The Little Aussie has been in existence about five years now, and it seems they are always evolving, increasing what they have to offer, and coming up with new things. I talked to John Apostolovic recently to catch up with the latest news at The Little Aussie Bakery and Café.

Now that my husband is casein free, we have noticed that more and more of the items are dairy free. I asked John about this, and he said, “I recently discovered I needed to be dairy free due to addiction to chocolate cookies and cream and not being able to function after 3 pm shortly after ingesting said fix. I stopped dairy and lucky for me, Rita developed a whipped cream, by a special process of whipping coconut cream into what essentially has the same texture as whipped dairy cream, without all the allergy issues. The only real difference is that it has a coconut flavor, which is not surprising, and it isn’t a bad flavor to have in the context of a decadent dessert.”

He continued “We now have a dairy-free equivalent for every cake we do except for cheese cake. We can do dairy-free cheese cake, but it just doesn’t live up to the above maxim, so in short it isn’t ready yet. In the next day or so you will not only be able to order regular cakes online, but you will be able to order their dairy-free equivalents as well.”

The shipping business has expanded and is growing at a consistent rate. It has the potential to overtake the rest of the business. I asked Rita if that meant the café might be in danger of closing down as the shipping business becomes more lucrative, and she assured me that there will always be the café segment of Little Aussie. Whew! I was worried there for a minute!

John added, “We have a variety of pies now at all times, including chicken, beef, vegetable, feta and spinach. As always, it is best to call ahead to make sure if you have your heart set on something, so we can put one aside.” Pizza crusts, pie crust, cookie doughs, tortilla mix, flour blends, chocolate cake mix, salad dressings, and lots more are also available. For special events you can always talk to either John, Rita, or Tom.

There are special promotions weekly, including brunch on Sundays from 10 am to 3 pm. Once a week an e-mail is sent out telling the special values for the following week.

Friday nights are known as pizza nights, and they are now going to be open a little later on Friday nights. You are welcome to bring your own beer or wine to enjoy with your pizza.

Before too long, The Little Aussie will be looking for a larger or expanded location, and hopefully it will not be far from the present site.

It is a great feeling to be gluten free in San Antonio, home of The Little Aussie Bakery and Café. Other celiacs around the country know about Little Aussie and look forward to coming to San Antonio so they can experience the gluten-free dining available there. If you are not on their mailing list, you might want to go to the Web site and sign up for the weekly e-mail. (AB August 2010)