Tag Archives: dinner

Finch & Fork

14 May

Blistered Shishito PeppersToday was another beautiful day in Santa Barbara. My good friend and I decided to take advantage of the weather by enjoying a beverage on the rooftop at the Canary Hotel. After soaking up some rays, we headed downstairs to try Finch & Fork. We started by sharing the shishito peppers. I love shishito peppers. These were especially salty and delicious. I then had the halibut.

Local HalibutThis was served with a lentil salad, roasted cipollini onions and asparagus. The fish was cooked well and I enjoyed the salad that it came with. I would probably try something a little more flavorful though next time. My friend ordered the Pan Roasted Half Chicken.

Pan Roasted Half ChickenThis was served with a sweet corn puree, apple and arugula salad and charred lemon. Out of the two dishes, I preferred the halibut. Overall, we had a pleasant meal. I can already see myself returning just for the shishito peppers and the views from the rooftop.

 

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Inkaterra at Machu Picchu

19 Aug

While in Peru, I was able to cross off an item on my bucket list when we visited Machu Picchu. We ate dinner at our hotel, the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. I started with the Peruvian Salad that had (HUGE) corn, black beans, cheese, potatoes, carrots, red onions, aji peppers, black olives and cilantro. Then, I had the beef tenderloin with garlic accented potato puree and broiled bananas.

I wouldn’t have thought that the bananas would go well with the dish but they were really good. This restaurant was the site of my first Pisco Sour, which at altitude was a bit dangerous!

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Rafael in Lima, Peru

18 Aug

One of my favorite meals of our trip was at Rafael in Lima, Peru. The restaurant made me feel like I could have been in NYC. My brother and I shared a bunch of dishes while we were there. We started with the roasted vegetable stew with asparagus cream and basil pistou. This was perfect for the day as it had been overcast and rainy. Our second appetizer was the roasted beetroot carpaccio with goat cheese, almonds and organic sprouts.

This dish was nice and light. I just think that goat cheese makes any dish that much better. Our third appetizer was the Tuna Tataki.

This was prepared with Buffalo Mozzarella and Sicilian Pesto. When this first came out, each tuna was on a piece of bread, but our waiter quickly remedied that by making us a new one. It was then time for our main dishes. The first was the Grilled Angus Flank Steak with braised juices, parsley pesto, accordion potatoes and a smoky salad.

The meat was very tender and flavorful. The other entree we ordered was the Char-Grilled Yellow Fin Tuna.

This was served with roasted shrimps, Pistou emulsion, salad provence and potatoes. Everything was really wonderful here, including the Pisco Sour I had to go with the meal!

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Dinner at Hotel Monasterio in Cuzco, Peru

16 Aug

For one of our nights in Cuzco, we decided to stay at Hotel Monasterio and have dinner at their El Tupay restaurant. I am so glad that we did! As they served the regular bread, they gave my brother and I a slab of GF bread that was good. I started with the grilled shrimp.

This was served with a yellow chili salad, roasted pepper, quinoa and a citrus foam. It was nice and light. For my main, I had the creamy corn.

It was prepared with herbs, grilled veggies, sprouts and smoked oil. I loved this as corn is one of my favorite vegetables. It almost reminded me of mac and cheese in a strange way!

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Astrid y Gaston in Lima, Peru

14 Aug

Our first night in Lima, Peru, we had dinner at Astrid y Gaston. After presenting our GF Spanish travel cards, my brother (who also has Celiac) and I ordered two starters and two main dishes. The first starter we had was the trio of ceviches. My favorite was the one in the middle which had a little heat to it. We also had the “La Procesion de la Papa”, a selection of three native potatoes topped with meat and fish.

This was a hearty appetizer. For our main dishes, we ordered the duck and the tuna. The duck, or El pato en su garbanzal, was served with chickpea sticky rice and traditional radish salsa.

I loved this, but it was very rich. I would have a hard time eating the entire thing myself. The tuna was served with sweet potatoes and was fantastic.

There was a balsamic sauce that it came with that complimented it perfectly. I found our meal here to be very enjoyable!

