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Besaw’s

6 Aug

rosemary-garlic roasted potatoes

We just got back from spending a few days in Portland, Oregon to celebrate my birthday and our wedding anniversary. Holy gluten-free awesomeness. I think Portland is my new favorite place. One morning, we decided to try a place called Besaw’s for breakfast. We shared an order of the rosemary-garlic roasted potatoes with melted gruyere. These were fantastic. I then ordered the gluten-free french toast, because why on earth would I order something else when that was on the menu?

GF French ToastThis was pretty tasty too. They use a bread called Jensen’s which was perfect consistency for the french toast.

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Hip Vegan Cafe

17 Jul

Avocado WrapI know… it has been a looooong time since I have shared a new restaurant on here. There is something about summer that makes time fly by. Today, I had the day off, so we decided to go on the pretty drive to Ojai. There, we tried Hip Vegan Cafe. All gluten-free items are clearly labeled on their menu. Additionally, when I had questions, they were very aware of what was in each dish. I ordered the Avocado Wrap. This had avocado, lettuce, tomato and red onion wrapped in rice paper. I also had a choice of GF dipping sauces. I ended up getting the peanut sauce which was quite delicious. This came with soup or salad. I went with their special Indian Dahl soup of the day.

Indian Dahl SoupThis was incredibly flavorful. It might have been crazy to have soup since it was in the 90s, but I was glad I did.

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Red O

29 Jun

Corn and Goat Cheese TamaleThis past week, we went to LA for a day to look for some furniture. There was a fantastic store called HD Buttercup that we fell in love with. It was like West Elm but bigger and better. After working up an appetite, we headed over to Red O, a restaurant by Rick Bayless. You may recall that we had a great experience at Frontera Grill when we were in Chicago. He obviously makes sure the staff is aware of dietary restrictions at all of his restaurants. There was plenty for me to order, but I ended up getting three of the smaller dishes. I had the Corn and Goat Cheese Tamales. These had fresh ground corn masa with roasted poblano chiles. I also had the Fresh Oysters.

Fresh OystersThe oysters were served with a tomatillo-habanero miñoneta, smoky chipotle-garlic salsa & fresh-cut limes. The last item I had was the Spicy Baja Yellowtail Aguachile. This ceviche had spicy serrano chiles, lime, red onion, avocado and cilantro oil. This was my favorite of the three items. I ate it so quickly that there was no time for a picture. As a note, the corn chips here are not GF as they are fried in contaminated oil. However, they have fresh corn tortillas available as a substitute.

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S.Y. Kitchen Round 2

28 Jun

ArtichokeThis past week, we went back to S.Y. Kitchen with my parents. The meal was just as tasty as the first time we went. The table shared an order of the baked artichoke. This was beyond awesome. It was prepared with parmesan and fresh thyme. I also had their special avocado salad.

Avocado SaladThis was big enough that I wished I hadn’t ordered a main dish. But I did. For my entrée, I had the Oak Grilled Prime Natural Angus New York Steak.

Angus New York SteakThis was served with arugula, parmigiano and balsamic. It was very good but I ended up taking most of it home since I was pretty full at this point. That didn’t stop me from ordering dessert though. They have one gluten-free labeled item on their dessert menu. It is an almond chocolate cake.

Almond Chocolate CakeI liked that it wasn’t too chocolaty. This restaurant is becoming my favorite reason to take a drive to the wine country!

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Brasil Arts Cafe

23 Jun

Pão de QueijoHappy Solstice Weekend! This past week, we had lunch at Brasil Arts Cafe. There are only two items on the menu that are labeled as gluten-free, but the lady at the register was very informed about any alterations that had to be made to other menu items to make them GF. I started with the Pão de Queijo. This is described as “Simple and Gluten-Free Brazilian Cheese Buns”. I loved this. My only complaint was that I thought I was getting multiple buns due to the description as I could have crushed a bunch of these! I then had the Brazilian Caesar Salad with Grilled Chicken.

Brazilian Caesar SaladThis was pretty similar to a typical caesar salad, except it had little pieces of that cheese bread as croutons. As much as I liked that bread on its own, it wasn’t as good of a consistency for croutons.

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Tre Piani

19 Jun

Penne with Tomato SauceThis past weekend, I was in New Jersey for a family wedding. The night before the wedding, they had a dinner at Tre Piani in Princeton, New Jersey. Lucky for me (and my celiac brother), they had gluten-free pasta available. I ordered the GF penne with basil, garlic and mozzarella. Even luckier for me, I sat next to my brother so I could eat his dish which was tastier than mine.

