and slightly yellowish Whitish murky, less viscous than Thai Whitish murky with little bits of coconuts Price $1.99 $1.99 $1.99 $1.99 $1.79 Real Comments “pleasant sweet”
“gritty, punch in face”
“tastes like yucky”
“fresh, smooth and sweet” “herbally sweet caramel”
“chrysanthemum”
“weird but drinkable” “tart and flowery”
“like sugar cane”
“Money!”
“like original but less sweet” “salty sweat”
“fish tank”
“starts off hard finishes smooth” “semi fish tank”
“worst so far”
“dislike aftertaste”
“wouldn’t tell if it wasn’t compared”

And the winners are…

A-Zico, B-C20, C-One, D-Amy&Brian's and the real coconut which had the clearest liquid.

Best Tasting: Amy & Brian’s (a few also felt C20 was really good if you like chrysanthemum) Best Thai coconut: The real thing. 2nd up Amy & Brian’s Best Brazilian coconut water: Zico Cheapest drink on the run: One Cheapest ounce for ounce: C20 & Amy & Brian’s depending on where you’re purchasing Healthiest: The Brazilians, Zico and One had the highest potassium and equal amounts of sugar as the Thai. Where does all that K come from? The K could be why they have an aftertaste. For those who missed chemistry, K is the symbol for the Potassium element. Best website: C20, we loved the cool little hammock that swings. One had a fun site too. Best packaging: Zico, it’s the cleanest looking with the calm beach. C20 was sort of old school looking but thought the name was clever enough to get us over the packaging. Amy & Brian’s probably had the worst, the logo is bad and the website needs better images that aren’t from the 80’s. Good thing they have a good tasting product.  One, was still desirable with it’s shiny box.

With the leftover coconut meat, scrape it out and toss it with some pineapple vodka and blend. It turns nice and frothy and makes for a good afternoon drink. The only problem with that is it dehydrates you, so you’ll have to load up on more coconut water. Happy gluten-free drinking, Cocoheads.