Driving and Eating on the Central Calif. Coast

This little guy was born just minutes before I took this photo at the elephant seal reserve near San Simeon, California.

Decades and decades ago, my late father lived in Cambria, a sleepy central California coastal town. Until the mid-80s, R and I visited Cambria several times. Then life changed, we moved out-of-state, and my father moved from Cambria. During the 29 years years when we lived in Chicago and before that Kansas City and Tulsa, our visits to California centered on attending family events and holidays and seeing friends, mostly in Southern California.

When we booked our January 2018 return flight from Costa Rica to Los Angeles, we decided it was time to rent a car and drive some of the coast and revisit Cambria on our way to Monterey and its famed aquarium.

As a celiac, there are a few things I know to do when I travel such pack some food like Think Thin GF protein bars or something similar and visit a local grocery store. While on this trip, we traveled with Think Thin bars, I went completely lazy on visiting grocery stores and buying backup gluten free food and plenty of times, I regretted my lazy ways.

The little village of Cambria presented a number of good food options. We met up with friends who were also visiting Cambria and enjoyed dinner at Robin’s Restaurant (http://www.robinsrestaurant.com)  The kitchen at Robin’s readily accommodates eating preferences, offering vegetarian and gluten free options and willingly modifies items to meet individual needs. At the restaurant, I ordered Robin’s Chow, a vegetable and prawn stir fry made with tamari and rice noodles rather than regular soy and pasta.

The next night R and I lined up for a table at The Sea Chest http://www.seachestrestaurant.com a cash only, Cambria treasure. The first 12 people or so in line earn the chance to sit at the oyster bar, chat with the chefs while watching them cook. Next time we visit, we’ll be first in line.
I ordered cioppino, a lush, tomato rich seafood stew overflowing with crab legs. I immediately regretted not finding a store that sold gluten free bread since the restaurant did not offer a gluten free bread option and crusty bread would have paired wonderfully with this dish. Grrrrr.

Cioppino at the Sea Chest, Cambria

This wasn’t the only time I regretted not toting bread and other gluten free items.

From Cambria, we headed inland to the 101 for a detoured drive to Monterey. Once in that beautiful town on the bay, our first task was finding a restaurant since we were both starving. A quick google search located an El Torito (part of a chain) situated on the bay in Cannery Row. Since Mexican food is typically a safe option for me, we headed to the restaurant. What we discovered was surly service, limited food options, and a kitchen disinterested in accommodating food restrictions. After a fair amount of negotiating, I ordered prawn fajitas with vegetables and beans. What arrived were unseasoned, rubbery prawns set a top of unseasoned, bland vegetables. It was clear that special orders were not welcomed by the kitchen. As I stared at the tasteless food in front of me, I wished, once again, that we’d stopped at a grocery store and that I had researched restaurants.

The cook at this El Torito did not even bother to salt and pepper these rubbery prawns. Ugh.

Happily, the hotel staff saved us from our poor planning by suggesting some excellent restaurants and pointing us in the direction of a grocery store (which unfortunately had a slim selection of gluten free bread).
One day after hiking at Point Lobos, spotting migrating whales and watching harbor seals, we headed to Monterey Fish House www.montereyfishhouse.com, an unassuming, homestyle seafood restaurant. It was late afternoon and the place was busy. The server recommended cioppino; I was not disappointed. Mussels, clams, huge chunks of salmon, white fish, calamari, and shrimp filled the rich tomato based sauce. R loved the huge crab cake he ordered which unfortunately was not gluten free but looked delicious.

Another bowl of wonderful cioppino. Heavenly.

On our last day in Monterey, we wanted pizza and found Pizza My Heart www.pizzamyheart.com on Del Monte, not far from our hotel. Many restaurants offer gluten free pizza but don’t necessarily follow the steps to avoid cross contamination (prepping GF pizza in a clean area away from wheat, using fresh utensils, gloves, and in the absence of a dedicated GF oven, placing the GF pizza on foil in the oven). Eagle-eyed Richard watched as a the folks at Pizza My Heart prepared a safe, delicious gluten free pizza.

Lessons relearned on this trip —research restaurants before the trip and visit a grocery store while traveling, if packing food ahead isn’t an option.  Duh. I’m already researching restaurants for our next trip.

 

Recent Travels of This Celiac: The good and not so good.

Wildflowers, sun, sea and friends

We’ve just returned from a week’s adventure to Southern California where we saw friends and family. It was our first trip in many, many months not connected to a medical test, evaluation, or procedure. What bliss.

Anyone with celiac, food allergies, or just general eating problems probably finds traveling challenging. I usually think I’ll have an easier time eating stateside than I will in a foreign country but my belief frequently isn’t born out. In all honesty, I’m not just a person with celiac; I follow a veganish-pescatarian diet which means I can be tricky to feed.

We started our trip visiting friends in the Newbury Park-Westlake Village area. These friends are not only excellent hosts but thoughtful, careful planners. Ahead of our visit, they provided a list of recommended gluten free friendly restaurants, places certified and frequented by one of their careful gluten free friends.

Within a few days, we visited Deliteful, Holdren’s Steaks and Seafood, Lure Fishhouse, The Landing Grille and Sushi Bar, and Mediterraneo. These are all upscale restaurants in sophisticated areas with educated staff that know the difference between just gluten-free and celiac, a perfect combo for safe eating. At these restaurants, I ate lots of delicious seafood, roasted veggies, salads, and vegan bowls; nothing overly fussy, just excellent food.

After a hike at Point Dume on a gloriously clear, sunny and just warm enough morning where we spotted migrating whales, admired wildflowers (see photo above), marveled as brown pelicans flew so close overhead that we felt like we could almost touch them, we needed lunch. Our friends had limited knowledge of restaurants in the area so two of us went on Yelp looking for suggestions. We found Coral Beach Cantina in Malibu, a Mexican restaurant with a sketchy, weathered sign and outside seating. Even though the menu did not explicitly state gluten-free, I was fairly certain at a minimum I could put together a vegan meal.

While the chips were off-limits to me because they shared the fryer with gluten items, I enjoyed the fresh guacamole on my succulent Mahi-Mahi tacos served with a side of vegetarian beans.

Yummy and safe Mahi-Mahi tacos.

Although Coral Beach Cantina is not an upscale restaurant, though apparently some A- list celebs dine there, an educated staff and a menu that included fish made the experience a safe and delicious one.

Next time, tales of what did not work so well with food in the desert.