Nicholas
Nicholas is another longtime family owned and operated restaurant in SE Portland, featuring fresh, flavorful Lebanese and Mediterranean cuisine.
After coming back from a recent trip to Greece, I was craving something close to that food and Nicholas hit the spot for my first restaurant meal back in Portland. To be clear, Nicholas is not Greek food. Greek and Lebanese food happen to have several overlapping dishes, but they are generally prepared with very different spices dependent on the region.
One of the best things about Mediterranean cuisine is all the mezze dips, but you need something to dunk in them! At Nicholas, you can order gluten free pita and go wild with the dips! In addition to the gluten free pita, Nicholas also has delicious gluten free falafel, which is great with the tahini sauce it comes with, but I also like to dunk it in the tzatziki and toum sauce.
A kabob is always a must for me when ordering Greek or Lebanese food. I’ve had the chicken and lamb from Nicholas and both are so flavorful and pair amazingly with their toum garlic sauce. There are many other gluten free options on their menu and everything is well marked, which really takes the stress out of ordering.
One quick tip if you order from Nicholas for takeout or delivery. They generally will still supply regular pita bread with your meal, in addition to the gluten free pita bread you’ve ordered. The first time I ever ordered from them a couple years ago, I accidentally glutened myself as I was so excited for gluten free pita and pita was the first thing I could grab out of the bag. I took a few bites before unloading the rest of the meal and then saw the other pita bread that was clearly marked GF.
If it helps, the regular pita is generally a huge, fresh baked folded piece of fluff that comes in a plastic bag. The gluten free pita on the other hand is cut into uniform quarters and neatly packed in foil and a typical pastry sleeve. I’m guessing it might be store bought due to its uniformity, but I don’t care. It’s quite tasty and allows me to indulge in all those wonderful dips! Speaking of which, the muhamra (roasted red pepper hummus) and baba ghanoush are also top notch!
