Given the large amount of people experiencing digestive discomfort nowadays from processed, over-saturated foods, gluten-free options have become increasingly popular substitutions in many Santa Monica restaurants. For those of you whose diets necessitate gluten-free options, I would like to introduce to you a charming eatery on West Channel Road called Caffé Delfini.
Caffé Delfini is not a very large café, but cozy enough to enjoy a savory, gluten-free dish with a friend. Started over twenty years ago by two Roman natives, Caffé Delfini serves delicious Italian food, as well as gluten-free pasta made of brown rice, as well as a wonderful dish called Zinquine, which is linguine made out of zucchini. Both dishes are one hundred percent kosher and wheat-free. You can order any pasta dish and they will make it with your choice of pasta. Their Linguini Mare for instance, is one I highly recommend! Also, they have selections of protein entrees that are grain-free and have sides of sauté spinach and pototoes.
Caffé Delfini also has a wide selection of seafood too, although I suggest you order their lobster, shrimp, calamari or crab. Bivalve shellfish dishes like clams, oysters and mussels are more likely to give you stomach upsets due to the paralytic shellfish toxins (diatoms) that accumulate in these marine animals when they are in overgrowth algae environments. Consuming these toxins can inhibit nerve impulses vital organs, and affect neural and muscular activity and at the least, cause diarrhea and vomiting.
Since their serving sizes are usually large, split a pasta and entrée dish with your companion and order a side salad to eat on your own. Their Mista salad is my favorite—chopped butter lettuce, shaved carrots, sliced tomatoes, radicchio, extra virgin olive oil, and aceto balsamico—bon appetit!
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