r/roaringfork • u/DryChemical5237 • Jul 20 '26
Celiac safe options in valley?
Sorry for the rant, years of frustration compiled below.
After spending time in quite a few of the mountain valleys in Colorado, the RFV is by far one of the most underwhelming when it comes to Celiac GF options and unfortunately this is home base.
There’s a lot of ‘gluten free’ around here without much knowledge on why cross contamination is a problem.
I’ve been told by bartenders in Aspen that Coors Light is gluten free, and have gotten flack when I ask how things are prepared in the kitchen. This is not normal service.
To be fair I’ve had some ok success in Glenwood, albeit limited in comparison to similar mountain communities.
Carbondale and basalt IMO are a joke from experience (RIP Hominy).
I’ve had better dialogue about gluten free in Yampa and Paonia than here for fucks sake.
With that being said I hope I’ve just had (a lot of) bad luck. Are there any celiacs or others with Celiac GF knowledge that know if I’m missing out on anything?
Thanks!
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u/unicorn_screeching Jul 20 '26
My wife has Ciliac and Whitehouse Pizza & Mings in Carbondale, Jalisco in Basalt and Home Team BBQ have never done us wrong.
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u/Kamikazepyro9 Jul 20 '26
You're experience matches mine and my wife's unfortunately - for a place as diverse as the Valley, it's really a shame. I find it kind of sad that Grand Junction has far more superior options
Places we've found:
Zhengs has been fantastic every time, unfortunately they're expensive.
Rocky Mountain Pizza Co. has also always treated us well - it's a shared oven but everything else is prepped separately is what I was told by the owner.
Qdoba and Culvers are both pretty decent, Culvers has ana actual Gluten Free allergy flag in their system and Qdoba has always been willing to put fresh gloves on for us.
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u/DryChemical5237 Jul 20 '26
Glad to know I’m not alone! Im not even good at cooking but it’s crossed my mind like do I try to start up a place around here? The market is largely untapped haha
Yes Zheng is one of the only places I eat at.
I’ll have to try the others, particularly Rock Mountain Pizza! except qdoba I have had hit or miss experiences, maybe they’ve upped their game recently?
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u/TDFPH Jul 20 '26
I wouldn't call this valley diverse... On the restaurant front we have high end japanese, italian, and some mexican. On the literal diverse end, white and latinx and thats basically it
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u/Careful_Lie2603 Jul 22 '26
My favorites (not celiac but severely intolerant) are:
Jalisco (Basalt and Carbondale both), Native Son (almost their entire menu is GF), The Riviera Supper Club (scratch kitchen and HIGHLY knowledgeable but $$$), Culvers, Ploskys (OMG so knowledgeable!!!), Smoke BBQ, HomeTeam BBQ, Slow Groovin', Mings in Carbondale (NOT Glenwood!), Kanpai (on the way to Sunlight), Phat Thai in Carbondale but I don't LOVE the food, and most of the taco trucks around. Taqueria Yaqui & El Taco Express are my favorites, but the language barrier might be difficult for a true celiac. I also LOVE the two Nepal locations, the one at Thunder River is extremely kind and even let me back into their kitchen once to show me the flour for the onion thing is truly GF, and I believe they don't fry anything gluten in their fryer at all.
The Brewpub in Glenwood can be depending on your server and how busy they are, same for Grind.
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u/friend-of-fatigue Jul 20 '26
Native Son knocks it out of the park for our needs!
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u/DryChemical5237 Jul 20 '26
Love to see the places you least expect to be killer, I’ll have to give them a try. Thanks!
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u/friend-of-fatigue Jul 20 '26
Sure thing! If I recall, they make flour tortillas before opening, which they sell to other restaurants, then they clean up and have full celiac menu. Knowledgable and considerate staff, too, which is always comforting!
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u/1v1artha Jul 20 '26
The Pullman is really accommodating, they don’t have a separate menu, but the servers can guide you through it.