La Riviera Trattoria

This is Maria. I had the pleasure of meeting Maria recently at a Celiac Support Group meeting at the Kogan Celiac Center at St. Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ. Maria was diagnosed with celiac a year ago and told the group her story. Maria's father is the chef-owner at La Riviera Trattoria in Clifton. Being the daughter of the chef, she of course began to mourn the loss of her delicious Italian foods. This led her to remake many of the family's recipes in ways that would allow her to continue to enjoy them. Thus, a gluten-free menu was developed for the restaurant which her family now shares with us.

You can imagine how excited I was to try her dad's place. My husband has been gluten and dairy free for over 4 years and has never been able to order pasta in a restaurant. Additionally, Maria assured me they would be able to accommodate the dairy restriction and make something for us that was vegetarian.

We went there to celebrate my husband's and niece's birthdays. Maria set up the whole menu for us and everything was ready to go when we got there. We started with bruschetta on GF crackers, followed by stuffed artichokes which were quite a treat, a salad, and then GF penne with a truffle oil that was spectacular!

Here is Maria's papa, Franco, the chef at La Riviera Trattoria. We had a lovely evening, stress free due to the wonderful care we were given at the restaurant. We plan to go back soon with friends.

If you go: call ahead and ask for Maria. She will put together a menu for you if you need other restrictions besides the GF menu. 

Buono Appetito!