BW3s

So apparently Buffalo Wild Wings has been getting a ton of hits on my blog, which is great. But what I want to know is what other restaurants are people dying to know more about on a GF diet. What other places are people curious about because they use to eat there before or have heard amazing things about from other friends? Email me and let me know what you think and I'll do the research and post it!

New Layout

I've updated some menus and postings on restaurants as well as I'm working on a new layout to make navigating through the recipes, grocery finds and dining out easier to on the eyes and way easier to access. Please bare with me! ~Janet!

Last Night in Vegas!

I've had an unbelievable time in Vegas and am so utterly thrilled that eating here wasn't a huge issues. for our last dinner, we ate at Le Burger Brasserie and they were all very helpful in creating and figuring out something I could eat, from our server to management they were very nice and accomodating making sure that not only I had enough to eat but also I could actually eat there. Keeping in mind that we had a party of 8, it can add to the difficulty of ordering gluten free foods. Sadly though, our service pretty much sucked, to the point where we left a little comment card. Having my background in food service that I do, plus Jen's background as a manager and Diane' 's chef background, we all know and understand bad shifts, rough times, etc, but really, she was just bad and having a difficult time handling a party of 8. Regardless of that, the burgers were HUGE! The fries were delicious!!! (You can mix and match what kind of fries you want and they are ordered a la carte.) I would highly recommend them for a delicious meal on the strip that is gluten free friendly.

P.S. Just walking through the Paris is a treat in itself. The Venetian to the Paris, the designs and structure of it all it beautiful. Sadly, the smells of the foods coming from the bakeries is gut wrenching when hungry and can make temptations all to easy, so I do recommend eating before strutting through them- especially Paris, as they have real French cafe' s with French bread and pizza and yeah, it's bad, and no, I asked, they don't have gluten free.

Full Day of VEGAS!!!!

So Vegas has been amazing! With the kitchens in the room, we had breakfast in our rooms, eggs, toast, come pancakes for some, juice, cinnamon rolls and enough gluten free food to boot! I loved it. A friend that came with us is a breakfast chef for a winery bed and breakfast in California so she's very familiar with not only the kitchen, but once she found out about my diet restrictions, she was excited to try new foods on me. She even packed some gluten free food for me in her suitcase!!! With last night's dinner being at a restaurant I have back home, it was easy for me to work with... Buffalo Wild Wings though is a favorite place of mine anyway so I didn't even need to ask, I just told that I have an allergy!

I'm very curious to see how the rest of the day goes with food and my only huge concern for the whole weekend is the breakfast buffets on Sunday- cross-contamination is such a huge thing and not easily controlled in a buffet! As we go out on the strip today, here's to hoping there's food I can eat!

Zio's

So tonight we are trying out Zio's and in looking at their menu online and much to my surprise they have a pretty extensive selection to fit the gluten free diet. check out the menu. Also, they have an amazing wine selection here so I'm stoaked about that. Elton John concert should be interesting in the selection of foods and drinks that I'll be able to choose from- cause we all know that conscession stands aren't very gluten free friendly. Here's to hoping!

*sing Benny and Jets*

Buffalo Wild Wings Email

Please visit here for moved posting! Thanks!

Old Chicago's Email

Old Chicago's wrote me back, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the response, I've very mixed on it as it seems they aren't even attempting to make an strides to even work with gluten-free bakers and makers of pizza crusts.... Oh well, le sigh.

Unlike most of our competitors, we serve pizza and cookies...
both of which we make from scratch... This means that we carry 2 kinds
of flour and our mixer is constantly mixing 3 kinds of pizza dough and
cookies. Those prep areas are not separated from other production areas
and as a result, there is flour in the air and potential
cross-contamination is almost assured.
Also, we do not have training programs in place that teach the
nuances of gluten free requirements and affects.

All that being said... there are menu selections that could be
considered free of gluten ingredients... all of our Ken's dressings, our
Ranch & Bleu Cheese dressings are gluten free (except Dorothy Lynch
Dressing), as are many of our meats... Steaks, Ham, Turkey, Canadian
Bacon, chicken wings, pepperoni, sausage & salami. Vegetables and salad
mixes are also appropriate selections. As an individual who is sensitive
to the details of gluten-free living... Guests can certainly come in and
tailor meals, based on ingredients known to be gluten-free... bun-less
burgers, corn chip nachos, steak, salad, veggies, and dressings (except
Dorothy Lynch Dressing). We are very good at providing special orders
upon request, but at this time it would be inappropriate, given our
homemade pizza position, to encourage Gluten Intolerant folks to make us
a gluten free destination through special menuing.

