Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Le Yaca - Williamsburg, VA

Tonight, we had dinner at Le Yaca in Williamsburg, Virginia.  Their new location is about a five minute drive from Colonial Williamsburg.  My parents told us that this French restaurant is not to be missed.  It's their favorite place to eat in Williamsburg.  


Right away, I was impressed with their decor, and all the gluten free choices clearly marked on their menu.  


I decided to order from their Three Course Dinner Menu, but they also had an a la carte menu, and a three course summer menu that they serve from Sunday to Thursday.


For my first course, I chose the soup of the day, a cold watermelon soup.  I also could have chosen the house salad.  The watermelon soup was quite good, and with every bite, I kept trying to figure out what, if anything else, was in it besides watermelon.


For my second course, I ordered poached Scottish salmon on fresh sauteed spinach, finished with a heirloom tomato sauce with fresh herbs and extra virgin olive oil.  The lentils that came with my dish were a nice surprise.  This was the only main course marked as gluten free on the Three Course Dinner Menu, but our server told me they could modify other dishes to make them gluten free.  I was so glad I chose the salmon though, because it was one of the best pieces of salmon I have had in a restaurant.  It was perfectly cooked, and seemed to just melt in my mouth.  I enjoyed eating each bit with the lentils, which were perfect with this salmon dish.  I was also impressed by the generous portion I received.


For dessert, I couldn't pass up the Grand Marnier Souffle.  It was a favorite dessert of mine pre-Celiac and I haven't eaten it in at least eight years.  The addition of the berry sorbet was a little unexpected, but the combination of the Grand Marnier Souffle, creme anglaise, and sorbet was amazing!  I love desserts like this one, that have both a hot and cold element and aren't too sweet.  We paid an $8 upcharge for the souffle, but it was worth it.

I was surprised that 5 of the 6 dessert choices on the three course dinner menu were gluten free.  I could have also ordered a creme brulee, chocolate truffle cake with creme anglaise, a sorbet trio, or a lemon mousse served over a thin almond crust, served with fresh berries and a raspberry coulis.

On the Dinner a la Carte menu, there were six gluten free first courses, and six gluten free main courses that are served with a complimentary soup or salad.  You can view Le Yaca's lunch and dinner menus on their website here.

We have found Colonial Williamsburg and the surrounding area to be very gluten free friendly.  I have had great gluten free meals at Chowning's Tavern, The Cheese Shop, Noodles & Company, and Food For Thought Restaurant (click on these links to read my other Williamsburg reviews).

What are your favorite gluten free friendly vacation spots?    


1 comments:

  1. We were recently in Williamsburg / Jamestown as well. I enjoyed a gfree pizza at ZPizza in the Newtown area of Williamsburg. :-) I agree, it seems to be a very gluten free friendly area!

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