I'm so excited to say that we found a wonderful new Gluten Free Store!! It's called Strictly Gluten Free, and it is just that, an entire store dedicated to gluten free products! Not just a small shelf in the back of items that don't get rotated, that's right an entire store of gf food, beauty products, books, and more.
The store is pretty small, but super clean and well lit, it makes it feel so much bigger than it really is. It is in a tiny strip mall on Larkfield Rd. in East Northport Long Island. The owners were there working and Steve even opened the door to greet us as we came in from the parking lot, his wife Angela was there with their baby Luca in a carrier and they were all so warm and welcoming. Angela is the gluten intolerant one, and told us they have done tons of research and traveling to different gluten free expos around the country to seek out the best of the best gluten free products. She said she has tried 95% of the products in the store and wouldn't stock it if she didn't like it! Let me tell you, this was music to my ears, I despise wasting money on bad gf products!!! There is never any reason that someone with celiac can't have delicious food, and I loath when companies think it's okay to sell us bland, dry, tasteless products and over charge for them. Well, that won't happen here! Steve and Angela have done their homework! They had the best of the best products all in one place, all of my favorites so I don't have to run all over the countryside gathering things I like.
After chatting for a few minutes I asked Steve if they had the gf Chinese Dumplings we have been desperately searching for for months now. He eagerly told me to follow him and that they not only had the dumplings but had a good stock of egg rolls too! Ceci is so jealous of Tim's dumplings when he eats them for lunch and we had found Feel Good Foods online but had yet to see them in stores. Finally a store close to us had them!!! So excited!
Did I mention they have samples?? We went Saturday afternoon and they had taken a delivery of some beautiful baked goods from Ms. Michelle's Urban Gourmet, including lots of beautiful muffins and cupcakes. I think Ceci must have had at least 4 samples, and you know she doesn't waste her time on food that isn't delicious. I think her favorite was the chocolate muffin, with chocolate chips on top. All of the Ms. Michelle's products were fresh baked, not frozen.
Angela also offered us samples of Soft Gluten Free Pretzels from Tonya's Gluten Free, they were Amazing!! I've never seen them in any stores around us before and that makes me sad. They are so buttery and delicious and come with toppings, salt or cinnamon sugar! We bought a box of those and I can't wait until snack time to dig into them!
The store also carried Goldbaum's ice cream cones, which I've had before and really liked, but Tim went back and took a second look and realized not only did they carry sugar cones, but Coco Sugar Cones!!! That's something new! I don't think I've even seen those in a glutenous version. I had one last night with vanilla ice cream and it was fabulous! Perfectly sweet and chocolate, a great way to add more deliciousness to my ice cream. I can hardly wait to give Ceci her first ice cream cone all to herself and see what she thinks.
If you live anywhere near this store, PLEASE go visit it! They are wonderful people and have stocked the best products! I want them to be successful so I don't have to drive to 4 stores to collect all my gluten free products!
