Gluten Free in the Times Square Theater District

I love Broadway!  If it were up to me, we would come to NYC and see plays at least once a year.  When hubby realized he needed one more trip at the end of the year to have enough airline miles to keep his Super Plus Ridiculously Elite status, I knew where I wanted to go!

We came in on a Saturday night, and went straight to our hotel -- The Hilton Garden Inn near Times Square -- which is very conveniently located to the theaters.  From our hotel, we walked to dinner at Nizza on 9th Avenue, between 44th and 45th streets.

It's a very small restaurant, so we were enormously lucky to be seated right away.  Everyone who arrived after we did, had a long wait for a table.  We both ordered Socca, a chickpea flatbread similar to a pizza crust.  I had classic Socca, with sage, onions, and pecorino (cheese).  Mark had the Quattro Formaggi -- four cheeses and pesto sauce.  Both were delicious, but I actually preferred mine.  I think the Socca stands by itself; it doesn't need to be turned into a pizza.  We had a glass of house Chianti, which went well with it, and they brought us gluten free bread to eat, with an herby butter/olive oil spread.  Yippee!  Best of all, this ended up being one of our least expensive meals in Manhattan.

Our most expensive meal in Manhattan was one we stopped at impulsively.  We had intended to wait until after the theater to eat dinner, but we were hungry an hour and a half before show time, and we passed right by a churrascaria on 49th street that wasn't too crowded, so we stepped in and had a bite to eat.  The upside of any Churrascaria is that you don't wait long for your food -- the servers are meandering around the restaurant waiting to bring it to your table.  I am a big fan of this type of cuisine, and we frequently eat at Fogo de Chao, a Churrascaria with a location here in Dallas.  Churrascaria Plataforma wasn't in the same caliber as Fogo de Chao, but it has a lot of fun elements to it.  My favorite part was the drink they made at our table, called a Caipirinha made from fresh limes, sugar, ice, and a Brazilian Liquor called  Cachaça .    The cart had a lot of other fresh fruits on it, so I had the server add some pineapple to my Caipirinha in addition to the limes, and it was delicious.  The meal was pricey, but fast and delicious.  Most of the meats were gluten free, as were the mashed potatoes and fried polenta.  I stayed away from the salad bar, as it looked like there was a lot of cross-contamination going on.  They had three GF desserts -- chocolate truffles, flan, and creme brulee.  I chose the truffles and they were yummy.

Sandy