Being gluten-free can still be challenging at times

After being gluten-free for over a decade, one would think there's nothing that would throw me.  From weddings to funerals to holiday parties to business functions and non-celiac in-law holidays...I've done it all gluten-free.  For the most part, I've done well when not in charge of where we're eating out.  I do my due diligence, as always, so I pretty much know what to expect on arrival to a restaurant I didn't have the option to choose myself.   

On a recent trip to celebrate an in-laws milestone birthday, I had one of the worst experiences I've had in years.  After contacting the chosen b-day dinner restaurant about what I could safely order, I felt good about the options.  While the email message I got from some manager at the place was rather curt, I chalked it up to them being from New York and didn't think much more of it.

We arrived with a group of 9 to an overly crowded and noisy place...the latter being a blessing in the end.  After I asked the server if they had a gluten-free menu, his demeanor changed in a bad way.  A minute later, some woman who claimed to be the owner of the place was quickly shoving a gluten-free menu in my face and rambling - quite rudely - that they "knew what they were doing and I could ask her if I had any questions".  My husband and I were stunned at the behavior, tone and comments and had no idea why this happened.  I review the limited gf menu and quickly decide that I just want to order seafood (we are at the beach after all) instead of gf pasta or anything else that is considered a replacement item.

When I try to order one of the shrimp entrees, I'm told I can't have it.  That's okay...I'm ready with a back up option, as anyone ordering a at new place better be.  Garlic butter shrimp was said to be fine - no modifications were mentioned.  I was told I could not have the whipped potatoes and would get a baked potato instead.  No question about what the other options might be...  It's right about this point, that in any other situation, we're out of the chairs and headed for the door.  I wouldn't initiate this decision to leave...my husband would have.  But we are not in the position to get up and leave, of course.

When our food comes, I'm given whipped potatoes...which I'd earlier been told - rather rudely - that I could not have.  Then my entree is put down and it looks like plain shrimp with a lemon wedge.  It doesn't look like it's sauteed - nor is any garlic butter sauce to be found.  My husband waives over the server and we ask about the garlic butter.  He snaps that the sauce isn't gluten-free and quickly disappears from the table.  In any other situation, we're asking for my entree to be removed from the check, as I would not want to overpay that much for a bland meal.  But again, we don't have that option.

It turned out that the shrimp had been steamed.  There was no seasoning...no salt or pepper.  I was in a state of shock and my husband was concerned that the potatoes might not be safe.  I was so hungry that I could have eaten the tablecloth so if I threw up later, oh well.  The decent tasting potatoes were in fact, gluten-free.  The unimaginably bland shrimp were also fine - not good - just gluten-free fine.  The place did have good gf crackers so I slathered too many of them with butter in order to get full.

In the end, I didn't get sick and I also didn't have a nice meal.  My husband ordered poorly - that was on him since he can order anything - and didn't enjoy his meal either.  We obviously won't ever go back to the Beachcomber in southwest FL.  At least that's something positive that came from this shockingly disappointing experience :)





  
    

Beware of gluten-free menus - even more than before!

The amount of restaurants that now have gluten-free menus is staggering and many offer incredible options that are safely prepared (as much as is possible in a mixed kitchen).  But the number of menus that list fried items that are not made in a dedicated gluten-free fryer seems to be on the rise.  Forget chips and fries - I'm talking about even gluten-free breaded items in some cases.

The good news is that many places will denote on the menu that the items are cooked/fried in a regular gluten fryer.  The bad news is that most of us can't take the risk of getting sick, and therefore must avoid those items.  In some instances, avoiding those items will leave you with few safe choices on the menu.  And at least in my case, that's not a place I'd bother patronizing.

So when you're doing your homework, looking for gluten-free options at your neighborhood or on your dream vacation, pay great attention to the little things regarding food prep, etc.  It's not only about the ingredients.  It's not even about those and the preparation methods.  It's about the plating after everything has been done to prepare the meal correctly.  One line cook tossing a piece of bread ruins the whole darn thing.

Years ago, I watched someone throw a roll on my plate at Ted's Montana Grill.  Someone yelled "no bread gluten-free" quite loudly.  The roll was quickly removed and they brought out the plate as though nothing happened.  They had no idea I'd seen the whole thing from our table.  I explained that I could not eat anything on the plate now and I'd take just a baked potato.  We didn't have the time to wait on another steak...and I really had no trust in the place at that moment.  I think Ted's has improved greatly since then, but it's not a favorite because of the incident years ago.

