Tag Archives: tacos

Malibu Farm at Miramar

2 Jun

IMG_4445.jpgIf you are looking for good service at the Miramar, your best bet is at Malibu Farm. We’ve now dined there twice with two different servers that were knowledgeable about Celiac all while being attentive and pleasant. I was brought gluten-free bread that they warm separately from their usual bread. It wasn’t particularly good, but it was nice that they had it as an option. We ordered a Cauliflower Crust Pizza for the table as our waiter let us know it could be prepared safely.IMG_4446.jpgPeople seem to be all about cauliflower crust pizzas these days. Although this looked very appealing, it completely fell apart when trying to eat it. I then split the Bacon Lettuce Tomato Kale Caesar with someone in our group.

IMG_4453.jpgAlthough the dressing was a bit plentiful, I enjoyed the taste of the salad. Bacon always seems to make things better. Even though I was getting a bit full at this point, I was glad that I ordered the Crispy Baked Whole Fish Tacos.

IMG_4456.jpgThey prepared the corn tortillas in a safe spot for me to ensure no cross contamination. The fish was perfectly crisp and flavorful. This was my favorite part of the meal aside from the good company and tasty spicy tequila beverage I had.

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Nook

13 Aug

IMG_9934.jpgI had my mind set on trying a new restaurant today for lunch, which led us to Nook located at the Waterline in the Funk Zone. I had checked the menu out ahead of time and was planning on ordering the blackened rock fish tacos. However, the lady behind the counter informed me that the rock fish hadn’t been delivered yet. She suggested the special halibut tostada instead. After going through the cross contamination conversation with her, I learned that they have a gluten-free fryer that is used for the tostada. Additionally, the fries are gluten-free as they are made in the GF fryer. Typically the halibut would be made on a grill that has non-GF items, but she had the kitchen make it for me in a pan. The tostada was served with a chili lime slaw, black bean relish, avocado salsa and pico de gallo and was topped with some queso.

IMG_9935.jpgThe fries were prepared with white truffle butter, pesto and parmesan cheese. The side patio was the perfect place to enjoy the food while people and dog watching. This is understandably a popular spot on the weekends as it is steps from all of the watering holes that the Funk Zone offers, including two spots within the Waterline.

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Kanaloa Seafood

19 Feb

IMG_2816.jpgEvery time that I drive by Kanaloa Seafood Market on Chapala, I always think that that their patio looks so appealing. That, mixed with the fact that it is always busy when I drive by, finally convinced me to try it out. One of the things that makes Kanaloa stand out is that they promote and support environmentally responsible, scientifically sustainable fisheries.

From their website, “Kanaloa is the only International Organization of Standardization-certified seafood company in North America, earning our ISO 14001 certification through regular third party audits of our environmental management practices, and our continuous effort to reduce the size of the environmental footprint of our entire business, including our eco-packaging and shipping methods.”

I ordered two of the Pacific Tacos. I’m glad that I didn’t get three since they were huge. The tacos were served on corn tortillas and had sautéed swordfish with poblano peppers, onions, cabbage, pico de gallo and their house salsa. I am a huge fan of fish tacos, so I assumed that I would enjoy these. Not only were these good, they were tremendously good. The poblano peppers and onions mixed with the swordfish were such a good combination that I will be thinking of these for days to come.

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Pure Taqueria

16 Apr

Shrimp TacosWhile in Atlanta, we found a Mexican restaurant with a gluten-free menu. We found our waitress at Pure Taqueria was very informed as to what we could and could not have. When she brought chips to our table, I asked about how they were fried. She knew that we could not have them as the oil was contaminated. She then offered to bring out some GF chips for a small charge. I thought that it was pretty awesome that they had the option of GF chips. I ordered their shrimp tacos with the shrimp grilled rather than fried. These had poblano slaw, chipotle mayo and cruda tomatillo salsa and were served on corn tortillas. In Santa Barbara, we have no shortage of Mexican restaurants. However, it would be great to have at least one that is this proactive in knowing about the gluten-free diet!

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Sides Hardware and Shoes

8 Mar

Carrot SoupWednesday was one of those overcast days that almost beg you to have soup. Lucky for me, at Sides Hardware and Shoes, their special soup for the day was a fantastic carrot soup with ginger cream and chive oil. I started with a cup of it, instantly regretting that I didn’t just order a gallon of it as my order. For my main dish, I initially was going to order the shrimp tostada but they fry the corn tortilla in contaminated oil. Instead, I had their fish tacos.

