Gluten Freebird

Travel back with me to Charlottesville where all eating seems to be much more mindful.

In this installment, we visit Revolutionary Soup. This tiny underground spot serving……soup in all flavors and textures. In true C’ville fashion, the spot features ingredients sourced from local farms (Polyface chicken sound good to anybody else out there?). When you order a soup, it arrives with a fresh roll (if you can eat gluten, that is, though if that’s the case, they can also dish soup into bread bowls) and a little bit of fruit. We were treated to baggies of strawberries.

On the menu board, you’ve got sandwiches and wraps, but soups are the focus. Each soup comes with a letter to designate vegetarian, dairy-free, or gluten-free (yay!!), so we ordered a chilled watercress soup and a spicy Senegalese peanut tofu soup, which was incredibly delicious.

This little was left by the time I got around to whipping out my camera.

Besides soup and crepes, we managed to eat honey-soaked figs at Feast with a delicious black iced tea with Tang.

Dinner was at Mas, a tapas restaurant about 2 miles from the city center. When a menu changes daily with seasonal treats like local morels and asparagus along with grilled shrimp with gray salt, bacon-wrapped dates, lamb chops in mint sauce, and a gluten-free goat’s cheesecake. The food was mostly delicious, though the asparagus wilted under its strong vinaigrette. If you plan to go with a gluten allergy, make sure to strongly emphasize the severity to your server. My food wasn’t prepared with gluten, but was often served on bread or pita, so there was a high risk of contamination. It is still worth it. Get there early to sit on the patio.