This past weekend, we had friends in town that were staying near the Funk Zone. We decided to take advantage of the fact that they were staying there to try new spot Finney’s Crafthouse & Kitchen. It was pretty packed, but we didn’t mind waiting as it was a perfect Santa Barbara night. After talking with our waitress, I learned that they use Udi’s buns for their burgers and prepare them on a safe surface when told that it is for an allergy or Celiac. I had the Finney Burger which had a house spread that was also GF. The fries are made in a contaminated fryer, so I had the burger with their side salad. I was pretty pleasantly surprised with the quality of the burger and salad as it was a notch above your typical bar/pub fare. I only wish that they used Canyon Bakehouse hamburger buns as those tend to stay together better and taste better in my opinion. The burger went well with my spicy margarita. 
The restaurant was also accommodating for children as we had two 4-year olds and 2 young babies. They provided crayons and an activity booklet along with a nice kid’s menu.
Finney’s Crafthouse & Kitchen
24 AprBoochies
29 Aug
On August 14, my husband and I celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary. For lunch we decided to get some food from Boochies and have a little picnic at the Sunken Gardens, the place where we got married. As stated on Boochies’ website, “Every ingredient is 100% organic and totally free of gluten, meat, dairy, soy, and GMO’s.” We started with the veggie pizza which had a cauliflower crust. I hadn’t tried a cauliflower crust before then because it seemed odd, but the taste of the crust was pretty good. Then we had a quinoa veggie burger.
The bun was also made of cauliflower. Since we grabbed this from a prepared case, it was cold. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had been made to order and was still warm. For dessert, we split the Blueberry Creme Cupcakes.
These were pretty great. This is a good option for certified gluten-free food in downtown Santa Barbara. It would have been nice if it wasn’t just take away food and there were some seats available. At least there are endless beautiful spots in Santa Barbara to enjoy this healthy meal.
New Grill = Burger Night
29 Aug
Today was a big day for us since we bought our first grill! We clearly had to break it in, so we took a night off from dining out and fired it up. We made veggie burgers using the Sunshine SouthWest Burgers. The buns were Udi’s Hamburger Buns. After seasoning the corn with some salt and cilantro, we put that on the grill too. I had a New Planet 3R Raspberry Ale to wash it all down. If you have any good, EASY recipes to use on the grill, throw them my way!
In-N-Out
20 Jan
Sometimes you just want to eat a burger and fries. When that craving hits (like it did today), we run to In-N-Out where I can get my burger protein style, and my husband can have the grilled cheese. The fact that they make their fries in a dedicated fryer just makes it that much better.
On another topic, a couple of nights ago we went to Pizza Guru. You may recall that last time we were there, the person that helped us told us that we could have the bread sticks made GF. Well, the people we spoke to this time around said that is not true. Has anyone ever been able to order the bread sticks there?
Also, I called C’est Cheese which is a wonderful local cheese shop in downtown Santa Barbara. They have some very appealing sounding sandwiches on their menu so I figured I would ask if they have GF bread. WELL… the lady I spoke with on the phone had just started to look into providing GF bread! It will be a while until they actually have it, but I just think that is so exciting!
