Tag Archives: california

Carlitos

18 Dec

Corn, black beans, tomatoes and cilantro are the makings of a tasty salsa that is served at Carlitos. Since this was the location of our first date, it will always hold a special place in our hearts. We started with some nachos which were quite good.

There is something about a little Mexican flag sitting in your food that makes it that much more festive. I was going to get the shrimp tacos but the waiter informed me that they are breaded and have flour tortilla strips. Instead of getting something and making alterations to it, I decided to just get the steak tacos. They are served on fresh corn tortillas.

Between the nachos and these tacos, I was only able to finish about half of the dish, but it was really good. If I wasn’t so full, I would have gone next door to try on some clothes at Diani.

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Via Maestra 42

7 Dec

Tonight we were up in the San Roque area so we decided to try Via Maestra 42. This is one of those places that you pass a million times. I am so happy that we finally stepped inside. It is a cozy, neighborhoodish restaurant. I started with the Insalata di Franco. It included organic greens, freh mozzarella, tomatoes, grilled zucchini and grilled eggplant. I really liked this salad. I then had GLUTEN-FREE PASTA. At this point, I will be surprised if a place I go to does NOT have GF pasta.  The waitress explained that it was a $5.00 charge for the GF pasta. I said that was fine, and ordered the pasta with shrimp, cherry tomatoes and arugula.

The sauce was very light. I asked for some red pepper flakes to put some kick in it. It was a good pasta dish if don’t want anything too heavy. So then comes the funny part. As we paid, the waitress brought a wrapped up box of gluten-free pasta from Italy. She explained that since I paid the $5.00 for the pasta, I might as well get what is left of it so that I can cook the rest at home. How nice is that? I definitely want to return and try their Bolognese… and their pesto… and their Pomodoro… and their gelato that is flown in from Italy.

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Trattoria Mollie

4 Dec

Tonight we decided to get dinner and then put up our Chrismukkah decorations. We went to Trattoria Mollie’s so that we would have plenty of energy to put together our fake tree that has made it through two cross country moves. I had a salad with a lemon dressing and shaved parmigiano. It was nice and light. I then had the Medaglioni di Melanzane alla Piastra con Speck al Profumo di Pesto.

This consisted of  grilled eggplant with mozzarella, smoked ham and pesto sauce. I then had gluten-free pasta. You heard right…. ANOTHER restaurant that offers GF pasta! Are we lucky or what?

I had the Spaghetti con Pancetta e Ricotta salata. It was GF spaghetti, smoked Italian bacon and ricotta cheese in a light tomato sauce. It was quite yummy. They use the Trader Joe’s brand rice flour pasta. To finish off the meal, they made me a small portion of their Panna Cotta.

This naturally GF dessert had a wonderful chocolate drizzle and was surrounded by a strawberry sauce. I don’t know how we got anything done after eating the amount that we did. However, after rummaging through our moving boxes, we were able to locate our tree and box of ornaments. The stockings are still MIA, but who needs stockings when you have a festivities bush like ours?

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Cocktails and a Concert

19 Nov

Before going to the Santa Barbara Symphony tonight, a friend and I got a couple of drinks at the Marquee. I had their signature drink, the Marquee which included vodka, fresh orange juice, cranberry juice, fresh lemon juice, simple syrup, serrano chili and a sugar-rim garnish. I substituted a potato vodka for their absolut mandarin vodka. This was incredibly tasty. As a celiac, I usually play it safe and order wine, so this was especially exciting as it was delicious and GF! After drinks, we went to see the Santa Barbara Symphony at the Granada Theater.

The theater is absolutely beautiful. Tonight, they were performing Beethoven’s Pastoral and Emperor. The reason I was there was because of Emperor, my favorite classical piece. It was a really nice night in a lovely setting. I will definitely return to the Granada as well as the Marquee for some more delicious beverages!

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Pancakes with the Pup

18 Nov

This morning, we took the pup for a walk at the Douglas Preserve. It is a great off-leash area for dogs that has an amazing view of the Santa Barbara coast. After our walk, we decided to go to the back patio of Savoy since it is dog friendly. This was the perfect time to try their gluten-free pancakes. YUM. I don’t know what it is about powdered sugar, but it just makes everything look and taste better. There was also some GF pumpkin bread for purchase but I held off as I was trying a new thing called self-control.