I hope this helps explain our place in the industry, please contact me
back if you have additional questions or requests... We would love to
provide a special menu but, as long as our kitchens are focused on
homemade pizza dough... flour/gluten cross contamination is certainly
more possible than in establishments without pizza.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us....

my response
Thank you for your response Mike. Have you considered working with local gluten-free bakeries that provide the pizza crust? It would still be homemade and I know of a national chain that does just that. Having worked in food service all of my life I understand the possibilities of cross-contamination, but assigning an oven as gluten-free as a trial run might be something more to look into to give your guests a variety. I enjoy going there, especially since you have cider, gluten-free beer on tap at the locations in my area, but having a better food selection would also be nice. Also, do you know if your chicken wing sauces contain any gluten?

Thanks again!!

Restaurants Gluten-Free Menus

So, I decided to great a listing of restaurants and their gluten-free menus for easy access! Enojy!

Updated 26 March 09

Beau Jo's Pizza
http://www.beaujos.com/glutenfree.cfm

Chili's
http://www.brinker.com/gr/allergens/Chilis%20Allergen.PDF

Chipotle
http://www.chipotle.com/Chipotle_Allergen_Card.pdf

Garlic Jim's
http://www.garlicjims.com/menu.asp
*Please call your local shop for actual gluten-free items, including sizes of crusts as they vary on location*

Johnny Carino's
http://www.carinos.com/menu/default.aspx
*Click on the Gluten Free link on the left side*

PF Chang's
http://www.pfchangs.com/pdfs/gluten.pdf

Qdoba
http://www.qdoba.com/Allergens.aspx

Red Robin
http://www.redrobin.com/UserFiles/File/Wheat_Gluten%20Allergen%20Menu%20(3-09)(1).pdf

*This menu updates every few months so please check the date that the menu is good until that is listed at the top of the 1st menu page*

Subway
http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/MenuNutrition/Nutrition/pdf/AllergenChart.pdf

Wendy's
http://www.wendys.com/food/pdf/us/gluten_free_list.pdf

Mimi's Cafe

So my parents and I decided to go out to eat for breakfast and haven't been to Mimi's since I was diagnosed. Since I'm always up for trying places out and seeing how they accommodate, I decided that we should go and we did. I got the dear in the headlights look from the server at first and she hasn't very considerate regarding my needs for the placement of the bread and the muffins my parents ordered. Something that bugs me, sometimes it doesn't. In realizing that I'm not going to prevent other people at my table from eating what they want, I still consider it common courtesy not to place the basket of bread directly in front of the person that just told you they can't eat that. I order an omelet, but told they it has to be regular eggs. Apparently they use powered eggs so be sure to request real eggs!!! Of course, my meal comes with a muffin that I can't eat, I didn't think to ask if I could get fruit instead, but will next time. They don't specifically have a gluten-free menu nor does it seem that will any time soon. The meal went better at the time went on and I drank more and more water. That's the biggest lesson from eating out I'd say is to ask as many questions as possible. They are serving you (this coming from a server) and it is their job to provide the best service to you. You are the one that knows what your body can and can't handle so don't hesitate to ask as many questions as possible!!!!

Johnny Carino's

So for my birthday last week, one of my dear friends took me out to dinner, my choice. I had heard that Noodles and Company had a gluten-free selection but couldn't find anything on their website so I decided to go with Johnny Carino's cause I knew they had a gluten-free menu and it was easy to find on the website. When we got there, I ended up seeing a friend of mine that I use to work with so we sat in her section, knowing I would get better service on what I wanted because I knew her and I was right. Liz was fabulous! I was craving spicy and she said that I could get anything I wanted spicy, just to tell her. It took me a bit to decide what I wanted to eat, but once I figured it out and it came, man was I a happy girl!

They pretty much say that any item with pasta can be substituted with sautéed green beans and spinach and potatoes. We got the only appetizer that I could, with the bread on the side, Shrimp Scampi. Delicious! I went with the Chicken Scaloppini, extra spicy with the green beans and spinach. I do definitely recommend going there because they are a great place that can accomodate a gluten-free diet!

Red Robin

Red Robin has long been a favorite restaurant of mine and is even more so now. The one closest to my house, Powers Red Robin, 3770 Bloomington Street, Colorado Springs, CO 80922, has a gluten-free fry fryer and is always very courteous in accommodating a gluten-free diet. Their menu is pretty extensive for the gluten-free diet and it lists what you can and cannot have regarding certain aspects of menu items. While not all things are listed as you can have but not with this, the items that are listed are the gluten-free menu tell you how you can remove certain items to make the meal gluten-free. Did I mention the gluten-free fries? I think that that is one of my favorite parts. Honestly, the fact that they have that and that they are always really nice about it when we are there just makes us come back more. We usually dine there a minimum of twice a month. I will note that with take out orders, we seem to have a few more slip ups with the order and sometimes they'll make everything gluten-free or they'll forget something and only one time during a dine-in experience we had a serious issue, but overall I rate them very high as a great place to eat for a gluten-free diet in Colorado Springs.

Old Chicago's

I love Old C's! Lots! Always have. It's a great place to just come and hang out and catch up with friends and have dinner. Well, obviously their menu isn't not very conducive to a gluten-free diet, however, I do know some tricks of the trade that you can do and eat out here still.