Fish TacosThese were served on fresh corn tortillas and had fresh albacore tuna, cabbage, guacamole, salsa and a chipotle aioli. There was a lot of fish with the tacos so I filled up pretty quickly. However that didn’t stop me from trying their gluten-free dessert, macaroon sandwiches.

Macaroon SandwichesThese coconut macaroons were filled with dark chocolate and coconut swirl sorbet. I am not a huge coconut fan and I was pretty full at this point so I only had one. But for those coconut lovers, this would be a great dessert to share!

 

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Padaro Beach Grill

3 Mar

Sunset in CarpinteriaOn Friday night, a friend and I took advantage of the weather and headed to the Padaro Beach Grill for dinner. This extremely casual spot is great for taking in a sunset and if you have kids, letting them run around in the play area. I ordered the Shrimp Tacos.

Shrimp TacosThese shrimp were marinated with tequila and lime. They were served with shredded cabbage, tomato, avocado and cilantro on fresh corn tortillas. On the side were corn tortilla chips and pico de gallo. With views of the sun setting over the Pacific Ocean, it was the perfect way to end the week.

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Del Pueblo Cafe

7 Oct

After spending some time at the Carpinteria Avocado Festival today, all we wanted for dinner was Mexican Food. We decided on Del Pueblo Cafe in Goleta. I ordered the Rajas Tacos.

These had grilled pasilla peppers and onions on two corn tortillas. They were topped with lettuce, cheese and salsa fresca. I found the colorful decorations in the restaurant really appealing. On a totally unrelated note… at the avocado festival we were able to determine that our backyard avocado tree is of the Bacon Avocado variety. Is that the best name or what?

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El Taco Tequila Taqueria

7 Jun

We decided to try El Taco Tequila Taqueria tonight as we explored some stores in downtown Santa Barbara. Any restaurant that has the words “taco” and “tequila” in its name is alright by me. We shared the Poblano Relleno, a cheese stuffed poblano chili with tomato sauce served on fresh corn tortillas. These ingredients always seem to go well together. We also shared an order of the guacamole.

This was pretty straightforward. I then ordered three tacos. The first was the Camaron a la Diabla.

This was described as “spicy grilled shrimp, cabbage, crema Mexicana and cotija cheese”. I didn’t think there was anything spicy about it, but I still enjoyed it. I then had the Bistec Tampiqueño.

This was grilled rosemary garlic skirt steak with poblano chili and melted cheese. I thought this was better than the shrimp taco. My favorite item that I ordered was the Pechuga de Pollo.

The grilled chicken in this taco was really tender. The onions, poblano chili and melted cheese just enhanced the meat. Do note that if you are gluten-intolerant, you can’t have the chips. They are corn chips but they are fried in contaminated oil.

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Boathouse

9 May

Whenever I have people visiting me from another area, I always make sure to bring them to Boathouse. There is just something about eating fresh food with unparalleled views of the ocean and Hendry’s Beach. Today was one of those days where my husband and I looked at each other and acknowledged how lucky we are to live in such a perfect place. For lunch, I had the lobster tacos which are served on corn tortillas.

Out of confusion about tossing the salad in an uncontaminated bowl, the kitchen left the dressing off of my salad which was fine by me. Better safe than sorry. After dressing my own salad, I happily consumed my meal while basking in the sunshine.

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Cielito Taqueria

22 Feb

It is an unbelievably gorgeous day in Santa Barbara today, so we decided to go to a lunch spot where we could dine al fresco. We ended up trying Cielito Taqueria, the newest spot in La Arcada. I got two tacos, the crispy chicken taco and the shrimp taco. They were able to tell me that the corn tortilla for the chicken taco was fried in oil that was not contaminated by anything else.

I thought both of these were really good. Everything tasted really fresh. We also got a side of chips and salsa. My only complaint was that the salsa was served in little to go containers which made it hard to scoop out of. I also hope that the boxes and taco holders are compostable or recycled because it seemed like there was a whole lot of packaging used. We sat outside right by the fountain which was full of turtles that entertained us by playing their version of king of the hill. We will definitely return next time we are craving some Mexican food downtown!

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