Penne with Spinach and Goat CheeseHe had ordered the GF penne with spinach and goat cheese. This had a lot more flavor than my dish. It is always nice to have GF options when out of town!

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Miró at Bacara

18 Jun

Open Face Santa Barbara Cambridge House Smoked SalmonA couple of weeks ago, I went to Bacara for breakfast with a friend to celebrate her birthday. When I started to ask my questions about gluten-free items, the waitress was very confused. It was clear that she was not sure what gluten-free meant. As she kept saying “I think that is okay”, I asked if she would just go to the kitchen to ask the chef what my options were. Once she came back, she knew that they had gluten-free bread available. I had the Open Face Santa Barbara Cambridge House Smoked Salmon on gluten-free bread. It was okay. The company and the views definitely made up for it though. One other thing that I was not crazy about that had nothing to do with being GF was that when she brought our dishes out, she also gave us the check immediately. I personally feel that by doing that, it makes you feel more rushed.  

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Memorial Day Weekend

28 May

Fire-Roast ToastThis past weekend, we took advantage of the great weather by miniature golfing, hiking and enjoying i Madonnari at the Mission. Before miniature golfing, we stopped at my favorite spot in Ventura, Redbrick Pizza Cafe. We started with the GF Fire-Roast Toast. I want to eat this every day for the rest of my life. It had olive oil, garlic, chipotle sauce, parmesam, herbs and a bruschetta spread. I also had the Italian Fhazani which was good as well. After eating, we headed to Golf N’ Stuff for some miniature golf.

Miniature Golf CourseEven though I lost, it was still a lot of fun. They have an arcade too if you want to pretend that you are a kid again. The next day, we decided to go on a short hike/walk to Knapp’s Castle. The views there were fantastic.

Knapp's Castle

From Wikipedia:

George Owen Knapp, founder of Union Carbide, built Knapp’s Castle shortly after purchasing the 160-acre (0.65 km2) parcel in 1916. In 1940, Frances Holden bought the property and invited her friend, world-famous opera singer Lotte Lehmann, to move in. The mansion was destroyed by a forest fire only five weeks later, and now only the massive sandstone foundations, fireplace pillars and walls of the original seven structures remain intact.

It is such a unique spot that offers unbelievable panoramic views. We also took advantage of i Madonnari. If you have the chance, you should visit the Mission the next couple of days while the chalk drawings on the plaza there are still fresh. It is one of those great local events that Santa Barbara offers every year. I just love this city so much.

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S.Y. Kitchen

22 May

Tomato SaladLast night, we decided to head to Santa Ynez for a change in scenery. First, we stopped at one of my favorite boutiques, Ladybug, to check out their latest merchandise. Then we headed down the street to try the new restaurant in Santa Ynez, S.Y. Kitchen. I started with the special tomato salad which had tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and olives along with fresh goat cheese. The ingredients were very simple but it was very fresh and flavorful. For my main dish, I had gluten-free pasta with a duck ragu that had tomato, thyme and porcini mushrooms.

Duck Ragu PastaI usually avoid any and all dishes that have the word mushroom in the description. However, the people next to us were eating this dish and it looked amazing. The waiter assured me that they cook the gluten-free pasta in a separate pot and use a clean colander and utensils. This dish was so hearty that I found it difficult to finish. We also shared an order of the sauteed spinach.

Sauteed SpinachThe spinach was very good and was finished quite quickly. There was a gluten-free dessert on the menu that I was thinking about ordering. But the waiter didn’t come by for 25 minutes after dropping off the dessert menu, so by the time he did, I had decided against it. I really liked the feel of this restaurant. It had a rustic farmhouse vibe to it. I also love the drive along the 154, so I can definitely see us returning!

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A Flight and a Fight for a Cure

22 May

Aerial View of Santa BarbaraSunday was a beautiful day in Santa Barbara. The skies were blue without a cloud in sight. What better way to spend the day than an aerial tour of the area? I took flight with Above All Aviation, located adjacent to Santa Barbara Airport. For the next 30 minutes, I enjoyed stunning views of Reagan Ranch, Lake Cachuma, Oprah’s house and our beautiful coastline. After the flight, I headed down to Chase Palm Park to partake in the Take Steps for Crohn’s and Colitis Walk. A group of us walked on behalf of Gluten-Free Santa Barbara to support those with these digestive diseases.

GFSB It was great to see so many people in the community rally around those who suffer from these diseases. I would love to see something similar in the future to benefit Celiac awareness and research!

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