Saturday, October 11, 2008

A New Leaf - Needham, MA

I finally made it to "A New Leaf" in Needham, MA! (thanks to rochelle for reminding me it was there) - WOW, this place was STOCKED with the most gluten free food I've ever seen!

Check it out! This place is TINY and totally stocked from floor to ceiling. It was like a gluten-free dream. They had all the brands I've seen before, and lots that I had never heard of, or had only read about online. I grabbed a basket and it was overflowing within minutes. I decided to get mostly new things that I had never tried before, and got a couple things that were screaming my name (Joan's English Muffins, for example).

One of the most exciting new things I found was Conte's Gluten Free Pasta... Ever tried this before? I bought their frozen pierogies, ravioli and gnocchi.... SO EXCITING. I will warn you though, this stuff is not cheap. The 3 packages I purchased ranged in price from $7.99 - $11.99. Yowzah! 

I decided to go for the Pierogies first -- these used to be a favorite meal in college for some reason. I think they must have sold them at the shop around the corner, so I was really excited to see these -- and they tasted just like I remembered! I just added a bit of butter on top and ate up the entire bowl in about 2 seconds.

So I had actually gone to this store to find pre-made apple pie crusts, which they were sold out of - but that was OK, I bought some mixes to try... Perhaps you will see that in an upcoming post.
Finally -- the woman working at the store said that the owner wanted to help out those eating gluten free so he is offering 10% off all gluten free items in the store -- which is awesome. 

7 comments:

Rochelle said...

I'm so glad you had good luck at A New Leaf! I feel lucky to have it as a resource in the Metro West area. I also love the fact that the owner is very willing to special order gluten free foods -- it is a good way to try out foods I've only heard about on line. (And lately, I can't get Whole Foods to ever order something new; everything has to go through "corporate".)

Re the premade pie crusts -- have you tried the Whole Foods Gluten Free pie crusts? They are really tasty -- they are in the frozen section.

Sondra said...

How nice to offer the discount. People just don't realize how expensive it is to be gluten free. I bought my son a bag of gf pretzels and they were 7 dollars. It really should not be this way. I love your statement in your profile about being on a mission to find a good bread. Please let me know when you do. I would love a good sandwich! LOL!

Liz said...

So good to know. I am totally making a trip there soon!

Amanda on Maui said...

That is so sweet of them to offer a discount. The regular grocery store here got BRM brownie mix in and is charing nearly 9 dollars for it. That's nuts! I suppose 10% wouldn't do much to help that price though.

But 10% off your total purchase would be good.

Amanda on Maui said...

That is so sweet of them to offer a discount. The regular grocery store here got BRM brownie mix in and is charing nearly 9 dollars for it. That's nuts! I suppose 10% wouldn't do much to help that price though.

But 10% off your total purchase would be good.

Anonymous said...

I was very disappointed in A New Leaf. The owner referred me to some products after I told him what my son's allergies were. I questioned one of the products, but he told me that the company puts disclaimers on the package and that many people with siliac have no problem eating this product (bagel). My son ended up vommitting FOUR times that day because I listened to the owner of this store. So PLEASE BEWARE! He obviously does not know the severity of Food Allergies.

Maria said...

I've been going to New Leaf for years and never been led astray by staff or owner. They are happy to say when they aren't sure about a product, and I am the one to make the final decision for my daughter and myself - we both have celiac disease. New Leaf has so many gf products, there's no need to take unnecessary risks.