Tu-Lu's Gluten Free Bakery

I am so behind here. I am about a full month late. I went to Tu-Lu's Bakery on that monsoon Saturday we had, walking at a snail's pace against the brutal gales, soaked to the core. I felt like a Weather Channel reporter, not a gluten-free blogger.

Until I ate a panini.


The friendly gentleman behind the counter suggested, out of four sandwich options, the Ham and Melted Muenster with Whole Grain Mustard.

"I put honey on mine," he told me. I said: "Do to me what you will," and dropped my umbrella by the doorway in an dramatic fit of exhaustion. I still think about that very sandwich, today, and am plotting the lunch break where I can trek east to consume it once again.

To be honest, I remember this sandwich with more salivating lust than the desserts, which is not to say they weren't delectable.

Favorites: Chocolate mini cupcake with peanut butter icing, and vanilla mini cupcake with strawberry cream cheese icing. The chocolate chip cookie was real nice, too. The brownie was TOO rich (for my taste) but I know others who prefer it that way. After four years gluten-free really all I want is a basic brownie, Duncan Hines style, you know what I mean? I think Trader Joe's mix does it best.

They also made a brave attempt at a Girl Scout-style thin mint. I probably got too excited for that and was disappointed with its slightly gritty consistency.

But I'm going back for the sandwich! And the puffy little cupcakes. So nice to have them, Tu-Lu's, right at 338 East 11th Street, between 1st and 2nd Avenue.