Gluten-Free San Francisco: gluten-free restaurants, a bakery and a taproom, for celiacs

San Francisco’s strength is its entirely gluten-free places: seven of the thirteen on this page, from restaurants and a bakery counter to a board game café and a taproom. Only some of them sit near the famous sights. On the northeast side, Mariposa Baking Co. has its counter in the Ferry Building, and Otherwise Brewing is on Grant Avenue in North Beach, about 10 minutes on foot from the Cable Car Museum and about 15 from Chinatown’s Dragon Gate and the crooked block of Lombard Street. XICA, a mixed kitchen, is at Levi’s Plaza, about 15 minutes on foot from PIER 39. In the centre, Asian Box is a counter inside the Asian Art Museum on Larkin Street, and King of Gluten Free Pizza is on Polk Street, about 20 minutes on foot from Union Square. The rest are out in the neighbourhoods: Kitava and Pica Pica Arepa Kitchen in the Mission District, under 2 miles (about 3 km) south of Union Square in a straight line; Firefly in Noe Valley and 3rd Cousin on Cortland Avenue, further south; and in the west, Clementina on Clement Street and The Game Parlour on Irving Street, about 20 and 15 minutes on foot from the de Young in Golden Gate Park, with As Quoted on Sacramento Street and Judahlicious on Judah Street. The city is spread out, so between neighbourhoods take Muni, BART or a rideshare rather than walking. All walking times and distances here are our estimate from the map.

A day that works: start at the Ferry Building, where Mariposa Baking Co., an entirely gluten-free bakery, has a small counter; the baking is done in its own dedicated gluten-free bakery in Oakland. Buy extra for the island, because Alcatraz has no food service (more on that below). The Alcatraz ferry leaves from Pier 33 on The Embarcadero. Back on shore, see the sea lions at PIER 39 and walk on to Fisherman’s Wharf, then up into North Beach for dinner at Otherwise Brewing, about 20 minutes on foot from the Wharf. It calls itself «San Francisco’s First Gluten-Free Taproom», and its beer, food, wine and cider are all gluten-free; indoors is over 21s only, and minors with an adult can sit on the outdoor parklet. Keep the west for another day: the de Young in Golden Gate Park (Tuesday to Sunday), then waffles at The Game Parlour, where everything that comes out of the kitchen is gluten-free (the beer and one latte, served outside the kitchen, contain gluten), or Italian cooking at Clementina, a 100% gluten-free restaurant in its own words (lunch Friday to Sunday, dinner Wednesday to Sunday).

In the US, “gluten-free” on packaged food is a voluntary claim under the rule of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and a product that carries it must contain less than 20 ppm of gluten. The rule covers packaged foods. For restaurant menus the FDA only recommends that a “gluten-free” claim matches its definition, so a GF on a menu is the restaurant’s own word. You may also see three programs of the Gluten Intolerance Group, and they are not the same thing: GFCO certifies products, which must test below 10 ppm (or below the country’s limit, if that is lower); GFFS validation (Gluten Intolerance Group) reviews a restaurant’s policies and procedures, recipes, ingredients and training; Chef to Plate is a separate awareness program with a lower bar than GFFS validation and no annual audit. Whatever the menu or a program’s mark says, say you have coeliac disease every time: “celiac” is the spelling staff in the US know.

San Francisco is famous for its sourdough bread, and its big burritos come wrapped in a flour tortilla: both are wheat. Fries are the classic trap, because many kitchens fry them in the same oil as breaded food: ask about the fryer every time. US allergen labels must name wheat but not barley or rye, so watch for malt and beer in batters and sauces. A gluten-free menu is not a gluten-free kitchen: despite its name, King of Gluten Free Pizza shares its address with a pizza shop that makes wheat pizza, and several places on this page sell regular beer next to gluten-free beer. Alcatraz needs planning: the National Park Service says there is no food service on the island, only dry snacks and candy from the bookstore, and you may eat only on the dock. There is food service on the ferry, which we haven’t checked, so pack your own. We haven’t checked a San Francisco hotel kitchen ourselves either: when you book, ask about gluten-free breakfast, and pick a room with a fridge.