Last Sunday, my grandma, daughter and I went for an early dinner at Lure Fish House. This restaurant just opened at the La Cumbre Shopping Center in place of Ruth’s Chris Steak House. It was busy even though we got there at 5pm, most likely due to a combination of the happy hour specials along with the energetic atmosphere. The music was loud to the point that it hurt my ears, which made me feel as old as my 95-year old dining companion. Other than the headaches that ensued, our meal was pretty good. The first thing I noticed was that the menu had all of the gluten-free items marked. I kept my order pretty safe as it was my first time dining there. They had items like the chips and guac marked GF, but I didn’t inquire whether the chips were fried in non-contaminated oil. I started with the Organic Tuscan Kale Salad. I got the small size, which upon receiving, made me wonder how huge the large size is. The salad consisted of organic Tuscan kale, julienned red bell peppers, julienned carrots, quinoa and wild rice, halved red grapes, shaved parmesan cheese, and sunflower seeds. Even though it was quite sizable, I managed to finish. For my main dish, I had the Grilled Salmon with sides of Brussels Sprouts and Green Beans.
The salmon was cooked really well and I loved the sides as they both had a plethora of garlic cooked in. Going in only knowing that this restaurant was part of a chain, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with the food. I will be interested to find out about the more “dangerous” items marked GF, and whether they are properly marked or not.
As a reminder, this Sunday, Gluten-Free Santa Barbara will be holding their first meet-up of 2016. Come stop by Lilac Patisserie at 11am to have some yummy food. I will be giving out free tickets to the 2016 Gluten-Free and Allergen Friendly Expo, which is being held next month in San Diego!
We decided to start the new year with a new restaurant. 
We had the pulled pork, smoked chicken and Jalapeño-Cheese Sausage. The chicken was ridiculously tender. It was probably my favorite of the three. The restaurant has three homemade BBQ sauces to choose from. Two of the three are gluten-free – the spicy sauce and the espresso sauce. I am a spicy kind of gal, so I only had the one. It was really good with the meat. Typically the BBQ comes with bread, which we obviously had them hold. The table decided to share a couple of side – the grilled carrots and the brussels sprouts.
The carrots came with a pepita pesto which was enjoyed by all. Even more delicious were the brussels.
These were gone in seconds. If the food wasn’t reason enough to return to Wildwood Kitchen, the Jalapeño Margarita is. Holy moly that drink is dangerously delicious. Consider yourself warned.
I will enjoy eating Manchego cheese any day and in any form. The guava paste was firmer than I had anticipated. I could have done without it though and just eaten a hunk of the cheese. We also shared an order of the brussels sprouts.
After numerous attempts at cooking brussels sprouts perfectly, I still haven’t succeeded. So it was nice to enjoy them prepared by someone that knew what they were doing. The last thing I ordered was some spinach/bacon/mushroom/bean dish with a garlic butter sauce.
gluten-free in sb 
