Polenteria offers gluten-free menu in downtown Los Gatos

Yvonne Khananis cannot let a good idea go. The serial entrepreneur, who owns Reverence Catering and Grocer + Goddess, recently opened Polenteria at 10 Victory Lane in Los Gatos.

The restaurant offers a simple, gluten-free dinner menu, but it didn’t begin that way.

“I’ve had the idea for a polenta-focused restaurant for about seven years,” says Khananis. “It wasn’t always going to be gluten free, but it evolved. When I was able to create a good gluten-free bread, then it became a quest to create all things delicious—desserts, focaccia, Italian bread.”

Her limited, seasonal menu consists of several salads with the homemade dressings she’s made popular at Grocer & Goddess, a bruschetta flight with toppings named for friends, plus polenta dishes with sauces like venison Bolognese, traditional Bolognese, mushroom and sausage with wine, cheesy broccolini with alfredo, and tomatoes with Gorgonzola and caramelized onions.

Bread service comes with focaccia and an Italian roll, with butter and a whole roasted garlic flower.  The polenta is made the old-fashioned way with a tiny bit of cream and cheese. But the food is beyond polenta, with sole, lamb chops, chicken, meatballs and a Tomahawk steak among the options.

Desserts like gelato and ice cream provide throwback comfort food. “We made our own vanilla gelato, and the minute I smelled the ice cream machine, it took me back to when I was 5,” Khananis says. “There is a certain smell of real vanilla ice cream, and that first bite—oh, wow! I was transported to being a kid again.”

Polenteria has a full liquor license, but the emphasis is on a small but mighty wine list with about 14 wines by the glass and six Italian craft cocktails, including a Paloma with Campari, an Aperol spritz and a Black Manhattan with rye and Amaro.

Mocktails are also available.

Khananis is working on a gluten-free pasta, which is a challenge, because typical wheat-free pastas tend to taste like chickpeas, corn or almonds. “I am trying to literally re-create normal, everyday pasta that is gluten free, with the right consistency and ability to hold a sauce.”