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Post by Silly Yak on Feb 12, 2011 8:20:39 GMT
Holiday in California Posted by Sue Gf board …Just thought I would share with you a couple of new discoveries (I have holidayed in the USA many times over the last 15 years and always like to report back on anything new!) Mariposa have a stall in the Ferry Building in San Francisco and I called in on the morning of our bike ride across the Golden Gate bridge to see what I could pick up. Their range was amazing and I was so spoilt for choice. Ended up with the most fabulous sandwich and cinnamon rolls for our picnic.....it was worth the 13 mile bike ride just knowing that I had such a treat at the end of it!! www.mariposabaking.com/ We stumbled across Amici's restaurant quite by accident when we were driving around near San Francisco airport trying to find somewhere to eat. As we parked outside, I was just about to say the usual "pizza is no good for me" when I spotted a sign in the window - "we do gluten-free pizza". Wow - how chuffed was I?? Had a fantastic pizza which was worth every penny. www.amicis.com/locations.asp .. |
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dawn
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Post by dawn on May 22, 2011 18:50:39 GMT
Posted by streetlegal on 22/5/2011, 18:30:38, in reply to "San Francisco/ Palo Alto"
76.102.22.X
I can help with SF. Generally, it lags a little behind the UK, but significant improvements in the last year or so. You will need to google the following:
Some Restaurants:
Dosa Indian restaurants (small chain) are superb
Zadin Vietnamese in Castro (and Vietnamese generally)
PicaPica in the Mission
Best Supermarkets:
Whole Foods--GF porridge, bread, waffles, loads of stuff; buy yourself a pack of 20 Larabars here for healthy food on the hoof.
Safeways are now labeling and stocking a lot more GF food.
Trader Joes does some very good GF crackers, and has a reasonable range of GF stuff.
Chex cereal is GF.
Various health food places dotted around carry GF options, eg bread.
If you are downtown (Union Square area):
Westfield Mall on Market has a basement food court and lots of handy GF options, though you have to ask:
Vietnamese (part of a small chain called something like The Green Door--there is another in the Ferry Building) (you can get spring rolls to go if you want to eat on the hoof)
Thai (again,ask for GF menu)
Soups
Bristol Farms supermarket also in the basement has GF provisions such as bread
E and O Trading Co near Union Square apparently does GF (Asian fusion).
The Ferry Building has a GF bakery (Mariposa) and a Vietnamese (Slanted Door?)
Note that GF bread is always frozen and is no good for sandwiches, just toast really. Lots of frozen waffles are GF too.
Around the city:
GF pizza (eg Extreme Pizza and others)
In and Out Burger (Fishermans Whart) have an allergy button they press on their tills and will change their gloves to serve excellent protein style burgers; fries are GF as is the house sauce, though I ask for mustard and ketchup instead
Here is a good linkL
SF Chronicle
Outside the city, I am not so informed about, but lots of chains (Outback, PF Changs, places with salad bars) tend to reside in the outlying areas and usually offer GF options.
Overall, the advantage of SF is there are lots of restaurants packed into a very walkable city with excellent public transit.
I hope that helps
Posted by streetlegal on 22/5/2011, 18:38:55, in reply to "Re: San Francisco/ Palo Alto"
76.102.22.X
Let me just add, you should NOT expect staff generally to know about GF needs. General awareness is pretty low--so, although you have lots of restaurants to try, you'll have to be patient in finding the right one.
Other ones downtown (Union Square) that come to mind:
Macy's food court has a decent salad bar with items like tuna and prawns--I go there quite a lot when downtown.
Daily Grill (overpriced)
Definitely recommend Larabars which you will in Walgreens, and in packs of 20 in Trader Joes and Whole Foods.
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dawn
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Post by dawn on May 26, 2011 7:07:21 GMT
Posted by streetlegal on 23/5/2011, 19:10:24, in reply to "THANK YOU Streetlegal"
76.102.22.X
My pleasure. I recently went on a trip unprepared (to LA) and got very sick--so I know the importance of preparation!
The advantage of SF is that there are lots of restaurants within reach by foot or by public transport. The disadvantage is that they are mainly independently run, with English as a second language.
My advice would be to google the nearest Whole Foods to your lodgings so you know the basics are close to hand.
Out of town, I think most of the chains offer some GF options (Olive Garden, PF Changs, Chiles). BJ Brewery do excellent pizzas
Posted by streetlegal on 23/5/2011, 19:33:29, in reply to "Re: THANK YOU Streetlegal"
76.102.22.X
Oh, there is a Arabic Restaurant called Saha that I have wanted to try--if you go let me know what it is like!!
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Post by streetlegal on Jun 2, 2011 4:15:47 GMT
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Post by streetlegal on Jun 2, 2011 4:34:09 GMT
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Post by streetlegal on Jun 14, 2011 19:02:03 GMT
Update:
Mollie Stones, a small chain of supermarkets in the city, is now offering an extensive range of GF foods, such as cereals and bread.
There is one only a few minutes walk from Zadin (see above).
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Post by streetlegal on Jun 18, 2011 1:54:14 GMT
I'll keep updating as I find more information--GF awareness has grown exponentially in the last few months.
zpizza has just opened downtown on Mission (behind the Wesfield shopping mall) and apparently does GF pizzas.
