Okay, if you read my previous post on Jewel's Bakery and Café, you already know I'm in love with this place. Jewel's has so many beautiful gluten-free pastries that you could just drown yourself in sugar.
But I also was excited to taste the bakery's savory offerings. So my work compatriots and I headed over for lunch last week.
See also: Jewel's Bakery & Café Delights the Gluten-Free and Friends
The place was crowded with smiling people filling the tables, chowing down, and warming the room with a satisfied hum of chatter.
In the line at the counter, I ran into an excited woman buying a dozen cupcakes for a party. We shared our celiac story and our amazement at a place like this where we could feel so at home.
She asked about the doughnuts, which had all been sold, and the woman at the register said there already are regular customers coming in every morning. If you want to make sure to get some doughnuts call ahead to order. Otherwise, get there early and get in line.
The lunch menu had so many options that I had a hard time deciding, which is such a difference from choosing from the one or two gluten-free offerings on a regular menu.
What to do. What to do. Flatbreads. Sandwiches. Salads.
I picked the Loaded Baked Potato Flatbread, which arrived with thinly sliced, garlic-roasted potatoes, cheddar cheese, bacon and ranch. Excellent.
Around the table there was a quinoa salad, a BBQ pork sandwich, and a chicken salad. And all my gluten-eating friends laughing, happy, and cleaning their plates.
And just because they were there, and I couldn't imagine leaving without them, I took home a slice of the strawberry, basil, balsamic pie, and a piece of tangelo meringue to share with my husband They were both amazingly delicious.
Now Jewel's is offering breakfast-all-day brunch from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. A whole other menu to devour: chilaquilas, grits, sliders, posole, biscuits, doughnuts, waffles. Oh, my.