Tag Archives: state street

Downey’s

20 Mar

Tonight we went to Downey’s, which is consistently rated one of the best restaurants in Santa Barbara. I was interested to see how gluten-free friendly they were. Our waiter was really good, running down the menu and letting me know what was safe and what to avoid. I started with the mussels. They were prepared with a bit of curry and served on lentils. Then I had the steak prepared with grilled asparagus and pureed potatoes.

This was very good. After this course they brought out a cheese platter that we could choose from. I asked if we could have a plate made without the stilton since blue cheeses typically start their mold from bread. When they served the cheese though, it was on a plate with bread and crackers. I thought that they would have remembered that I could not have bread and crackers near my food. I ended up just eating the ends of the cheeses that were furthest from the gluten. Overall the two dishes I had were wonderful, but I was disappointed that at that stage of the meal, there was such a careless mistake.

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Jane

7 Mar

I have been meaning to try Jane for quite some time since it just looks appealing from the outside. We started our meal by sharing the grilled pasilla chiles with swiss cheese, fresh cilantro and a tomato vinaigrette. This was very good. I just love the taste of pasilla chiles. For my main dish, I had the Gorgonzola Salad Bowl without the gorgonzola.

This had grilled chicken breast, avocado, bacon, tomato, chopped romaine and a red wine vinaigrette. The chicken was still warm from the grill and the ingredients just tasted very fresh. We weren’t planning on getting dessert, but then we saw the Jane Sundae on the menu. It consisted of soft serve vanilla ice cream, caramel, homemade toffee and whipped cream. After the waitress confirmed that all of the ingredients were ok for me, we dove in.

If they sold that toffee, I would buy it by the ton… seriously. It was that good.

Don’t forget to stop by at Whole Foods Market tomorrow night for the big event!

 

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Ahi Sushi

8 Feb

To celebrate my half-birthday (yes, I count that as something worth celebrating), we decided to try Ahi Sushi on upper State Street. I had my San-J travel soy sauce packets on the table when I started to explain to our waitress what I was allergic to, and she said the magic word, “gluten“. She brought me out their gluten-free soy sauce to use. She then was absolutely fantastic in confirming what I could and could not have. I started with the MaMa Mia roll which consists of yellowtail, salmon, cucumber, avocado, jalapeno, jalapeno masago and garlic.

It typically includes two sauces but to be safe, we omitted them. I then had the Sgt. Pepper Roll which has crab meat (not artificial), cucumber, avocado, mango, albacore, jalapeno and masago.

I also had this roll without the sauces. The last roll I had was a basic yellowtail roll. They were small, compact pieces which I love because they are easy to eat. Overall, we had a really great experience at Ahi Sushi, mainly because of our waitress, Masami.

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Jeannine’s Upper State

2 Feb

For lunch today, we went to the Jeannine’s on Upper State Street. For those of you that like baked goods, this is the place to go. Not only do they have a GF menu of goodies, but they also have a nice selection in their case. We ended up getting a carrot cupcake with cream cheese frosting.

This was pretty good. It was plenty for the two of us to share. For my main, I had the Mediterranean Salad without the bread it usually comes with.

This was a nice portion for lunch. I think the only thing that might have made it better would be some grilled shrimp on top. We really liked this location of Jeannine’s, but the parking lot was a little hectic.

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Renaud’s Patisserie and Bistro

24 Jan

This morning, we decided to try Renaud’s Patisserie and Bistro in the Arlington Plaza. I ordered the omelette with peppers, spinach and gruyere cheese and made with egg whites. For my side, I chose the potatoes. I really loved this meal. The omelette was the perfect size and had the perfect amount of fillings. The potatoes were incredibly good as well. The outdoor seating of this bistro is really appealing as it is in a quieter shopping center that has many cute stores. I definitely want to return to try some of their macarons!

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Cadiz

22 Jan

Last night we decided to try Cadiz after hearing some good things about it. I started with the Diver Scallops due to our waitress’ recommendation. They were pretty good. I am not a scallop connoisseur but I thought they had a good taste. I then had the Roasted Chestnut Soup. I really enjoyed this soup. It was exactly the kind of soup one would want on a cold wintery day. For my main dish, I had the Grana Padano Risotto. This dish had lots of pomegranate seeds which were an unexpected surprise. The waitress that we had was wonderful in knowing exactly what I could and could not have. I think this is a great addition to State Street.

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Arigato’s Edamame

14 Jan

If you have to eat gluten-free like myself, you have to avoid ordering anything at a sushi restaurant that has the word soy in it… right? Wrong. Go to Arigato and order the wokked edamame with garlic soy flavor and request it to be prepared with the GF soy sauce that they have. The result is a tasty appetizer that has a good heat to it and has that soy sauce flavor that we so often have to avoid.

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Petros

11 Jan

Tonight we tried Petros, the new restaurant on State Street across from the Arlington Theater. I started with the Petros Horiatiki Salad which had vine-ripe tomatoes, cucumber, feta, olives, avocado, onions, capers, olive oil and oregano. We then shared the Dip Combo which comes with portions of Kafteri, Melitanosalata, Tzatiki, Fava and Taramosalata. Since the Taramosalata has bread crumbs in it, they put it on the side for me. They also brought out sliced cucumber (at a charge) since I couldn’t eat the pita.

I really enjoyed two of them (the bottom two in the picture). The white one was the Tzatiki which had a good bite to it due to garlic. The one of the bottom was the Kafteri which consists of four special Greek cheeses blended with a cocktail of hot peppers. Then it was time for the main dish. I tried to order their signature dish which was feta crusted rack of lamb but there were bread crumbs involved so instead I went with the fish tacos which are served on corn tortillas.

These were pretty good. The feta on top was a nice touch. I struggled to finish all three though since it was a generous portion. During our meal, we had a waitress in training. I will say that I was glad that the seasoned waitress was with her while we were ordering as she seemed very knowledgeable about which dishes were GF or not.

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Anderson’s Danish Restaurant & Bakery

4 Jan

Photo from Anderson's Website

It was so incredibly nice out today in Santa Barbara so my husband and I went for walk along State Street after I got off of work. I have always been intrigued by Anderson’s, so we walked inside to take a look. Inside is a large baked goods case with tasty looking items. I asked one of the staff if they happened to any gluten-free items. What followed was amazing. He pointed out about ten items that were GF, all of which sounded like they would be incredibly good. He also offered a sample of any of them to us. I couldn’t resist, so I chose an item that sounded like it would be a good choice… something with a chocolate exterior and a creme filling. It reminded me of Yodels, a treat I used to love back in the gluten eating days. I will definitely be returning to try everyone one of those items… especially the APPLE PIE!

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Table for One at Tupelo Junction

29 Dec

I had just enough time before work to get breakfast this morning so I decided to go to Tupelo Junction. They always have a stack of the Santa Barbara Independent out front which was perfect reading material as I was dining alone today. I ordered the smoked bacon, spinach, caramelized onion, tomato and gouda scramble. It was quite good. It comes with their potatoes which are always the perfect consistency. Yum.

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