Gluten-Free Seattle: a gluten-free brewery, restaurant, barbecue, bakery and ice cream, for celiacs

Seattle’s sights sit close together downtown, but the places on this page are spread across several neighbourhoods. The only one downtown is Dahlia Bakery on 4th Ave, about 5 minutes on foot from Westlake station and from Pike Place Market. Three sit together on Capitol Hill, east of downtown, about 5 minutes on foot from each other: a/stir on E Pike St, Frankie & Jo’s on E Union St and Paparepas on Broadway, all about 20 to 25 minutes on foot from Westlake station; Hot Cakes has its second shop on Capitol Hill too, on E Olive Way. Further east, Yeobo Cafe and Bar is in Madison Valley (its site gives no street address) and Richard’s Too Good BBQ Shop is in Madrona. To the south, Ghostfish Brewing Company is on 1st Ave S in SoDo, Jackson Street Pizza Lounge on S Jackson St in the Central District and Oak on Beacon Ave S on Beacon Hill. To the north, Esters Enoteca is on Fremont Ave N, about 20 minutes on foot from Gas Works Park, and Hot Cakes is in Ballard, about 4.5 miles (7 km) north-west of Westlake station in a straight line. Nuflours doesn’t give its street address on its site, so check before you go. From downtown, plan a bus or a car to all of these except Capitol Hill, not a walk. Downtown itself is walkable: Pike Place Market, Waterfront Park and the Seattle Aquarium are about 5 minutes apart on foot, Pioneer Square is about 20 minutes on foot south of the market, and Seattle Center, with the Space Needle, is about 20 minutes on foot from the market or about 2 minutes by Monorail from Westlake Center. All walking times and distances here are our estimate from the map.

A day that works: start at Pike Place Market (most of it is active from 10am to 5pm), then take the Overlook Walk down to Waterfront Park and the Seattle Aquarium, about 5 minutes apart on foot (the Aquarium has timed entry, so book online). The Seattle Art Museum is one block from the market; it is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. For a sweet stop, Dahlia Bakery on 4th Ave, about 5 minutes on foot from the market, is a wheat bakery with one gluten-free line, its mochi donuts: ask how they are kept apart and boxed. In the afternoon, take the Monorail from Westlake Center to Seattle Center, about 2 minutes, for the Space Needle, Chihuly Garden and Glass and MOPOP, which stand side by side. For dinner, go to Capitol Hill, about 20 minutes on foot from Westlake station: a/stir cooks Northern Mediterranean food in a kitchen that is entirely gluten-free in its own words (dinner from 5pm, Tuesday to Sunday; the bar also pours ordinary beer, so ask which drinks are gluten-free). Frankie & Jo’s, about 5 minutes away on foot, makes plant-based ice cream and is entirely gluten-free in its own words; its base uses gluten-free oat milk and its cones are made with oat flour, so if you react to oats, ask first and skip the cone. Keep the south for another day: Pioneer Square and the Underground Tour, then Ghostfish Brewing Company in SoDo, a brewery that makes only gluten-free beer and has a gluten-free taproom kitchen. It is about 1.7 miles (2.8 km) south of Pioneer Square in a straight line, so plan a bus or a car, and its hours change by day: check before you go.

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. Two programs of the Gluten Intolerance Group, a non-profit with its office in Olympia, Washington, go further: GFCO certifies products, which must test below 10 ppm (or below the country’s limit, if that is lower), and GFFS validation (Gluten Intolerance Group) reviews a restaurant’s policies and procedures, recipes, ingredients and training. A third, Chef to Plate, is a separate program with a lower bar: the Gluten Intolerance Group itself calls GFFS validation the one with higher standards and an annual audit. Whatever the menu or the sticker says, say you have coeliac disease every time: “celiac” is the spelling staff in the US know.

Seattle’s quick classics are easy to get wrong: battered fish and chips fried in shared oil, and teriyaki glazed with soy sauce, which is usually brewed with 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: at Jackson Street Pizza Lounge, assume one shared pizza oven and flour in the air unless they tell you otherwise, and at Oak the fries are marked «(no added gluten)», not gluten-free. Oats need their own question: Yeobo Cafe and Bar uses only gluten-free ingredients in its own words, but warns coeliacs itself that it can’t recommend its oat milk to them. We haven’t checked a Seattle hotel kitchen ourselves: when you book, ask about gluten-free breakfast and pick a room with a fridge. Nuflours, an entirely gluten-free bakery, is the place to stock up on bread and pastries; its pages give no street address or opening hours, so check before you go.