M Street Kitchen

M Street Kitchen is a bustling place a couple blocks away from the beach in Santa Monica. They seemed knowledgeable about gluten free per their website and a phone call so we popped in for a sandwich we could take to the beach. They were set up a little strange so it seemed like M Street Kitchen was the faster, to-go side of the place, while Stella Kitchen and Bar was the sit down side. I don't actually know, but while they have a shared front door, I think they were completely two different establishments. In any case there is seating hidden everywhere, so look around a corner because you might just be able to snag a seat.

They had a nice selection of salads and lettuce wrapped sandwiches, and they even have some pretty cool happy hour specials, but for lunch we went with the the wood grilled chicken breast wrapped in lettuce. It was a full size chicken breast, really thick, I would have almost thought they would have cut it in half, but despite that it was really tasty; it had a nice flavor from the wood on the grill. When they rang it up they actually had an allergy button they pressed that showed up on the screen- that made me feel a little better since I knew then it would be on my tag that went to the kitchen. Overall the sandwich was good, fresh, but a little messy since it was lettuce wrapped; it also could have used a side of ranch. It was filling but felt its $12 price tag was influenced by the beach side location.

Misofishy Sushi Spot

I love sushi. I mean pizza and chocolate are my weaknesses, but I could live off of sushi and that's what I almost did for 4 days in a row recently. I loved the name of this place, so we went to try it out, and the food at this place was really good but the service sucked beyond belief! The sashimi was served over some sort of ginger which gave the first plate of salmon a strange and an unappealing smell but we asked to serve the next plate with nogarnish and that made a huge difference. The salmon was amazingly fresh.

We also tried the marina del ray roll and the playboy- both we're incredibly good and slightly different then I've had elsewhere. One had tilapia in it, which is a fish I hardly see on the menu in my local area, and the other was like a standard Philly, but with some sort of twist, including macadamia nuts. It's unfortunate because the service took away from our good evening. I want to say maybe we hit them on an off night, nut you just don't know. 

Tomato Joe's Pizzeria

The general reviews of this place were so positive on Yelp so I went slightly off my path to try their gluten free pizza. You can only do gluten free in the 14" size so bring a gluten free friend but it will be worth it. We ordered the chicken bacon ranch and it was amazing! Very rich flavors from the ranch; I usually order extra cheese but glad I didn't for this one because it was perfectly balanced. The crust was thin, and slightly floppy when you picked it up but not nearly as whimsy as some other crusts I've come across.

A bunch of the combos they had sounded so good that it was hard to decide. Definitely more of a grab and go place but they have some outdoor seating for the nice days. Overall the pizza was reasonably priced an unbelievably good. It's probably good I don't live closer to this place. If you're hungry near the grapevine you should call ahead and place an order. 

After I posted my review on Yelp, I got a response from someone from the company and was glad to hear that they take pride in offering a gluten free option: 

"Thank you so much for taking time to write your great review. It means so much to us to hear from our customers. We strive to make the best gluten free pizza we can. We also make pizza in half and half so you could venture out and try a new selection. Our customers are very important to us and we are thrilled when we do a great job for them. Hope we will see you again sometime and we wished you lived closer to us. Once again, thank you for the great comments about our pizza. Sally Brown Tomato Joe's"