What many companies don't understand is that it's hard to forget simple mistakes, because those mistakes can take us down for the count.  If you get the feeling a place doesn't take gluten-free orders, or food allergies, seriously, it's hard to shake that feeling no matter how much you'd like to.

Restaurants that don't understand how to feed us safely would be better served to do away with their gluten-free menus altogether.  And the places that do get it, and care about our business, are the places we all need to support as often as possible!. 



    

Valentine's Day - worst day to dine out gluten-free

I'll never forgot my first gluten-free Valentine's Day.  It was 2006 and, back then, dining out was NOT easy - even at chains with gluten-free menus.  After exhaustive research that spanned the three weeks between my dx and Valentine's Day, I finally chose a place in Buford, GA to eat at on the big night.  The place has since closed so I'm not naming it here.  Since we could not make reservations, we arrived when they opened at 5pm.  I think we were seated in just under two hours, at which time we were both hungry enough to eat the table cloth.  No apps were safe for me so my husband wouldn't order anything for himself.  We did end up having a lovely meal, but that was my first meal out since going gluten-free and it didn't make me feel like doing it again anytime soon.

That night taught me to take emergency snacks when going out to eat.  Many years passed before I didn't feel the need for that safety net.  Everyone has their own faves for purse snacks and mine included nuts, dried fruit or crackers (to use with sans gluten cheese plate).

After skipping dining out on February 14th for several years, we finally went out again (to another place that has since closed) and had another bad experience.  This time around we had reservations, but since the place was jammed packed and fairly chaotic (they had clearly taken more reservations than they could handle), we agreed to sit in the bar area instead of the main dining room.  Our meal took a while to come out, but everything was really good.

The bad part was that the server informed me (after our order was put in) that I could not have the goat cheese on my salad...the exact salad I'd had many times without issue.  That's because there was NO gluten in the cheese.  Someone was confused in thinking gluten-free and dairy free were related...it set a bad tone for the rest of the night and my husband suggested that I might mark the place off my list of safe places.  I didn't do that, but I did inform the restaurant that they might do a little retraining of the staff.  It should be said that this place was known for gluten-free service - one of the few such places in the area back then.
        
We've had a couple of other negative experiences on Valentine's day so a few years ago, we decided to celebrate the holiday early.  We're not the only people doing this, of course, but the difference in the atmosphere at restaurants on Valentine's day and the day (or so) before it is like night and day.  The staff is much more relaxed which lends itself to a diner with allergies being more relaxed as well.

Have a sweet gluten-free Valentine's Day - however you choose to celebrate!❤
  

Some gluten-free menus miss the mark

Anyone who has ever worked in food service - particularly in the "front of the house" in a restaurant knows you're to push appetizers and desserts to every customer. Selections in those two categories of the menu tend to  offer the highest margins.  So selling apps and desserts increases the tips for servers and the restaurant increases their take for the shift as well.

Have you ever looked - really looked carefully - at a gluten-free menu?  If the answer is yes, then you know the two menu categories that either have little or no gluten-free options are the appetizers and the desserts.  This completely baffles me.  If places don't want to offer a gluten-free menu to people who are trendy - or to those that have medical conditions that require a gluten-free diet - fine.  But why go to the trouble of figuring out gluten-free options for salads and main courses while skipping the two most profitable categories on the menu?  It makes absolutely no sense!

When I find an interesting appetizer on a menu that I can order, it's very hard to pass up the chance to try it.  Even if I'm not in the mood for an app and an entree, I'll likely order both and take most of my main meal home.  I want to let restaurants know that I very much appreciate being able to order an appetizer so they'll keep offering those items!

Nothing drives me up the wall when dining out more than not being offered dessert. Even if they only have ice cream which I've never ordered when dining out and probably never will - I would like to know if I can have a sweet treat to complete my meal or not.  We were recently at a pizza place that has a ricotta cheesecake for dessert. It's always been gluten-free since it's crustless and I insisted we order it just because I could have it.  It arrived and I took maybe two bites and let my husband have the rest. I don't like any cheesecake except the Godiva option at Cheesecake Factory, but I could not pass up dessert when our server was so excited to let me know I could have it.

Every restaurant is not going to offer gluten-free pizza, bread, pasta or pancakes.  And some places that offer those things now won't when patron requests for them decrease. But for the places that do offer gluten-free menus, you have to wonder why so many of them haven't figured out they can make much more money on us if they figured out an app that everyone loved that happens to be gluten-free.  And how about putting some key lime pie filling in a ramekin (it's common to have leftover filling in non-chain places) and see if your gluten-free guests want to buy it.  I can tell you right now, I'd be the first to do so and if it's any good, I'd take another to-go!

