Gluten Free Northern California

Better late than never... this is a continuation of this article.


After a week of conferencing in Vegas, I headed up to Concord, California to see a friend of mine from college , his fiancee and their one year old son.

I took a US Airways flight from Vegas to Phoenix and then from Phoenix to Oakland where I rented a car and drove up to Concord. The flights were pretty painless and they had Starbucks right next to the gate in Vegas so I got a soy latte and a huge bottle of water. I landed at about 3:30pm and made it to Concord around dinnertime Friday. We decided to try Guadalajara Grill for dinner. It was a huge painful disaster. We ordered take out and I got the Chilies Relleno and a taco combo. I've had Chilies Relleno before. It's a Chile stuffed with cheese and covered in more cheese. I ordered over the phone and asked the guy if the Chilies were deep fried, he said no. I asked if the corn tortillas were made of only corn. He haughtily answered 'no, what else would be in corn tortillas?!' I said that sometimes people put wheat flour in them, to which he responded 'there's no wheat in what you're getting'. I should have hung up the phone and tried another place, but it was late and I was tired and hungry. We finished placing the order and then went and picked it up. I opened up my container back at home to find the tip of a taco and a sea of cheese. The dinner supposedly had one chili relleno, one taco, beans and rice. All I saw was cheese and a taco screaming for help underneath. I preemptively dug around a little bit and found the rest of the food. After eating most of the chili relleno I found an unexpected texture in my mouth... mushy bread. There was a huge hand sized piece of bread under the chili.... hiding from me under all the cheese and sauce. Needless to say I was sick later that night... Moral of the story... Don't trust people that won't politely answer your food allergy questions. 



Saturday was my friend's son's first birthday. His mom got him Coldstone ice cream cupcakes and  my friend got me a deliciously evil container of chocolate gellato by Talenti, (labeled gluten free), to make up for not being able to eat cupcakes. I didn't really need it considering I had just swilled down tacos the night before, but I ate some anyways. Sean also made gluten free pancakes earlier in the day that were awesome.

Saturday night after the birthday festivities, I decided to type 'gluten free' into the Yelp ap on my phone. To my surprise, up came In and Out Burger. So shocked I almost fell off the couch, I googled "In and Out Burger Gluten Free" and found that you could get their delicious burgers "Protein Style" aka wrapped in a lettuce leaf. Also, since they only make burgers, fries and shakes, the fries were safe too. The only things that weren't safe were the buns and the special sauce, (because it comes in contact with the bun). My friend and I drove to the nearest In and Out, which was about 12 miles away and got burgers, fries and of course Vanilla shakes. So awesome. I brought mine home and stuck it on two slices of Udi's bread. Here's what it looked like:

In and Out Burger Gluten Free

The last night there we went to BJ's. No, not the whole sale warehouse. BJ's Brewhouse is a restaurant chain out west.They had a gluten free menu with quite a few options on it. I got pizza and a salad. It was pretty tasty. Not the best pizza I've had, but pretty darn good.

BJ's Brewhouse Gluten Free Pizza

Monday morning came around too fast and I had to return to cold cold Boston. I had another layover in Phoenix, which I barely noticed because I was passed out and then it was on to Boston. I had brought a bunch of snacks with me for the plane, (a banana, trail mix, corn chips, one last Larabar), but wanted something besides what I had. I checked the "menu". Surprisingly they had gluten free corn chips and salsa as a snack option and a fruit and cheese plate that came with death crackers. Fortunately, the death crackers came in sealed packs so they never touched the fruit or cheese. I got that and donated my crackers to my neighbor on the plane who also got the fruit and cheese plate. It had strawberries, grapes and cheese which I ate with my corn chips. It was pretty awesome... partly because Sean put the first season of Sanctuary on my Evo so I could entertain myself on the plane. Yes, I nerded out with Sci Fi TV in public. It rocked.

Aside from the snafu on the first night and my stomach complaining because I ate garbage the whole time I was there, it was a pretty good trip food wise. People wise, it was complete awesomeness. :o)