Gluten Free Red Avocado, Iowa City

The Red Avocado

I’d been meaning to try The Red Avocado for a while but we always seemed to be in the vicinity between the hours of 2pm and 5pm, when it’s not open. It’s a vegan restaurant in Iowa city and I’d heard that they do quite a few gluten free dishes too. I haven’t found too many gluten friendly restaurants in Iowa that also have personality so I was very excited to try this locally inspired, organic place.

I emailed the restaurant to find out about their gluten free options. They didn’t provide information on which of their dishes were gluten free as their menu is bi-monthly and focuses on local and seasonal ingredients. They did say however that a number of things are gluten free and others can be adapted to be. They also said to mention that I am coeliac when I call to reserve a table.

Vegetable Peanut Satay

Quinoa Fiesta

The red Avocado’s menu is awesome. There serve a wonderful variety of delicious sounding dishes, filled with interesting vegetables, grains and spices. It was extremely difficult to decide on what to choose as I wanted to try everything. After more pondering I decided on the Vegetable Peanut Satay, which came with tempeh and quinoa. Fantastic! My boyfriend ordered the daily special (also gf) of quinoa salad with corn chips and black bean hummus with a side of corn and coconut soup. Again, scrumptious!

It’s not the cheapest of restaurants but the organic, locally produced, fresh deliciousness of each of their dishes makes it worth the price. I can’t wait to return and try something else!

The menu

Corn and Coconut soup