Gluten-Free Menu by Akinto at Wink & Nod

Disclosure: I was invited to a complimentary dinner to try the gluten-free menu at Wink & Nod. I wasn't obligated to blog about it, but it was so delicious that I wanted to share.

Last month Ben and I had the opportunity to attend an amazing gluten-free dinner for Boston-area bloggers at Wink & Nod, a unique restaurant & bar in the South End that features a rotating kitchen. That means every six months a new chef takes up residence there to serve their own menu alongside Wink & Nod's cocktails and other libations. Right now Chef Patrick Enage is cooking his Akinto menu, which is heavily influenced by his Filipino heritage and features many gluten-free items. You can read more about the chef and his menu here. Also, you might want to get over there soon, because he'll only be there through the end of the summer!

The dinner at Wink & Nod was one of the best restaurant meals I've ever had. (You might think I don't eat out much because I'm so busy cooking myself, but you'd be wrong! I have always loved eating out and do it way more than I should, so I've been to my fair share of great restaurants.) Everything we tried was both delicious and beautiful, which, as a wanna-be food stylist, I really appreciated. Each dish was built with contrasting flavors, colors, and textures that made the food really satisfying and interesting at the same time.

The Haven Restaurant Review + Giveaway

It's probably obvious by now that I love to cook a lot of my own food, but I also LOVE restaurants.  I mean, a lot of people love restaurants, but I really love them...like, I've finished-my-meal-but-I-want-to-stay-here-all-day kind of love them.  When I'm at a restaurant I like, a cozy one with delicious food that's just the right mix of comforting and interesting, I pretty much want to move in.

The Haven in Jamaica Plain (Boston, MA) is like that.  All the seats are classroom chairs, but somehow it just works (even though, as a former teacher, I'm dying to get in there after hours and put a tennis ball on the bottom of each leg so they won't be as loud when you scoot them).  It's a Scottish gastropub, and everything I've ordered has been delicious, perfectly striking that balance between familiar and unfamiliar that I'm always looking for when I eat out.  The Haven serves lunch and dinner all week and brunch on the weekends, and they also have a full bar.  I've been several times for brunch and twice for dinner, and think I'll try lunch next. (Check out the giveaway at the end of this post for a chance to win one of two gift cards so you can try The Haven yourself!)