March is Gluten Free Pizza Month at ZPizza

I just received the following email from the owners of the Triangle zpizzas.

March is gluten-free month at zpizza. To celebrate, come in all month long and enjoy a delicious small gluten-free pizza for half off when you purchase a small pizza at regular price (of equal or greater value). Come in to any of our 3 locations (421 Fayetteville St, Downtown Raleigh. 96 Cornerstone Dr in Cary, or 9630 Falls of the Neuse Rd, North Raleigh).

Thanks for your positive feedback on our food, and to those of you that travel great distances to dine with us. Join us on Facebook and let us know where you are coming from. Someone will win free pizza!  Thanks, Steve and Dan, zpizza.

www.zpizzatriangle.com

North Carolina Governor Declares May Celiac Disease Awareness Month

Media Release

North Carolina Governor Declares May Celiac Disease Awareness Month

• Triangle residents can participate in a gluten-free food drive at various locations or make a monetary donation to help stock the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina
• Bella Monica Italian Restaurant is hosting a six-course gluten-free dinner prepared by Vanessa Maltin, food and lifestyle editor for Delight Gluten-free Magazine
• A top food allergens poster is available for restaurants to download to educate their staff about these items, including gluten

Raleigh, N.C., USA, April 30, 2010 – The Gluten Free Raleigh Blog has announced Governor Beverly Perdue has declared May 2010 “Celiac Disease Awareness Month” in North Carolina. The Gluten Free Raleigh Blog and Pat Berger, leader of the North Raleigh Celiac Sprue Association (CSA) Support Group brought the petition to the Governor’s office regarding the awareness month.

Celiac Disease is a genetic autoimmune disease that affects one in 133 people in the United States. It interferes with the absorption of nutrients from food and can cause gastrointestinal and neurological issues, infertility, skin rashes and cancer. The only treatment for Celiac Disease is lifelong, strict adherence to a gluten-free diet.

“The Governor’s proclamation paves the way to further educate the community on Celiac Disease and helps to create a positive impact on the quality of life for people living with this condition,” said Zach Becker, creator of the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog. “It’s my goal to help raise awareness so those living with this disease can safely eat out at restaurants and have easier access to gluten-free food.”

In an effort to educate, raise awareness and give back to the community, there are a number of gluten-free events scheduled during the month of May.

• A gluten-free food drive will be held on Saturday, May 8 to benefit the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina. Special discounts at the drop off locations may be available in exchange for your donation. Bins are set up in each of these locations to accept the packaged gluten-free non-perishable food items:
o Rosie’s Plate – N. Person St., Raleigh
o Bella Monica Italian Restaurant – Edwards Mill Rd., Raleigh
o ZPizza – Falls of Neuse Rd., Raleigh and Cornerstone Dr., Cary
o Mellow Mushroom – W. Peace St., Raleigh
o Whole Foods Market, Raleigh – Wade Ave., Raleigh
o Earth Fare – Moncreiffe Rd., Raleigh
o Harmony Farms/Café Harmony – Creedmoor Rd., Raleigh

• A virtual food drive will be held all month to benefit the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina with gluten-free food. The link to donate can be located on the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog.

• On Sunday, May 16, beginning at 5 p.m., Bella Monica Italian Restaurant will host a six-course gluten-free dinner prepared by Vanessa Maltin, food and lifestyle editor for Delight Gluten-free Magazine and Corbett Monica, head chef at Bella Monica Italian Restaurant. They will be preparing dishes from Maltin’s gluten-free cookbook entitled The Gloriously Gluten-Free Cookbook: Spicing Up Life with Italian, Asian and Mexican Recipes. Copies of the cookbook will also be included. Tickets are required for this dining event and can be purchased by calling Bella Monica Italian Restaurant at 919-881-9778.

• The Gluten Free Raleigh Blog worked with Sofia Noble of the design firm This Is Beautiful to create a poster featuring all of the top food allergens, including gluten. This poster is now available for download in English and Spanish at the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog. Wake County restaurant owners may use it to educate their staffs about these foods.

“Research indicates there are approximately three million people living with Celiac Disease in the United States and of those, only about 120,000 have been diagnosed,” said Alice Bast, founder and president of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA). “It’s great to see North Carolina working to raise awareness about this disease so perhaps others can be accurately diagnosed by their doctors. Zach Becker and the entire North Carolina Celiac Disease community should be commended for their leadership and successful advocacy efforts.”


About Gluten Free Raleigh Blog
Zach Becker was diagnosed with Celiac Disease in May 2008. He founded the Gluten Free Raleigh Blog in August 2008 and has created similar blogs across the state. He has recruited writers for these blogs so gluten-free information in those communities can be shared. The blogs contain restaurant and grocery store reviews, summaries of national news as well as highlight local companies that cater to the gluten-free community. Becker is an advocate for those living with Celiac Disease in the Triangle and donates his time to educate the newly diagnosed, local restaurants and government leaders on this condition.

Call Ahead for Z Pizza in Cary

I got an email from the manager of ZPizza in Cary today.  He asks that people call ahead to check for availability of the Gluten Free crusts this week.  He says that they are low on GF crusts but are expecting shipments later this week.