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Bouchon

27 May

This was one of those epic weekends full of fun things like the Downtown Art and Wine Tour, i madonnari and some stand-up paddle boarding at Butterfly Beach. What better weekend to have a great meal at Bouchon? I started with the special soup for the day which was a white corn puree with sweet piquillo pepper and herb garni. For my main dish, I had the grilled wagyu flat iron steak.

Since I couldn’t have the bleu cheese potato croquette, they substituted fingerling potatoes. It seemed that the staff there was well aware of what I could have and what I had to avoid.

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Perfect Pasta

22 May

We went to Via Maestra 42 the other night and I ordered the very enjoyable gluten-free pasta you see pictured above. The name of the dish has escaped me, but I can tell you the following: If you find yourself there, order the pasta with the pancetta and tomatoes. There is a subtle heat to the dish that made for a perfect meal and even more perfect leftovers.

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Taking Advantage of the Ridiculous Weather

28 Apr

After an excruciating day at work, I felt the need to take advantage of the beautiful weather and have an al fresco dinner. We went to Pierre Lafond on State Street and sat on their patio so we could watch all of the people in town for the Gaucho Reunion. I ordered the Greek Shrimo Salad as my main dish which was tasty, but could have used some more shrimp. We also shared a side of the grilled broccolini.

This had the perfect amount of salt, and was speedily consumed. After dinner, it was still warm out so we walked to Yogurtland to get some frozen yogurt. I love how they have each flavor labeled whether it is GF or not. I got the peanut butter flavor and topped it with reeses peanut butter cups.

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Date Night at Julienne

20 Apr

It has been a bit crazy around here since we are nearing the end of closing on a house. Last night, we were both up to going out for dinner so I took the opportunity to bring my husband to Julienne to celebrate our impending home ownership. We started with the Cauliflower Florets which included diced carrot, parsley, Tuscan kale and micro grated Pecorino Romano. Then I had the Little Gems.

I loved this salad. It had roasted beets, radishes, walnut, French feta (my favorite part) and a Fennel Pollen Vinaigrette. For my main dish, I ordered the oven roasted pork belly. Pork belly….mmmmmm.

Topped with toasted mustard, this was fantastic. It was served with brussels sprouts, carrots and apple sauce. For dessert, we shared their ice cream of the day which was an orange creamsicle flavor. It reminded me of having an Orange Julius in my younger years.

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Root 246

14 Apr

From the moment we sat down, it was clear that we were going to have a great meal at Root 246 in Solvang. Our waitress, whose sister also has celiac disease, was incredibly helpful and informative. We started with an order of the nuts which were warm and served with lemon, thyme and salt.

My dad and I then shared two starters… the oysters and the mussels. The oysters were meaty and fresh.

The mussels and the sauce that they were cooked in were absolutely wonderful.

They were served with fries (GF!) that successfully soaked up all of the delicious sauce. Our waitress was very clear explaining that the fries were in a separate fryer. However, the fryer is next to another fryer (not connected to it), so there is a chance that oil could splatter from the fryer next to it. I took my chances because I was really craving fries.

For my main dish, I ordered the scallops which were served with pork belly. YUM. I am not ashamed to say that I finished every morsel of this dish. They were meant to be served with crispy mushrooms, but since those were not GF, I had it without them.

We ordered three side dishes to accompany our mains: broccolini with garlic and crushed almonds, crispy kale with salt and shishito peppers.

I enjoyed all three, but I think the kale was my favorite. It sort of melted in my mouth.

The shishito peppers were interesting and flavorful as well.

I wasn’t planning on having dessert. My mom ordered a scoop of their Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream. My dad ordered the butterscotch pudding taster with a peanut butter cookie. When our waitress, Dana (I think that was her name), brought their desserts out, she brought me some sort of a chocolate flourless cake so that I would have something to eat.

Any restaurant that insists that I eat GF dessert is all right by me. We really thought his meal was fantastic. Even though I feel like I lucked out having our waitress, I got the impression that any of the staff there would be as competent as her.

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