If you were to ask me what my top three breakfasts in Santa Barbara were, this would be one of them. It isn’t even a breakfasty type dish. But for me, it is the most wonderful way to start a day. Tupelo Junction‘s red beans and rice is so colorful and delicious. It consists of red beans, rice, roasted shallots, corn, spinach, tomatoes and parmesan. Yum.
See that really dark picture? It is hard to make out, but that is a delicious bowl of GF pasta with bolognese sauce ready to be pounced on. We went to Ca Dario last night, which was clearly the right decision when I saw on the specials menu, “Gluten-free pasta with choice of any sauce.” It was the most hearty, rich bowl of pasta I have had in a long time, which was perfect after not having anything to eat all day. Even better, they gave me a side of parmesan that I dumped on the pasta to make it even more fantastic. When making the reservation, I had asked if they would have GF pasta available tonight and they confirmed, but I would check with them if you are planning on dining there.
The Classic Margherita Pizza
We tried to go to Taffy’s tonight to try their GF pizza. When we got there though, they told us that they didn’t have any crusts at that moment. We were kind of set on pizza, so we decided to try Pizza Mizza instead. I am very glad we did. These GF pizzas were 9″ so they were more of a personal pie size. I liked the crust a bit better than Pizza Guru’s. It was firm enough to pick up, and it had a good taste to it. We ordered the Classic Margherita Pizza with garlic and the Pesto Veggie Combo without mushrooms. My husband and I both liked the Pesto Veggie Combo better than the Margherita but they were both tasty. As far as the cross contamination issues, I was told that they use a different pizza cutter for the GF pies. However, I had to request that the pizza be placed on a separate surface than their regular pizzas. So, if you eat GF out of necessity, make sure that you follow-up with the staff.
Pesto Veggie Combo Pizza
GF muffin, cookie and thumbprint
This morning, I really wanted a muffin, so we tried Our Daily Bread. They have loaves of GF bread for purchase, carrot cake muffins, cookies and thumbprint pastries. I asked if they could make their sandwiches with the bread, but they said no. It also seemed like they weren’t too careful about cross contamination. After using tissue to handle my husband’s muffin, the man then went to use the same piece of tissue on my GF items before we stopped him. It is definitely exciting to have more options in town, but I hope that businesses take the whole GF thing seriously and educate themselves and their staff.
Tonight we decided to try Palazzio and their GF pasta. We shared the caesar salad without croutons. Then, I ordered the fusilli shrimp pompeii with the GF “noOodle“. Our waiter explained that it is 95% water and 5% yam flour. Yeah… that sounded weird to me too. It had something of a thin rice noodle consistency. I ordered a saucy dish since the waiter mentioned it was a bit strange tasting on its own. It wasn’t bad. I prefer rice pasta, but at zero calories, I am not complaining.
For breakfast this morning, I thought I would try Backyard Bowls. The Backyard Quinoa Bowl is entirely GF and seemed like a good item to get to go and eat at the Sunken Gardens with my pup. I don’t know if it was the tastiness of the bowl, or the perfect weather over at the courthouse, but it was one of those mornings that just made me so happy to be back in Santa Barbara.
Last night we went for an early dinner at Arigato. I went prepared, bringing my San J soy sauce packets. To my surprise, our waitress informed me that they had GF soy sauce available for me to use. She walked me through which rolls I would be able to have. It seemed like all of their sauces were off limits. Additionally, their smoked salmon and crab had gluten. I ended up having the Banzai Roll and the Wipeout Roll with fresh salmon substituted for the smoked salmon. I also had 4 pieces of toro which were particularly tasty. Sushi is sometimes hard for people who eat GF, but our waitress was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable about what I could and could not have.
gluten-free in sb 