Tuesday, April 3, 2012

San Francisco's GF stars

Always progressive, the San Francisco Bay Area has a huge selection of GF finds.

Draeger's grocery has the largest selection of GF foods in the Bay Area. Shown here are their refrigerated section, not shown is an equally impressive selection of dry goods. They hold a regular GF food faire to introduce their new GF DF products. It is a personal crusade for Draeger's as there is a family history of GF sensitivity.

The local Whole Foods are also wonderful about promoting GF products from the area resulting in an impressive selection of GF, DF offerings like ice creams made of everything from cashews, coconuts, soy and goat milk as well as kale, rice and quinoa chips. If you can't find a restaurant that serves your GF needs, head to your local Whole Foods.

For bakeries, there are two in the Bay Area that are exclusively dedicated GF bakeries, the Zest Bakery in the SF Peninsula and Mariposa in the East Bay. It's at the Zest Bakery in San Carlos where I had the most delicious turkey sandwich stuffed with cranberries and vegetables. The bread was possibly the best anywhere - soft but firm enough to hold a 2 inch sandwich together. Wow! The bakery also has an assortment of GF goodies from cupcakes to breads. I took home a bag of fresh ravioli which cooked up perfectly for dinner. It's nice to have an alternative so close to home.

Mariposa Bakery has an extensive selection of non wheat alternatives. They are sold at their bakery in Oakland and a store at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. In addition, their products are sold at local Whole Foods in the area. Their "Peguins", a cream stuffed chocolate cupcake, are one of their best sellers. A few friends swear by their crisp and tasty pizza crusts. They carry cinnamon rolls (unfortunately, the two times I bought them they were raw in the center, I almost thought they were a cookie dough??), cakes, a variety of breads. They have recently expanded from a little kiosk in the San Francisco Ferry building to a storefront there. They're market is surely growing as fast as their product line. 

Other places to enjoy GF DF meals are restaurants like Cafe Gratitude in SF and Marin County, Loving Hut and Lyfe Kitchen in Palo Alto and of course, Lydia's in Fairfax. Cafe Gratitude and Lydia's are raw food restaurants so by nature they are wheat, dairy and egg free. Pictured here is a raw cheesecake made with a date nut crust and cashew cream with strawberries - a perfect GF, DF dessert!

Loving Hut is vegan but you can ask for their GF substitutes like the burrito made with a teff wrap which is divine. The new sustainable healthy Lyfe Kitchen offers a dedicated GF menu for their patrons.

If you're craving for Italian food, restaurants like Amici's Pizza and Osteria Coppa in San Mateo have GF Pizza and pasta alternatives. Now the dairy is always a problem in Italian restaurants for me, so cheese on the side for the pasta or if all else fails, a salad with a poultry entree is my fallback.


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