Gluten Free Fare at Au Naturale

It may seem to some of you that I am eating out all the time. I promise that I don't eat out any more than most people do, I just happen to take my camera along with me to record the moment so it seems like a lot more. ( I hope you all believe that...) Anyway, last week I got the chance to catch up with one of my dear college friends who I haven't seen in (I'm ashamed to say it) 15 years. I know, how dear can she be if I haven't seen her in 15 years, you may ask? Truly, Rachel is so extra dear to me because of this: she is the person who taught me to make homemade bread and homemade spaghetti sauce. She holds the high honor of educating my inner cook when I thought I was too young and incapable of making a meal. Until I met her I thought those things were way too complicated to ever make from scratch. It turns out they are way better than the bottled kind! And I never would have had the courage to try to do it myself without Rachel. Love her. She also used to do a killer Roseanne Roseanna-danna impersonation, which was great to pass the time in the great white north known as Logan, Utah. Winters can be a little boring there. But anyway...

Since Rachel is somewhat of a natural food connoisseur, she suggested we try a little restaurant in Sugarhouse called Au Naturale located on 2100 South and 900 East. I thought we could give it a shot and with a name like that you would think they have gluten free fare there. I was right. They have an entire handout full of gluten free food that you can order to eat in or get through their handy dandy drive through. I don't know what person I was impersonating, but I ordered my first ever serving of sushi:

It was ahi tuna with brown rice and avocado. Not bad! I felt so cosmopolitan. By the way, that little blob of light green stuff? Wasabi. Avoid that if you can. It is beyond spicy, I tell you. And I don't even know what those marinated strips of creamy stuff were on the top left of the plate, but I didn't love them either. I also tried the wild mushroom and thyme soup, which was good, but needed a bit of extra salt and pepper to get it up to speed. No biggie, really. They offer homemade fries, soups, wraps (which you would have to order without the wrap anyway) and acai berry frozen yogurt. Everything is fresh and healthy, and you don't even have to clean up after yourself when you're done. My biggest problem eating there was this: are you supposed to put the whole piece of sushi in your mouth at one time so you can't even taste it, or do you bite it in half and ruin the roll and make a mess? Neither option seemed to be working for me that day. It surely gave us a memory we won't forget soon. If you're in the Salt Lake area, give Au Naturale's menu a try. You'll like it. Gluten free fast food? You can't beat that!

Happy eating!