We drove to the back of the shopping center and found the year-old 7 Sisters near the Kmart big-box store. We'd barely had time to sit at a table when the big guy with the gray ponytail sticking out of the back of his baseball cap called us over to the kitchen area.
"Hey, boys, I've got a 20-pound mozzarella here, all spread out, if you want to watch me make our mozzarella roll," he said in a boisterous voice.
He turned out to be Todd Morgan, co-owner of the Italian restaurant with his wife, Jeanine.
He fondly patted the slab of house-made gluten-free mozzarella and started adding toppings to it, as if building a pizza. First, layers of salami and capicola (ham), then a tumble of black olives, fresh basil leaves, sun-dried tomato, onions and garlic, then splashes of house-made balsamic vinaigrette.
Todd then rolled it up and cut it into thick rounds, which are served with more vinaigrette or olive oil ($4.99).
"This is peasant food, believe it or not," he said. "Hey, eating is supposed to be fun."
It's clear that Todd enjoys his work and brings a joking, New York-brash attitude to the job. At the same time, he and Jeanine are earnest about offering an alternative gluten-free menu, customized for people with celiac disease.
For those with celiac, the presence of the protein gluten in the diet can lead to serious health problems. Gluten is found in foods that contain wheat, rye and barley. Todd substitutes up to 10 alternative flours for the gluten-free menu, "depending on the recipe." They include tapioca, corn, potato, and white and brown rice.
"I make normal food here from family recipes, with a lot of gluten-free options," Todd said. "It's hard for people to find from-scratch gluten-free, and we didn't expect this kind of response to it. People who are celiacs come in and are shocked."
We sampled house-made gluten and gluten-free breads, and found the gluten-free version much grainier but sort of homey.
"The (gluten-free) pizza crust and bread are tough ones to make because they become so dense," Todd said. "But the gluten-free pastas taste like my (regular) pastas."
The Morgans owned a pizzeria in New Jersey when Jeanine Morgan's celiac disease appeared in 1994, Todd recalled. She has 11 siblings, all of whom (except for one), have celiac disease. "I started developing gluten-free recipes for her, which is how that part of our menu gestated," he said.
The Morgans moved to Reno and ran Big Apple Pizza & Subs for eight years, then moved to Sacramento when demand for their 7 Sisters line of gluten-free foods spread. Locally they're sold at Whole Foods, Elliott's and the Gluten Free Specialty Market. Soon, the couple will sell their line via their website, parts of which are under construction.
The regular and gluten-free lunch and dinner menus offer an array of from-scratch items, from appetizers and pizzas to pasta and chicken picatta ($4 to $18).
To compare gluten-free pasta with the traditional kind, we ordered spinach ravioli topped with marinara sauce from each menu. The creamy spinach filling and tomato sauce were the same for both, of course, marrying well to produce lush, tangy flavors. We noticed that the gluten pasta was firmer and chewier than the lighter gluten-free. Without any sauce, the wheat-based pasta had more flavor.
We loaded a small gluten-free pizza with that house-made mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, homemade Italian sausage ("I grind it myself from organic pork"), olives, tomatoes and mushrooms. The toppings were fine, though they easily slipped off the hard, tasteless crust. Blame our gluten-accustomed palates for that disappointment.
We agreed the best dish on the table was the multi-flavored mozzarella roll. "I can't get enough of this," my lunch pal said as we attacked it with our forks.
For dessert, we crunched a deeply flavored chocolate-mint cookie.
"That's the only recipe my wife has come up with, and it's probably the best one here," Todd said.
Talking with Jeanine in person, one senses the zeal of an evangelist for the gluten-free movement.
"Absolutely I am," she said. "I try to help at least 10 people a day so I can sleep good at night."
As for the name "7 Sisters," that would be Jeanine and her six sisters, all of whose names are etched into a row of windows inside the restaurant. Now, that's family.
7 SISTERS
WHERE: 8493 Auburn Blvd., Citrus Heights
HOURS: 11 a.m.-2 p.m., and 5-9 p.m. Wednesdays- Saturdays; 1-7 p.m. Sundays
FOOD: 3 stars
AMBIENCE: 2 stars
HOW MUCH: $-$$
INFORMATION: (916) 727-2777, www.7sistersgf.com
COUNTER
CULTURE
By Allen Pierleoni
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Call The Bee's Allen Pierleoni, (916) 321-1128.
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