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Brewhouse and Dessert

15 Nov

We decided to return to our old neighborhood and go to Brewhouse tonight. It was pretty dark in there, so no food pictures came out. I started with the Fire Roasted Artichoke which had an awesome grill taste to it. I then had the Salmon Salad which had two pan seared pieces of salmon on Mixed Greens with Tomato, Red Onion, Capers, Feta Cheese and Champagne Vinaigrette. The pieces of salmon were a smidge overcooked, but overall it was a good salad. Make sure to request it without the bread. I noticed on the menu that they had a “Tanka Dog” on the menu that mentioned that it was gluten free. I asked the waitress about it and she said the actual hot dog was gluten free but that it wasn’t on a GF bun which pretty much defeated the purpose of it for those with allergies. Seemed silly to me. After dinner, we headed to Yogurtland.

On each of the flavors, they mention any specific health tidbits including whether or not the self-serve flavor is gluten-free! How cool is that?

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Woodstock’s Pizza

13 Nov

This weekend I had my lacrosse alumni game at UCSB. It is a tradition to go to Giovanni’s in Isla Vista after the game for some pizza and pitchers of beer. Now I couldn’t drink the beer due to it being gluten-filled and the fact that I was one of the drivers. However, I knew that Woodstock’s Pizza nearby has gluten-free pizza available now. I decided to call and see if they could deliver one of their GF pizzas to Giovanni’s. The guy on the phone had to make sure it was ok with his manager, which it was. About twenty minutes later, I met the delivery guy outside and got the delicious looking pizza shown above. This was a larger GF pizza. The sauce on the pizza was really good. I really liked this pizza since it wasn’t trying to be gourmet. It was just good sauce and good cheese on a decent crust. I ended up having plenty as leftovers, so this would be a good pie to get for sharing.

On a side note, congratulations to my fellow Gaucho lacrosse alumni who beat the current school team 8-7.

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Fresco Take-Out

9 Nov

The hubs had a work call tonight so we decided to get some take-out from Fresco. I called to see if their soup of the day was GF and it was!  Soup and salad sounded mighty fine to me, so I got the caesar salad and the potato leak soup. The salad was smothered with cheese which is just the way I like it. The soup looked pretty unappetizing as depicted below.

However, I love potato and leek soup and this was no exception. It was the perfect thing for a cold night!

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Cantina

6 Nov

We were at UCSB to train for my upcoming alumni weekend so we decided to bring some dinner home from Isla Vista. Although I really wanted to try Woodstock’s gluten-free pizza, the nachos at Cantina were beckoning me to take a trip down memory lane. These brought me right back to college as I used to have them at least once a week. YUM.

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Scarlett Begonia

6 Nov

I love when I don’t have work on Sunday mornings because there is something about going out for breakfast on a Sunday that is just so enjoyable. Today, we tried Scarlett Begonia. As soon as we sat down, I saw that there was a gluten-free polenta and pear muffin on the menu. This was served warm and had a really good taste to it. While we started to devour that, we were served an amuse bouche. It didn’t appear GF so I stayed clear.  I then had the soft scrambled eggs with spinach and aged gouda.

As I mixed the dish around, the aged gouda melted perfectly. This was a hearty dish as there were plenty of potatoes on the bottom. Finally, at the end of the meal, there was a little surprise that came with our check. It was homemade toffee. When I was trying to check what the ingredients were in it, the woman who I asked made it seem very difficult to get an answer. This brings me to my next point. I thought the food was really good but there was something about the service that rubbed me the wrong way. I was eavesdropping at the conversation between the waitress and the table next to us. The diners were explaining how they had seen the iPad ordering system at another local eatery. The waitress then had some attitude saying that they were the first ones to do it. Additionally, the way certain things were presented to us felt like they wanted a pat on the back. It wasn’t enough to prevent us from coming back, but it just felt like they thought very highly of themselves and wanted others to know that.

That toffee by the way? Pretty fantastic.

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