Ahhhhh! Here we go! It’s Tulum time, people. Dave and I are celebrating our 4 year anniversary and my 35th birthday by a trip to Tulum, Mexico. We tried (unsuccessfully) to celebrate last year’s anniversary and b-day with a trip to Cuba but the two hurricanes that rolled in had other plans for us. So this year we opted to try again for something tropical… but let’s hope that means more tropical drinks in a giant pineapple than tropical STORMS. There are two headed towards ole’ America as I type this. Obviously I’m a quick learner. (See sentence above about last year’s hurricanes. Ugh.) What. Ever.
Since we have an early morning flight out of Chicago, we decided to kick-off the celebrations by an overnight in one of our favorite cities. We hit the city around 6pm, checked into the Four Points by Sheraton and from there had some decisions to make. Do we stay in and eat at the less than exciting (but still expensive) hotel restaurant, or venture back out into Chicago Saturday night traffic. Venture out! A quick glance at the “Find Me Gluten Free” app led us to a wonderful Italian restaurant called Da Luciano.
Seriously, run, don’t walk to this gem of a restaurant. We arrived around 6:30pm and were told that the soonest we could get in without a reservation would be 8pm. Ugh. Of course. However, the nice lady took pity on us and sat us at the only two seats at the bar – she kept apologizing that this was all they had. We were grateful to get a seat – the smells wafting out of the kitchen were overwhelmingly delicious! The bar only had two seats, but that was okay. We really enjoyed the exclusivity. The bartender was nice, and we got to interact with several friendly waitstaff as well as Mr. Luciano himself.
I have given up on the prospect of a decent gluten-free experience in an Italian restaurant. But this place was an unbelievable gluten-free paradise. The menu was full and long. In speaking to the bartender we found out that the Luciano’s have a child with celiac so the cause is one that’s personal to them and it shows in their carefully crafted celiac-friendly food. (They have a completely separate kitchen for that food!) There were so many choices, I had no clue what to order. I wanted to try it all.
They offered me gluten-free bread with olive oil. It was less French-bread like and more like a biscuit but still super delicious. I was already in love. From there they brought us the g/f cheese wedges – amazing. Next was a salad with the creamy garlic dressing – I’d eat salad every day if it came with dressing that delicious. Even my non-green eating hubby was a fan. Next up was the star of the show, entrees. I ordered chicken parm and it was ENORMOUS. Two chicken breasts and about 4 servings of rotini with homemade sauce. Dave had a calzone about the size of his torso… holy smokes was it big. I feel like at this point it’s getting fairly redundant of me to say, but it was so, so tasty. We finished up with some espresso and a gluten-free cannoli to go. OH CRAP… I just realized I left the other half of my cannoli in the hotel fridge. *sobs*
What a truly fantastic experience. From the people to the food, Da Luciano’s is really a gluten-free find. We both agreed that we’d drive the 2 hours from Elkhart just to eat dinner there again. And soon.
It’s off to Mexico, y’all!
And now a moment of silence for the other half of my cannoli… (how long is too long to cry over a cannoli?) *still sobbing*
Cathy A says
Love your descriptive narrative! Found myself smiling while I was reading!
staceymkidder@me.com says
Glad I could make someone smile today! 🙂 Hope you and Mike had a nice Sunday!