I know that it seems odd to start a blog about GF food in Santa Barbara by talking about areas other than Santa Barbara, but in our week of driving from Baltimore, MD to the West Coast, we came across some eateries that were too good to ignore. “We” includes my husband and rescue dog, the companions on my journey.
Our first food stop was a place that I had gone to often when we lived in Baltimore. It is called the Lilit Cafe and is located in Bethesda, MD. This place is amazing for us GF folk. They have a huge GF menu that includes sandwiches, pizzas, beers and more. My personal favorite thing to get is one of their sandwiches on the GF baguette. They also carry tons of dessert items from Sweet Sin Bakery which is based in Baltimore. After picking up a Classic Italian sub with all of the fixings, we headed to Arlington, VA, where we stayed with some friends
Arlington has plenty of options for those that are GF diners. For dinner, we decided on a place called Fire works. This place has tasty gluten free pizza and Redbridge beer. My husband and I split two GF pizzas (for him out of love, not necessity). We ordered the Guadalajara pizza and the Bianco pizza. The crust was great here. As far as the toppings, we both favored the Bianco.
After Arlington, we made it to Chapel Hill, NC where my brother and his girlfriend live. We got some GF pizza for lunch at a place called Brixx. This crust was very thin. I also had my first sweet tea which was VERY tasty, although I can’t imagine having more than one of those. We had some pre-dinner drinks in Chapel Hill. The first place we went was The Crunkleton, which is a members only bar. The bartender was great here, knowing that by being gluten free, I could only have certain types of vodka. The second place we went was Milltown, which had two GF beers I had never had. The first was St. Peters which came in a really cool old school bottle. The other was Green’s.
Asheville, NC was the next stop. We LOVED Asheville. This place is so GF friendly, it is unbelievable. We had lunch at a cafe called Green Sage. There are plenty of options, but I decided on a GF sandwich. We got takeout from a restaurant called Tupelo Honey. It is hard to describe how good this was. I started with the tomato soup and then had shrimp and grits. Then, for dessert, I had the most unbelievable GF apple crumb cake. It was so ridiculously tasty that I felt inclined to call the restaurant back and tell them how good it was.
On our way to Conway, Arkansas, we stopped at a Jason’s Deli in Nashville. This chain carries GF bread for their sandwiches and goes to great lengths to avoid cross contamination. Once in Conway we were pleasantly surprised to find a restaurant called Zaza which had customized salads that worked great for me.
After Conway, we headed towards Amarillo, Texas. Our lunch stop was in Oklahoma City at Jersey Mike’s. They have the option of putting their sandwich fillings in a bowl to make it a GF meal. Just prior to arriving in Amarillo, we stopped to see the VW bug graveyard. This provided for a quick photo op just before getting to our destination. Once in Amarillo, we got takeout from Pei Wei since they have a GF menu. In the morning, we stopped at the Cadillac Ranch which was a lot of fun. Then on to Santa Fe!
In Santa Fe, we had lunch at a place called The Shed because they had a dog friendly patio and our friends in Baltimore told us about it. Later on, we got takeout from Mucho Gusto, a restaurant right near our hotel. Both places had Mexican food which is easy for a GF diner. After Santa Fe, the only noteworthy meal was from when we stopped in Flagstaff, Arizona. We got takeout from Picazzo’s, a small chain in Arizona. This place has GF items clearly labeled on the menu including pasta and pizza. They also have a very large and tasty chocolate chip cookie which we devoured on the road. It was the perfect end to our cross country adventure.
gluten-free in sb 
Tupelo Honey in Asheville was probably my favorite meal of the trip. My meal wasn’t GF, but the tofu prepared in the style of their wings and the veggie burger were really good. They also included a couple of huge biscuits with my order.
Love that you found a place called “Jersey Mike’s!”