First of all BEER!
Woodchuck! I have had this beer a number of times and NEVER realized it is gluten-free. In fact, on the bottle it says, naturally gluten-free! I was SUPER excited! It's a great cider beer. Some places might have it on tap and some just bottles, ask first and be a little wary of getting it from tap just in case a different beer was coming out of the tap recently and it hasn't been cleaned- ASK if you really need to know.

FOOD!

Well, their buffalo wings and salads are all gluten-free. Mind you I only named the buffalo wings and not any of their other sauces so I don't know for sure, but will look into next time I'm there. All their salads are and none even have croutons, so no worries there. You can also technically get any of their sandwiches and no bread, I've done this, especially with the Italian Melt, which was and still is a favorite of mine. I've thought about bringing my own bread to places where I use to get sandwhiches often, but never have. If you want to, I suggest it. Hell, people bring their own dressings, why not bread we can all eat?

If you aren't SUPER sensetive to glutens and your party is wanting to split a pizza, I encourage you to pick off the toppings. Sounds funny, but hey it's food, but also get a salad with it, because that is NOT going to fill you up. While they do have carry out, I don't have any real great suggestions like with Olive Garden because Old C's is known of pizzas and you can't really bake the toppings without a crust. I do encourage you to seek out Woodchuck in your local stores though cause it's really good and pretty well-known!

Until next time! Enjoy!

The Melting Pot

So for Mother's Day this year, we went to The Melting Pot. It's become a favorite for us and celebrating events. Last year, my birthday, this year, Mother's Day, and who knows from there. Anyway, since we hadn't been there since being gluten-free, I was nervous, but while making the reservation, I asked and they said it was possible. I was super excited. We had this great server named Michelle who made sure that everything was perfect for the gluten-free fondue night. Since we had one burner, we all did the oil and did a Big Night out and a half, since it was three of us. We did cheese with corn startch instead of flour. She made sure that instead of ravioli, there was extra meets and that with the batters, mom and dad couldn't use them until I was done cooking. And chocolate, well, we use to Cookies and Cream, Marshmallow Dream, but can't any more, but we did anyway and had the cookies on the side. I had my own platter with regular marshmallows, extra strawberries and loved it! I couldn't believe that such a high end restuarant had gluten-free accomodations and didn't seem bothered. I can only imagine that it's extra work. The night was lovely and wonderful and I grabbed a job application on the way out! We'll see! (x-posted in gypsy)

Chick-Fil-A

Chick-Fil-A is a place that I usually meet my mom for during her lunch break. When I was first put on a gluten-free diet I came to eat here like two days later and they were super helpful. Granted we visit their a lot and many know my mom by name since she eats there a lot for lunch, but one of the ladies came and brought me a nutrition guide as well as a binder of foods I could and could not eat on a gluten-free diet. I was surprised that not only are their fries gluten-free, but they had quite an list of foods that can be eaten or modified to be able to be consumed. I am highly impressed with how knowledge most of the staff is when I say if need something gluten-free. I highly recommend them as a place to eat and just know that most anything can be modded to a gluten-free diet, just remove the bun!

Olive Garden

Ok, so I might be a little biased here and also think I know better then the information you actually get when you to an Olive Garden, BUT since I did work their for 4 years and in almost every position, including front and back of house jobs, I feel that I know Olive Garden better and know what I can and can't eat WAY better then most. Here are my suggestions....

While the Gluten-Free menu they provide you is limited, VERY limited- it contains 3 items, here's are some insider scopes on what you can really eat and suggestions for enjoy Olive Garden with the family at home.

All of the tomato based sauces are gluten free, if you are doing a take out order, which I HIGHLY recommend when wanting Olive Garden, just order a dipping sauce of any sauce, yes you can do this, I promise, and cook up your own noodles at home. Salad, obvious is gluten-free, yes dressing too, just make sure and tell them no croutons when dining in and tell them they don't need to give you when doing take out.

Now SOUPS!

Minestrone- The key here is trusting the establishment, make sure they are giving a fresh batch of soup that hasn't touched the noodles and you are gold, if you are really concerned about this, talk to a manager. The base is a veggie bullion base, so you might also want to ask if their base is gluten-free cause this can vary depending on location. IT is entirely vegetarian though, as a side note.

Zuppa- It is gluten free, there is no flour or anything in it. I've made it myself so I know, BUT be ware, if your stomach is generally sensetive, because this is a more oily soup, it might upset you a little. (If you want to make it yourself... I've found the recipe online, quantities lessen for a regular at home brew, I'll have to look it up later.)

So, but Pasta Fagaloi well has pasta, you can try the same ideal as a FRESH batch before the noodles are added, but I have yet to venture this route yet. If you do, let me know!

None of the chicken is breaded minus Chicken Parm so you can get grilled Chicken to your hearts content, same with the steak medalians.

Again, please please keep in mind that there is glutens used, namely flour in the kitchen as a whole, so cross-contamenation might accure. Otherwise, eat up the Italian life! Enjoy!