919 465-9009

Here is the full email:

My name is Ken Alexander.  I'm the manager of Zpizza of Cary at the Stone Creek Shopping Center.
We've been delighted at the response from the community now that we offer a 10" gluten free crust for our pizzas.  It's so rewarding to see the smiles on the faces of people who haven't enjoyed a pizza "out on the town" for years.  We'll do out best to continue to provide a quality dining experience to our patrons.

The response has been particularly strong this past week.  We find ourselves very low on the gluten-free crusts.  We'll get a case in by air on Wednesday the 25th, and five cases more on Thursday the 26th.  In the meantime, could you please ask your readers to call ahead to check the availability of our gluten-free crusts?  I would hate for anyone to make a special trip only to be disappointed.

We'll do our best to maintain a comfortable supply of gluten-free crusts on hand, so that your members will have a place to enjoy a tasty, and healthy, pizza.

Thank you for your help.
 
Ken Alexander
Manager
Zpizza of Cary
Stone Creek Shopping Center
Cary, NC  27519

Gluten Free Pizza Update - ZPizza

I have previously written about a pizza place called Z Pizza which was rolling out Gluten Free Pizza choices. I have spent the past few weeks working with the franchisee of the ZPizza locations in Raleigh and Cary to further discuss their GF Pizza offerings. I met with the owner recently and was walked through the entire process of making a GF Pizza and would like to share the details with all of you. After reading this, I hope you'll feel safe about eating at ZPizza. They have taken some extra steps to get it right that some other local places have not yet taken. Let's hope ZPizza can be an inspiration to them and a safe place for us.

ZPizza is a California based franchise with over 100 locations in the US. They have been in the Raleigh market for about 3 years.

Ordering
From the time you order at the counter until the time you are delivered your GF Pizza, meticulous attention is paid by the staff at ZPizza. Their Point of Sale computer system has a special marking for Gluten Free which causes your order ticket to be printed with a Gluten Free label. The cashier then goes to the kitchen staff area and highlights the Gluten Free label on the ticket to make it stand out further. They then notify the manager (or owner if he is present) about the Gluten Free order. The manager/owner will either make your pizza or directly supervise the entire process.

Gluten Free Crusts
Gluten Free crusts are pre-made using all GF ingredients (including Damato Living Flour) and are sent to the store and kept frozen on site. No GF dough is mixed or made at ZPizza. In addition, to reduce cross-contamination issues when regular wheat pizza is prepared, all wheat flour in the restaurant has been replaced with rice flour. When wheat pizzas are pressed/tossed and prepared, it is using rice flour. This eliminates wheat flour from entering the air and eventually landing on your GF pizza and making you sick. Also, the dough for the wheat pizzas is not made on site further reducing the risks. Wheat flour was replaced with rice flour for about a month before any GF Pizzas were made in the restaurants. The kitchens were also thoroughly cleaned after the switch.

Preparation
Cooks are instructed to wash their hands and put on brand new latex gloves before beginning the preparation. Then a special sealed box is retrieved from the cooler which contains all the necessary tools for making the GF Pizza. It contains pizza pans, cutters, tongs, GF Cheese and GF tomato sauce (along with some other ingredients). Next, your GF crust is taken from the freezer and placed into the GF pan. GF Ingredients are added (they have many choices for pizza - not just cheese!) and the pan is placed in the oven in a dedicated area to the side. A separate paddle is used to place and remove the pizza from the oven. All kitchen staff are notified when a GF pizza is placed in the oven so they do not place wheat pizzas near it. When cooking is finished, the pan is removed and the pizza served.

Ingredients
ZPizza Corporate has thoroughly analyzed all their ingredients and know which are GF and which are not. Any veggies you would like on your pizza are kept in the cooler area and not pulled from the main area where wheat pizzas are topped. ZPizza has a large list of GF ingredients/toppings at the store so please ask when you arrive. Toppings include pepperoni, sausage, cheese and numerous veggies. They also can offer tomato sauce, pesto sauce or chipotle pesto sauce. They are currently working on developing a GF Menu which will be available both online and in the store.

Other items of note
The GF pizzas only come in 10" sizes at this time and cost about $3 more than their wheat pizza counterparts. ZPizza is also looking to add other GF items to their choices including salads, desserts from the Whole Foods Bakehouse and Gluten Free Beer like RedBridge. Please provide feedback to the staff when you visit about what other options you would like to see offered.

My experience
During my tour of ZPizza, the owner made me the following pizzas - Pepperoni with Peppers and Mushrooms, Chipotle Pesto Sauce with tomatoes, corn and roasted red peppers and finally a pesto sauce and cheese pizza. All 3 pizzas were excellent. ZPizza uses high quality ingredients which taste great. For the GF crust, it was very thin and crispy but had a nice flaky, buttery taste to it. Overall, it was a great pizza and I would dine at ZPizza again.

National Foundation for Celiac Awareness - GREAT program
Please see my earlier post about the NFCA's GREAT program here. ZPizza as a franchise has gone through the GREAT training program and has been verified by the NFCA. Look for the window decal when entering the store. See my previous post for all that is included in this verification/certification process.

ZPizza Information
Web site - http://www.zpizzatriangle.com/

Raleigh location
9630 Fall of the Neuse Road
Falls Pointe Shopping Center
(Next to Starbucks)
Phone - 919.844.0065

Cary location
96 Cornerstone Drive
Stone Creek Village
(Corner Davis and High House)
Phone - 919.465.9009