I should also note here that, although there are several Amici's in the city, only ONE location (Lombard St in Marina district) carries GF pizza
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Post by streetlegal on Jun 19, 2011 23:01:53 GMT
Tried Zpizza = excellent, best GF pizza I have had--it is a national chain too! Tried Saha = very good, but you need two people to go as it is the kind of food you need to share Good website: gfinsf.com/ |
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dawn
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Post by dawn on Jul 10, 2011 15:42:47 GMT
San Francisco report Posted by Dawn on 10/7/2011, 16:28:07 88.104.247.X I spent a couple of weeks in San Francisco and Palo Alto (near Silicon Valley) for work in June. Firstly, a HUGE thank you to streetlegal for setting me off in the right direction... Generally speaking I found that awareness of coeliac disease and gluten free food was extremely poor and I had to explain carefully what gluten was. One of the main problems was the language barrier as many staff in cafes, bars, restaurant etc were not native English speakers - being a fluent Spanish speaker certainly helped. On with the good, the bad and the ugly... Plant Cafe (several branches, I went to the cafe on Embarcadero) www.theplantcafe.com/ Brilliantly clued up on GF diet - amazing GF cakes and main meals in their restaurant (Pier 3). Pica Pica Maize Kitchen (Mission, Valencia and 15, also a branch in Napa I think) www.picapicakitchen.com/ The ENTIRE menu (except beer) is GF - traditional Venezuelan food for eating in and taking out - good value. I stayed at Parc 55 Hotel, just a few metres from the Bart Station on Market St/ Powell St so very central). www.parc55hotel.com/ For breakfast they were able to provide hot food, fruit and yoghurt. No gluten free bread etc available (I emailed several top end hotels, none were able to provide this). The hotel were great and provided a fridge in the room free of charge so that I could buy yoghurt, fruit, other food. Smooth Thai in Parc 55 Hotel was good - most dishes were GF for take away/ eating in. Bristol Farms www.bristolfarms.com/ - I used the one in the shopping mall across Market St from my hotel (Westfield) was handy for picking up supplies - pricey though. The sushi in their food hall was GF (no soy sauce used in process). Westfield food mall - AVOID - I was jetlagged and starving and the one safe option after talking to lots of people there was a plain green salad - arrived with a bit of pasta poking out of it! I wouldn't risk it here... Walgreens - useful for picking up fruit/ juice/ yoghurts/ rice cakes/ nachos etc. Mariposa (Ferry Building, stocked in other places) www.mariposabaking.com/information/retail.html GF bakery. Unfortunately I wasn't hugely impressed - I had high hopes! They use palm oil in preference to butter in all their goods which put me off! Useful though to get GF goodies for picnics etc. Also at Ferry Building, the butcher sells GF hot sausages on a stick - very tasty! Grand Cafe (http://www.grandcafe-sf.com/) just a few minutes from Union Square - markets itself as being able cater for special diets (including GF). This actually just meant telling me what I could and couldn't eat - no special treatment! But I felt safe as the staff seemed to know what they were talking about. Eggs florentine to die for... |
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dawn
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Post by dawn on Jul 10, 2011 15:43:18 GMT
Stanford University GF, California
Posted by Dawn on 10/7/2011, 16:36:55
88.104.247.X
Stanford University - mixed results here (surprisingly).
The Alumni Cafe in the Arrillaga Alumni Center - NOTHING GF for lunch on offer on two days. Fruit and juice was the limit.
Tressider Union - frozen yoghurts place, some flavours GF - not others. Lots of brownies, crisp etc floating around so worth asking them to be careful.
Cool Cafe, Cantor Arts Center - great food here, GF salads etc, good awareness by staff, not cheap. Lovely Rodins and art, worth a visit.
Stanford Conference Services - supplied lunches for several days - very good (salad, fruit etc). If you are attending a conference/ event at Stanford make sure they know that you require a GF meal a LONG time in advance. The catered events varied greatly in their provision for me - on the whole I went hungry.
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dawn
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Post by dawn on Jul 10, 2011 15:43:43 GMT
Palo Alto, California Posted by Dawn on 10/7/2011, 16:41:58 88.104.247.X I stayed at the Sheraton in Palo Alto (right next to the Caltrain station, excellent for University Ave and Stanford). www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=214 It was VERY hard work explaining what GF meant for breakfast - I wouldn't fancy doing this in English, I spoke Spanish all the time finding this the easiest way. For breakfast they were able to give me bacon and fried eggs and fruit salad (usually all on the same plate!). The kiosk at the Sheraton by the pool was great - yoghurt, juice and fruit all GF. I asked about other meals and was told that plain grilled chicken and steamed vegetables was all they could do so I gave that a miss. Cheesecake Factory (University Ave) - branches all over. Manager said they would be able to provide grilled meat and salads - I didn't get back here. The Counter Burger (California Ave) branches across US, mostly in CA. www.thecounterburger.com/paloalto/ GF burgers, fries etc. Good awareness. Went back as it was so good - highly recommended. Spalti, Italian Restaurant, California Ave, Palo Alto www.spalti.com/ Best awareness on all my trip - great meal. Haagen Dazs cafe on University Ave - staff made a big effort to find out what was GF and clean spoons etc. |
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Post by streetlegal on Aug 20, 2011 3:43:35 GMT
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