Caselnova (Waterfront District, Brooklyn)

I had heard talk of Caselnova, a gluten-free friendly Italian place down by the waterfront and had been meaning to check it out for, oh, the past year. As I understand it, one of the staff members has celiac and the owners were inspired to create a GF menu, which is listed online. An impromptu Sunday night visit with some family members who also eat gluten-free gave me a reason to finally get on down there.

Warm and cozy. Such an inviting space.

The clarifications on the GF menu made me feel more at ease about ordering: "Please note Caselnova is not a gluten free kitchen. We do take care to prepare these dishes separately from our regular menu. Cross contamination, although unlikely, may occur." Since it isn't a 100% GF kitchen, there's still a risk, but that extra info showed me they "get it".

Our server gave us the lowdown on what was good - and safe! - to eat. Considering they have a dedicated GF fryer, we had to try the calamari:

We polished this off in about 2 minutes flat.

Lightly battered and not greasy - very tasty, especially with side of good marinara for dipping. Next up: My favorite - breaded chicken parm:

Thin cutlets breaded, seasoned, and sauced perfectly.

One thing I appreciated was that our server steered me away from the GF pizza. It's made with GF dough, but made in a mixed use oven. I struggle with the fact that businesses offer "gluten-free" pizza that isn't really gluten-free, but respect when they are up front about it. My dining companions are much less lax about their GF diet, so they went for it. They gave this pie two enthusiastic thumbs up:

That's a good lookin' pie.

Sadly, we were short on time, so had to skip dessert (hello, GF biscotti, panna cotta, and flourless chocolate cake!!) Next time.

Caselnova is located in Brooklyn at 215 Columbia St. between Sackett and Union St.