Your guide to eating out gluten-free in Birmingham

If it’s not you, it’s someone you know who’s gone ‘gluten free’. Gluten-free of course, is just that: foods and ingredients that do not contain any gluten.

If you have a wheat allergy, gluten intolerance, celiac disease, or you just want to enjoy the benefits of a diet free of wheat, barley, and rye, there are several great choices in Birmingham. Let us be your guide.

Some are 100% gluten-free, and others offer great menu items that are!

Mason Dixon Bakery and Bistro

A new gluten free bakery and bistro has opened in Homewood, founded  by Dr. Ashley Ramirez and her partner and husband, Taylor Ramirez. Dr. Ashley Ramirez discovered she had Celiac Disease while in college.

Long story short, Ashley Ramirez used her research for her PhD Chemistry program to develop delicious gluten-free recipes that could fool the most critical of tasters. The Ramirez’s’ opened Mason Dixon in Huntsville in 2013, an expanded it into a bistro a few years later.

Mason Dixon is excited to be part of the growing food-scene in Birmingham, offering menu items made with grass-fed meats, local cage free eggs and never any preservatives. Their menu is 100% gluten-free, made only from ingredients you can grow, hunt, or farm. Stop by and indulge! (1017 Oxmoor Road in Homewood.)

Bunch Bakeshop

Bunch was the first official gluten-free bakery on Birmingham. The bakery continues to bake delectable treats, and custom-order cakes, using only the highest standards, and always gluten-free. Fresh baked items are made daily. They also have some mad cake-decorating skills, and adorable holiday theme cookies. (4647 Highway 280, Birmingham.)

Consider it Joy Baking 

This cute bake shop offers more than just tasty treats, they also have wonderful grab-and-go dinner options. Their extensive menu suits most any food lifestyle, from gluten-free, paleo, to whole30. They also have mail order treats, and an amazing Thanksgiving dinner to order. (759 Shades Mountain Plaza, Hoover.)

Delta Blues Hot Tamales

Not everyone has a sweet tooth, but most everyone loves a great tamale…or they will once they try Delta Blues. Their menu is naturally gluten-free and they can make accommodations to suit most all food allergies. Delta Blues Hot Tamales is “the” place to go in Birmingham for outrageous, addictive tamales. (1318 Cobb Ln. Birmingham)

There are many other restaurants in the Birmingham area, some fast casual, and some fancy date-night places that have gluten-free items on their menus. Check these out!

Yo’ Mamas’s

El Barrio Restaurante Y Bar

Bartaco

OvenBird

Wasabi Juan’s

The hook up for Gluten free dining choices in Birmingham is the aptly named Facebook page, www.facebook.com/GlutenFreeBirmingham. Take a look at their suggestions and lifestyle tips, including great recipes.