Review: Bareburger Restaurant

As much as I love cooking and creating new recipes, sometimes it is very nice to spend the evening dining out at a restaurant, especially one that offers gluten free options on the menu. When a new restaurant called Bareburger recently opened in our neighborhood advertizing grass-fed burgers on gluten free hamburger buns, my family was quite eager to try it out. Here is my daughter Nicole’s review.

Review: Bareburger Restaurant

It was a Friday evening, and my family was dining at the Bareburger restaurant that had recently opened in our neighborhood. When the burgers arrived at our table, we collectively held our breath. We were sure the grass-fed beef would taste delicious. The patties were thick and juicy, cooked perfectly pink on the inside. But what about the gluten free buns? Often gluten free bread can taste chalky and fall apart. One of us bravely took the first bite, and his face quickly broke into a wide grin. The hamburger buns had passed the taste test. “Yes,” he said. “That’s what a burger is supposed to taste like.”

Trying to eat gluten free when dining out can be quite a challenge. It’s always wonderful to find restaurants that not only accommodate gluten allergies, but, like Bareburger, are also knowledgeable about gluten free diets and the dangers of cross contamination. And, of course, have delicious healthy food to boot. Everything on the huge Bareburger menu is organic and all natural from the sodas to the vegetables to the meat and even the ketchup. The menu clearly marks which foods are safe for the gluten free diner. And, yes, those hand cut fries truly are gluten free. At Bareburger, there are dedicated fryers and grills for the gluten free food.

Although its name might suggest that this is only a hamburger joint, there are actually a number of meat options on the menu: turkey, grilled chicken, lamb, and (for the more adventurous) wild boar, elk, bison, and even ostrich. Or you can go for a vegetarian option with a portabella mushroom patty. The manager informed us that the gluten free tapioca rice flour buns are actually made by Udi’s, one of our favorite brands. For dessert, we enjoyed the decadent gluten free flourless chocolate cake.

Even though Bareburger is so gluten-free friendly, you should still make sure to inform your server about your gluten free allergy. One of the salads we ordered, which we thought had been marked as gluten free, arrived with two toasted pieces of bread. Another time we had a mix-up where one of us received the wrong bun on her burger. This was an honest mistake because we were a large group and some of us were ordering the brioche buns and others had chosen the gluten free ones.

Mom enjoyed her salad. She is not allergic to gluten. However, be sure to let the server know if you are gluten free. No toast with your salad!

Ultimately, though, our dinner was definitely a success, and we’d recommend the restaurant to all of our gluten free friends. At the moment, the Bareburger restaurants are located throughout New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but this spring and summer they are opening locations across the country and even internationally in Germany and Canada.

I hope more restaurants will follow Bareburger’s example of healthy, organic, all-natural, humanely raised gluten free food!

I did not receive any compensation for writing this post. All opinions are completely my own.