Kraft (Photo by Bob Cullen)

By DCist contributing writer Eliza Krigman

Shira Kraft’s love of food and D.C.’s restaurant scene was nearly undone by a diagnosis a few years back. But rather than lament her gluten-free diet, she is instead spinning into practical advice with a new blog chronicling her dining adventures. Glutie Foodie, which debuted earlier this year, reviews District area restaurants for their ability—or lack thereof—to serve gluten-free diners.

Kraft was diagnosed a few years ago with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition that manifests itself as a gluten allergy. She was crestfallen, having just recently a broader culinary universe when she gave up following Kosher rules.

“I was a really really explorative eater and loved eccentric foods and felt so great about it,” Kraft said at a party for her blog last Thursday at the Hemphill Fine Arts Gallery, where she works. “It was hard to have to pare my palate back.”

Initially, Kraft used her upcoming nuptials to help keep gluten out of her diet—she was diagnosed at roughly the same time she got engaged. “It was a forced way of starting my wedding diet,” said Kraft, who figured she shouldn’t be eating cookies and bread anyways. But the wedding came and went and she had to face the fact that it was a life long dietary commitment.

For most of the first year, learning about which foods she could and couldn’t eat completely occupied Kraft. But after getting comfortable with the diet, she began to yearn for an outlet. Constantly talking to people about how restaurants handle her diet, who don’t necessarily care, Kraft wanted to reach out to the growing population of gluten-free diners.

“There really is no gluten-free blog, especially in D.C., that focuses only on reviewing restaurants and how they handle gluten free diners,” Kraft said, who hopes to fill that void in the market. Previously she used Urbanspoon, which has a “gluten-free friendly” category, to search for restaurants.

But when you filter by that category, Kraft says, it populates generic reviews of the restaurant. On Glutie Foodie, Kraft grades restaurants according to spoons, with five being the top rating. Users can search by type of cuisine and spoon rating, or simply brows all the restaurants reviewed.

So far, Kraft has given four-spoon marks to Ripple in Cleveland Park, Jackie’s Restaurant in Silver Spring and Zaytinya in Chinatown. Graffiato, the Mike Isabella-owned Italian spot, only managed three spoons. Only Ashok Bajaj’s Rasika grabbed all five spoons.

“My mission is to reclaim fellow gluties’ culinary freedom, one reservation at a time,” Kraft writes on her blog. She firmly believes that as awareness about the gluten allergy continues to grow, restaurants can and will do more to offer top-notch dishes to diners with this restriction.

“I feel like my blog is in synch with D.C. becoming a real sort of foodie destination,” Kraft said.