Roots- A Dining Experience

I've been to this restaurant before and after I found out I have celiac. Roots originally only served vegetarian food, but they just added salmon, shrimp, and seasonal fish to their menu. I really like this place. The atmosphere is wonderful, almost easy-going. It's a lot different than most restaurants. The service is kind of slow but not too awful. The ingredients are really fresh and you can tell that they spend time preparing the food.

The first time I went here my friend and I ordered spring rolls and pad thai noodles. Both were absolutely excellent. I've heard that their thai menu is a lot better than everything else listed, especially their Italian dishes, but I haven't tried for myself so don't take my word..

I went there about a month ago and asked if they had a gluten free menu. They brought me out this binder that listed all the food allergies and there were 4 dishes that I could choose from. (Let me remind you that this menu is absolutely huge) Not to be discouraged, I found this vegetable curry dish that looked interesting. I tried it and loved it.

My friend and I went back there a few days ago. I was looking forward to getting the curry dish again only to find out that the restaurant got new chefs and could no longer make that dish gluten free. I was not a happy camper. So I no only had 3 dishes to choose from. Garden wraps, the tofu plate, and fried tofu. I'm not a fan of tofu so I settled on the garden wraps. All the ingredients were incredibly fresh and the dipping sauce was to die for. I couldn't quite tell what it was made of. Maybe an orange marmalade? All the veggies were wrapped in rice paper to keep it all together. Although I couldn't get my curried vegetables, this dish was still delicious. Not to mention I felt a lot healthier after eating it.

To start, I ordered a Blue Moon smoothie. I had to ask them to make it gluten free. I believe they substituted soy milk with regular milk but it still tasted great. It was made with mango, banana, and blueberries. I hate super sweet drinks but this one was very mild in flavor. It was perfect for 100+ degree weather.







As we were waiting for our food, we noticed a couple that had a really weird looking drink at their table. I asked our waitress what they were drinking and she said it was coconut milk from a coconut! I've never tired coconut milk before so we decided to split one.

The milk was so refreshing. It was mild in flavor and was the same consistency as water but it tasted really good. Definitely not what I was expecting but I'll probably get this every time I go there now.


When you finish the milk, they take crack the coconut in half for your so you can eat the "meat." Not gonna lie, it was pretty gross. It didn't taste bad but the texture was really slimy and it had a purplish tint to it.. It just didn't look appetizing.

Here's a pic of my dish..

The white covering is rice paper to hold everything together. You couldn't even taste it.

Overall, it was a good dining out experience. Although my choices were extremely limited, I was still able to find something that I liked. If you are ever in the Bloomington area, I would definitely recommend this restaurant. If you don't have a gluten intolerance, try the spring rolls and pad thai noodles. Both are heavenly.