And don't even get me started on gluten-free menus that list just the names of dishes - no description - no price - no nothing....it's ridonculous!     

Spice Market Kitchen - gluten-free review

For over a year I've been planning to check out Spice Brick Oven Kitchen and recently I finally made it there.  It was one the way home so we pulled in to check on gluten-free options.  The dinner crowd had not arrived yet so there were only a few tables in the place and they had a printed gluten-free menu at the hostess desk.  We decided to give it a try since they weren't busy and we were very hungry.

In studying the limited gluten-free menu, I was little taken aback.  This restaurant is a tapas place (of sorts) and I've always found more options at tapas places than I could possibly order during one meal.  That was not the case at Spice Brick Oven Kitchen...in fact, we would have left and gone elsewhere had we not been SO hungry.

To start, we shared the hummus served with veggies (as the gluten-free option) and I ordered grilled scallops assuming that dish, listed for $11.50, would be plenty of food for my meal.  It wasn't.  The scallops were delicious and perfectly prepared.  They were fairly small and the amount of food on the plate was small - even for a tapas place.

My husband enjoyed his shockingly large individual gluten pizza and even took some of it home!  When the bill arrived, we found out it was 1/2 price pizza night so the pizza was only $7!  If you can eat regular pizza, it's definitely worth checking out.  If you can't, you might want to consider going elsewhere for diner.
      

Red Robin steps up gluten-free game

I thought my first visit to Red Robin (when the company opened a location in Snellville) would be my last visit there - ever.  I didn't get sick, but my burger came out with a bun and then it was sent back out to the table with bits of the bun left on it...  By the time they actually made my meal correctly, my husband was eating dessert.  It was not awful in the scheme of life, but it was a horrible experience in terms of gluten-free dining.  And to make matters worse, the manager gave us a FREE onion ring card for our troubles....seriously.  It was absolutely ridiculous!

After the chain introduced gluten-free buns and fries, we still didn't go back because I didn't feel the staff would know how to get my meal to the table safely.  Fast forward to a fabulous meal at Red Robin during Expo West in 2013.  The food and drinks were simply incredible and none of the gluten-free diners at our table had the least  pang of pain or sickness afterwards.  In fact, we went back to Red Robin at this year's Expo (to a different location in order to avoid the large crowd and wait at the other location) and the food was again wonderful.

Finally, I decided to give another GA location of Red Robin a chance and it turned out to be a great decision!  The only complaint I have is that you have to order from an iPad (at my location) unless you print up a gluten-free menu and take it in yourself.  In CA, everyone got their own printed/laminated gluten-free menu.  The iPad ordering is tedious because you have to scroll through everything and then remember what you chose when the server gets back around to your table.  From now on, I'll take in my own menu in order to save the time and hassle of using the iPad (it took an unusually long time for someone to bring me said iPad).

The gluten-free buns are so soft you can't imagine they're actually gluten-free!  There isn't a decent (to me) gluten-free dessert to enjoy, but having 'bottomless' sweet potato fries (at no charge!) more than makes up for that.  And if you need to avoid more than gluten, you can use the meal 'customizer' on the Red Robin website to figure out what you can order safely.  For the money, Red Robin runs circles around the trendier (read: pricier) Smash Burger.  My review of SB will be coming up next month.
      

Gluten-free crepes in the ATL!

Crepe Revolution went out of business quite a while ago.  I can't speak to the gluten crepes there, but the three gluten-free options were less than impressive in my opinion.  Because I love crepes, I routinely google 'gluten-free crepes atlanta' and what normally pops up are regular crepe places that don't have gluten-free options.  Then a few weeks ago, that changed.

Meet Crepe Cafe in Marietta!  The 500 degree griddle is cleaned (possibly with water only) before being used for the gluten-free batter.  Since I've successfully had crepes made that way before, and knew that the cafe serves many gluten-free patrons with celiac, I decided to give it a try.

We got one savory gluten-free and one regular crepe for lunch and a gluten-free dessert crepe for dessert.  Each gluten-free crepe was delicious...light and airy...just like a crepe should be!  All I could think was 'I hope they didn't mess up and give me the wrong batter' - it was seriously that delicious!  The regular crepe that I couldn't try was said to be not quite as light as the gluten-free version, but it was none-the-less tasty.  My only complaint is that there is only one location of this gluten-free gem of a cafe in the area!

