Welcome to our first gluten free travel installment since our vacation last week. As mentioned in our last news item, Sienna and I traveled from Portland, Oregon down to Los Angeles. We were in the audience at the Jimmy Kimmel show, and stayed at the Roosevelt on Hollywood Boulevard (we didn’t really like the hotel much, unfortunately). Of course we would be remiss if we didn’t find some gluten free places to review. Luckily we found Hugo’s Restaurant.

Besides being gluten-free-friendly, Hugo’s has a diverse menu, is dedicated to sustainability, and is vegan and vegetarian friendly. Although the online menus don’t seem to have this feature, the menus at the restaurant have everything marked for whether it is vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, or if it can be modified to be that way. Among other things, they have gluten-free pancakes and gluten-free fish and chips. When I was looking at the menu I actually got kind of overwhelmed by the amount of choices, which is really awesome.

We visited Hugo’s West Hollywood location for lunch, and when we arrived there was no wait for a table, but the restaurant was busy. The place is clean and kind of stylish. With huge booths and wood tables and chairs, it has the feel of a cross between an upscale restaurant and a diner. Hugo’s also has a Studio City location and it looks like they have two more separate places to get tacos. One in Atwater Village, and the other also in Studio City. They are also opening a location in Agoura Hills in late fall of 2009. It also looks from their website that they sell very expensive teas.

I got the gluten-free fish and chips, which is actually more like fish and sweet potato fries. The sweet potato fries were good but not awesome. I’m used to sweet potato fries being more like a “steak cut” fry with lots of salt. Hugo’s were thinly cut – more like fast food fries. Although I found myself wishing for some applesauce for dipping, I didn’t have any trouble finishing them. The fish was really good too. Although I’m still looking for a really awesome battered gluten-free fish, I liked these better than the fare at the Hawthorne Fish House. The reason I like them better is that they have a lot of flavor. I would be really interested to see how Hugo’s fish and chips would be with some gluten-free malt vinegar. Our waiter was awesome. The wait for our food was reasonable. Neither of my items were excessively greasy. My lunch was delicious and the rest of our party was happy with their food too.

Gluten Free Fried Fish: Click here for our breaded fish recipe.

We want to know: Have you eaten at Hugo’s? If so, how are the pancakes? We’re still looking for awesome gluten free fish and chips in Portland Oregon. Let us know!

Times we have visited: 1 (So your experience may vary.)
Overall rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: Same

Hugo’s Restaurant
http://hugosrestaurant.com/
multiple locations in Los Angeles