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This will be of more interest to people who live in the Washington, DC area but I know that lots of folks visit here and are looking for Gluten-Free places to eat.  So please add this to your list:

I feel compelled to say everything positive I can about Shanghai Garden at 4469 Connecticut Ave, NW.  We ate there last night (I thought I'd have to leave my Chinese-food-on-Christmas tradition behind after I was diagnosed) and it was a truly wonderful experience.  The chef came out of the kitchen to reassure me that he and his sister, the co-chef understand food sensitivity issues, that they keep wheat-free soy sauce in the kitchen, and that they will prepare almost any dish on the menu in a manner that's safe for Celiacs.

I hadn't eaten in this restaurant in more than 20 years, and couldn't remember why until last night when, in the middle of one of the best Chinese dinners ever, I had one of those Celiac Disease "Ah-ha Moments."

Back before I was diagnosed, I would periodically come down with "food poisoning" that I would blame on whatever restaurant I'd eaten in last.  Of course now I know that it wasn't food poisoning at all.  It was gluten poisoning and it was no fault of the restaurant.  

So now I want to make up for 20 years of lost business by eating there as often as possible and telling everyone else to go there too.  It's a charming, little family-run place with all the Chinese Restaurant touches you remember from places in your childhood -- the ornate lighting fixtures, the brocade banquettes, the Tiki glasses and the owners eating at the back table.

The timing of the post is inconvenient because the restaurant will be closed from today through New Years (the owners are taking their first full-week-off in 32 years!) but please mob this restaurant with business when they re-open in 2007.

Their phone number is (202) 362-3000.  They're at the Van Ness Metro across the street from the Days Inn.


Richard Paul
Washington, DC   

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