Happy Celiac Awareness Month! As a reminder, we are holding our Spring Meet-Up this Wednesday at Adama at 5:30 PM. For details and for any information about future events, please visit the Gluten-Free Santa Barbara Facebook Page! See you there… I will be the one devouring the GF onion rings!
This past weekend, I was in Atlanta for the Final Four. After being sick and eating chicken broth for way too long, I was craving a burger. Luckily, we found Yeah! Burger, which was the most fantastic place for my Celiac brother and me. The first thing I ordered was a grass-fed beef burger. On it, I had cheddar cheese, bibb lettuce, plum tomato, grilled onions and their Yeah! Sauce which was chipotle based. It was served on Pure Knead gluten-free bun. This was unbelievably good. It was so good that a couple days later, we visited their other location where I got another one of these. The bun held up really well and everything just had so much flavor. I also ordered a chili cheese dog on a gluten-free bun.
As I ate this, I had flashbacks of my pre-celiac days eating at The Hot Grill in Clifton, NJ. It was incredibly satisfying. As I was so excited to eat normal food again, I also ordered their Fifty-Fifty which was half french fries and half onion rings. These were made in a separate, dedicated fryer to avoid any cross contamination.
Everything I had here was really good. I found that the staff was very knowledgeable about their gluten-free offerings. I almost wish we hadn’t gone here, as I have been unable to get rid of my craving for Yeah! Burger since I had it.
As of last week, Santa Barbara got its first entirely gluten-free restaurant when Adama decided to revamp their menu. How great is it that we can eat out locally and know that we can order every single thing on the menu?! I decided to head over there for lunch the other day to try the new menu out. I started with the Curried Onion Rings which were unbelievably crispy and satisfying. I then had the Twisted wrap.
This had southern fried “chicken” strips that were wrapped in a rice tortilla with ranch, lettuce and tomatoes. Even though I was nervous about it, I liked the consistency of the “chicken” strips. For dessert, I had a chocolate chip cookie.
Looking for the perfect excuse to try out the new menu at Adama? Come join Gluten-Free Santa Barbara on Tuesday, February 5th at 6:00 PM at Adama for our winter meet-up. If tasty libations, yummy food and gluten-free people aren’t enough of a reason to come (what is wrong with you?!), then I have another reason… Celiac Dietician Melinda Dennis will be there to offer information and guidance. RSVP on the Gluten-Free Santa Barbara Facebook page or send me an email at glutenfreeinsb@gmail.com.
I wasn’t lying when I said that Lucky’s Onion Rings made with rice flour are unbelievable. That picture doesn’t even do them justice.
Last night, we had dinner in Lucky’s bar area. I started with their special soup which had white beans, tomatoes and fennel. Then we got to the good stuff. I had the petite filet cooked medium rare. My husband and I also shared the skinny onion rings and the hashed brown potatoes with gruyére cheese.
Make sure that you request the onion rings to be prepared with rice flour as they are typically prepared with a “normal” flour. This was such a good, filling meal. As always, there was some good people watching in the bar are while we were dining.
gluten-free in sb 