Thursday, March 17, 2016

Arts and Entertainment Column; Gluten or No Gluten, Meconi's is Delicious

Gluten or No Gluten, Meconi’s is Delicious

Unless you happen to be Patrick Star and literally live underneath a rock, odds are you’ve heard of the gluten free phenomenon sweeping the nation—nay, the world—and likely have seen “gluten free” labels at the grocery store or on restaurant menus. Perhaps you just read that sentence and scoffed as you took a bite of your daily loaf of French bread.
“Yeah, I’ve heard of it,” you say as you add 9 cups of high-gluten flour to your mixer to make homemade cinnamon rolls. “What a ludicrous notion to cut out gluten—gluten is delicious!”
While I absolutely agree about the delicious nature of gluten-filled products, I am one of the unfortunate souls who cannot eat it, unless I enjoy becoming extremely ill. Eating completely gluten-free proves to be rather difficult; however, since living in “the big city,” my gluten free diet has become increasingly fabulous!
When I moved to the Olympia area seven months ago, I came from a small, dusty town in Southeastern Colorado. As someone with Celiac Disease, the closest thing I could get to a gluten free menu in my little hometown was asking for a bun-free McDouble. Oh, how my life has changed since then! While I could rant and rave about the numerous restaurants I have discovered here with delicious gluten free options, I would like to focus on my favorite of all: Meconi’s Italian Subs.
             There are plenty of restaurants with gluten free bread or buns, and I have favorite brands of gluten free sliced bread I buy at the store. But the first time I ate a gluten free sub from Meconi’s, I was in awe. It tasted like actual bread! This sounds like a crazy statement to those who eat wheat bread every day, but when banned from the joys of normal bread, one soon comes to appreciate the art of bread making. Meconi’s has got this art down. Their gluten free bread is soft and squishy, and doesn’t fall apart when the wind blows. While I could eat an entire loaf with a few squirts of spray butter, the ingredients placed between the bread make an absolutely delicious sandwich. I’ve had almost every sandwich option on my beloved bread, and have never been dissatisfied.
            Of course, gluten eaters will be satisfied at Meconi’s as well! I have taken my husband and both our families to the sub shop and all have been impressed with their own meals, and rejoiced with me about my own delightful sandwich. Each time I eat at Meconi’s (which is a lot) there are other happy customers devouring scrumptious subs or ordering them to go. The consensus is that Meconi’s is delicious!
There isn’t a whole lot one can say about a sandwich shop, but Meconi’s definitely does sandwiching right. The bread is fresh baked, and the meats, cheeses, and veggies are excellent. The atmosphere is quaint and cheery, and of course, even gluten free individuals can eat a sandwich there! Going to school at St. Martins and living ridiculously close to the Hawks Prairie Meconi’s location has resulted in my eating a lot of sandwiches in my seven months here—I’ve been making up for all the years I had to eat salads at sandwich shops in small town Colorado. With it’s three locations and frequent business, I sense that Meconi’s has already established a well-known, positive status with its communities. My advice is this: if you want delicious gluten free bread, go to Meconi’s! If everything I have said is old news to you, and you already know how good Meconi’s is, feel grateful to have access to such a wonderful restaurant, and go get another sandwich tomorrow! If you have never eaten at Meconi’s, get on over there and try it out. Basically, whoever you are, just go eat a sandwich at Meconi’s. You won’t regret it!


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