San Francisco favorite The Slanted Door combines elegant Vietnamese cuisine with the slow food movement, providing its customers with a memorable dining experience on the piers overlooking San Francisco Bay. The Slanted Door gets a lot of gluten free buzz, so when I finally had the foresight to make a reservation (the wait list is usually a couple weeks for a weekend dinner) I was pretty excited. Unfortunately the restaurant does not provide a gluten free menu, but the kitchen is “very familiar” with accommodating the gluten free diet and waiters are knowledgeable about which menu options are safe/can be modified to be gf. With a menu mostly laden with soy sauce, and no wheat free tamari in the kitchen, the options are limited.
Of the three gf menu items I tried, my favorite was the shrimp spring rolls served with a spicy dipping sauce (their peanut sauce is not gf so they provided another option). Although the view was unbeatable and the food was undeniably good, I had higher hopes for a more distinctive plate of food. I’m glad The Slanted Door is in the know about gf food prep, but I wish they would tailor a few gluten free items to be equally as inspired as the rest of their menu.
For a quick lunch, try their take out cafe, Out the Door. Ask for the ingredient list as many of their menu items are gf and quite good. Both locations are in the Ferry Building.
Featured Dishes: Caramelized Wild Gulf Shrimp, Grass-fed Estancia Shaking Beef, Slanted Door Spring Rolls. (All were slightly modified to be gf).
Ferry Building
San Francisco, California 94111
(415) 861-8032
