Monday, August 27, 2012

Posana & Gluten Free Cat


Have you found Gluten Free Cat yet? Heather's a great gluten free blogger in the Nashville, Tennessee area and one of her posts made me want to hop in the car and drive right to Asheville, North Carolina to check out Posana Cafe.

Click here for Heather's post on Posana from 2010.The Posana Cafe is a completely gluten free gourmet restaurant. When I read her post a couple of months I couldn't believe we'd walked past Posana several times when visiting Asheville without a clue. I also couldn't believe I'd missed out on Heather's blog for so long.  Sit down and spend some time reading - there's a wealth of information to be had.

Chris and I just tagged along to Asheville with his cousins Tom and Chrissie for the weekend.  They'd spent nearly a week with our family before heading on to Tennessee and we made plans to go see The Biltmore together on Sunday. Chrissie and Tom said good bye to the guys and headed out a little before Chris and I did. We got into town on Saturday afternoon and met at the hotel just in time for an early dinner.

Chris knew how much I wanted to try Posana and asked them if they'd like to go. They said sure but when I told them how excited I was to be there because it was entirely gluten free they both looked a little concerned at first. =D

Our meals were amazing. We made some rather eclectic menu choices but it worked.

Our appetizers were decidedly Asian. We shared the Vegetable Tempura and Vietnamese Spring Rolls. Both Appetizers had perfect sauces but complimented each other nicely. What a treat not to have to make sure there was no soy sauce in the sauces or worry about cross contamination in the fryer. The veggies were fresh and crisp and the tempura batter was light and crunchy.

Chris also ordered the sweet potato soup and I forgot to take a photo because I was too busy eating the tempura!

For our entrees Chris ordered the Seared Sunburst Farms Trout over Forbidden Rice. Asian themed again - with the house kimchi. Forbidden rice has such a different, chewy texture and it was great.

Chrissie and Tom shared the Heritage Farms Pan Roasted Pork Chop with Grilled Local Apple and an Orange Sweet Potato puree. Very southern but with a twist.










It had been so many years since I'd had gnocchi that this one just called to me. It didn't matter to me that Italian entrees don't really "go" with Asian appetizers.

The gnocchi were soft and tender - just the perfect texture. The sauce was light and garlicky - the whole cloves of sweet garlic were a wonderful surprise. The tomatoes and feta were a perfect combination of sweet and salt.

I completely devoured each and every scrumptious bite.





While we were certainly satisfied with our dinner, I'd looked at the dessert menu online and knew we had to we had to try dessert, too. One dessert ended up being two and perfect to split.



Chris also ordered an espresso which came with a biscotti while we waited for dessert.


I wouldn't say biscotti is something I've really missed or wanted to recreate in a gluten free recipe over the last few years but this was delicious, crunchy and perfectly almondy.


Our desserts were out of this world yummy. The presentation was exquisite. Each little bite complimented every other little treat.


The Caramel Almond Nougat Bombe was my favorite. The shortbread cookie was covered in gooey caramel, topped with nougat and dipped in dark chocolate.

The ice cream plated with it was also a caramel almond flavor yet and garnished with sweet crispy almond pieces. The sweet/tart raspberry puree cut kept each from being overly sweet.

The hazelnut chocolate combination plate was good, too. There were two crunchy little fudge like squares - good but maybe a little too sweet for most of us.


I thought the cookie was good, but this little pot of chocolate hazelnut goodness topped with fresh raspberries was really nice.

Good food, good company - couldn't have been a better meal.

Thank you Heather for informing me.

Thank you Chris for indulging me!

Hope you get a chance to visit Posana Cafe yourself.









4 comments:

gabbyfek said...

what an AMAZING meal!
xoxo.

Kammie @ Sensual Appeal said...

I usually drool over the dessert and it does look amazing but I am totally swooning over the gnocci this time. Looks like an amazing meal overall!

Laura said...

WOAH- that bombe is blowing my mind. I wish it was a scratch and sniff screen.
You are an awesome hostess and I know they were blessed. I think I will pretend to be a long lost relative and come stay with you for a bit. Wait! I AM a relative- in Jesus Christ! I'll be right over!
;D

chacha said...

=-)