Santa Monica restaurants and chefs have done a particularly good job of catering to diners with sensitivities or allergies. Many local businesses mark their menus when dishes are gluten-free or vegan and offer dairy-free, nut-free, and soy-free items. Just because chefs place restrictions on dishes doesn’t mean that diners are missing out. Their substitutes are often plenty flavorful and just as satisfying. Learn about 10 restaurants and cafes taking allergy-inclusive approaches.
Birdie G’s
It’s hard to imagine any allergy-sensitive person who wouldn’t be able to enjoy a full dinner at the modern restaurant Jeremy Fox runs with the Rustic Canyon Family next to Bergamot Station. Many items at Birdie G’s qualify as vegetarian, available vegetarian, gluten-free or available vegan, as the menu key explains. Particularly allergy-friendly dishes include wood-grilled corned beef & cabbage kebabs with beets & berries sauce. A deluxe relish tray out of a vivid 1950s daydream features fresh, pickled, fermented & marinated market vegetables ringing five-onion dip. Rice pudding & passion fruit parfait with cashew crema & mint is just one must-order dessert that would bring most sensitive diners joy.
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Go Get Em Tiger
Kyle Glanville’s innovative L.A. coffee bar chain recently opened on Main Street in front of the Sea Shore Motel. The small white coffee bar’s menu accommodates some key food allergies, featuring drinks made with alternative milks and pastries baked with alternative grains. Allergy-friendly options include a chickpea frittata and chewy lemon mochi muffin made with glutinous rice flour, candied Nicholas Family Farms lemons and brown butter. Their almond macadamia milk latte had The New York Times writer Oliver Strand asking whether this is the “best iced latte in America?” Go Get Em Tiger also created a bold decaf drink with the same almond mac nut milk that co-stars ginger, honey, turmeric and cracked black pepper.
The Misfit Restaurant + Bar
Chefs Max Anderson and Joe Siepler currently steer this stylish restaurant and bar near the Third Street Promenade from Santa Monica based LGO Hospitality. The duo coats gluten-free fried chicken breast with cornstarch and three flours – rice, tapioca, and potato – serving the results on a sandwich co-starring fennel slaw, sweet tart Granny Smith apple and spicy mayo. The Misfit also serves gluten-free mac and cheese, several allergy-sensitive items “from the market,” and vegan breads. Peanuts are also strictly forbidden at the restaurant. As their mission statement says, “Our chefs have worked to create a menu that is accessible and allows you to enjoy many items that are frequently off-limits.”
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Renovo
This Colorado Avenue juice bar and superfood cafe from John Su and Charles Wong has been open since 2007 at the base of AO Santa Monica Apartments. They serve soy milk smoothies and acai bowls blended with fresh fruit and sweetened with agave nectar instead of sugar. Popular options at Renovo include tropical Mango Rush blended with mango and banana and Hawaiian Summer with peach, pineapple, and guava juices. A blackboard panel menu also lets customers craft their own juices from mix-and-match ingredients. For example, vegetable juice is an option with choices like beet, kale, and spinach. Renovo also serves fresh-squeezed OJ “shots” with wheatgrass and spirulina.
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KazuNori: The Original Hand Roll Bar
Sushi is often gluten-free, and Sugarfish’s fashionable hand roll concept featuring market-fresh seafood near Third Street Promenade also lets diners specify up to 14 different food allergies when ordering through mobile apps (or in-person). KazuNori can eliminate everything from shellfish to soy, sesame, shrimp, and citrus. The location near Third Street Promenade added a light strung, wood framed patio to their cozy counter, providing more space to enjoy nori-wrapped rolls filled with proteins like toro (tuna belly), salmon, crab, and sea bream.
Viet Noodle Bar
Most of Viet Tran’s menu at his eastern Santa Monica restaurant revolves around gluten-free rice and rice vermicelli noodles (bún). Options at Viet Noodle Bar include turmeric fish with dill and crispy shallots; and pho, noodle soup featuring beef, chicken or fish. Their rice noodle omelet is a novel preparation that nestles stir-fried noodles and white button mushrooms within a thin organic egg wrapper, garnished with scallions, julienne daikon and carrots, and crispy shallots. Viet also serves vegan jackfruit salad with rice crackers and dairy-free Vietnamese coffee sorbet.
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