Words of caution: gluten-free dining in the ATL (and everywhere else)

It seems like every week a new restaurant in our area launches a gluten-free menu and while that used to be exciting, these days it's more important than ever to investigate these claims in detail.  Lately, I've come across more places that don't have a clue about proper gluten-free service than those that do.

EXAMPLE:  There is a small independent cafe near us that has a sign on the counter noting that gluten-free pancakes and bread are available for a $1 upcharge.  My husband was so excited to see this when he popped in to inquire about gluten-free dishes.  When I called to ask more about these new items, I was nicely told that the pancakes - gluten and gluten-free - are all cooked on the same griddle.  The bread for all sandwiches is toasted together as well.  The person was fairly knowledgeable and commented that someone with a gluten allergy might want to avoid pancakes and toasted bread.  They added that you can order a sandwich on un-toasted bread in order to ensure the (packaged) gluten-free bread would remain that way.  Lastly, the person commented that since the gluten-free bread was stored in the refrigerator, the bread would be cold if ordered that way.  Sounds yummy.....NOT!

EXAMPLE:  Large chain with a pretty extensive gluten-free menu has the most clueless staff I've encountered in a while.  While a kitchen manager explained that the gluten-free pasta is cooked in clean pan/water, etc. which turned out not to be the case - at least on one of my visits there.  After having gluten-free pasta dishes without incident a couple of times, I found gluten pasta mixed in with my gluten-free pasta.  I sent the half eaten dish back - had it taken off our check - and asked to speak to the manager.  He un-apologetically explained that anyone with a gluten allergy should not be ordering gluten-free pasta since it's cooked in the same water as the gluten pasta!  Interesting....  OK - no reason to return there unless I want to order a salad.  I certainly wouldn't trust them to prepare a burger with a gluten-free bun - or any other gluten-free specialty item for that matter!

EXAMPLE:  Multiple pizza places now have gluten-free pizza crusts.  Many of them also serve gluten-free pasta (if they serve regular pasta).  Some can explain what cross-contamination procedures are in place (for pizza and/or pasta dishes) and some can not.  In fact, the question obviously throws the person on the other end of the phone - managers included - more often than not these days.

At the end of the day, jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon can be quite profitable for restaurants when done right or wrong.  Most of us know someone who's gluten-free for reasons unrelated to their health or food allergies.  They're just following the latest fad and can not detect if they are glutened when dining out.  The trendy gf-ers are kind of skewing the size of the gluten-free market which is somewhat positive when it comes to shopping for gluten-free specialty items.  But it's detrimental when it comes to gluten-free dining options.  It is clear to me that servers are encountering more faux gf-ers than those of us that will get sick if our food is not prepared/served correctly.  And that is not good news for any of us.

Always do your homework before trusting that any place you haven't been before knows what they are doing in terms of gluten-free service.  I eat out at least weekly (daily when on vacation) and will continue to do so.  It's great that there are so many places that do get it right.  But I also feel like it's more important than ever to investigate whether or not a place is worth eating at BEFORE you get there.  Like it or not, trendy gf-ers are driving the gluten-free dining market currently more than those of us who have no choice but to eat gluten-free.        

*The names of the places mentioned above are not listed because they could have changed their policies by now (or at any time) and also because there are way more of them out there than I personally know about.  What I encountered could happen anywhere to anyone and it's up to each individual to make their own decisions about where to dine out.  This post is simply a word (or many words) of caution about dining out.  
     

Atlanta has its own gluten-free home brew

Alright. The gluten-free beer crafted by the talented Brewmaster at 5 Seasons Brewing is not exactly new - but the current version of it is. I was invited in to taste test the beer the day before it was set to start pouring in February and I decided to take a few friends along. Actually, I had no idea my beer was being comped or I would not have invited anyone, of course. Four out of six in the group ordered the beer. It was...not very good. One person in our party, Joy Johnston, used to be a food critic and she is a bit of a beer expert. She was not impressed either.

Fast forward to June when I met a friend for lunch at the Alpharetta location of 5 Seasons Brewing. As we enjoyed our delicious house made gluten-free pizzas (which are very much like gluten flat breads), the Brewmaster popped over to the table and offered to give us a sample of his newly reformulated gluten-free beer. Even though it was lunch time, we were 1- not working and 2- we only had a shot of beer, literally. Still not being a beer aficionado myself, I can't tell you what notes is has or anything else. I can tell you the beer is exceptional tasting. I'd be shocked to find out that gluten beer drinkers could not appreciate the taste and smoothness of this Atlanta brewed gluten-free beer!

5 Seasons Brewing has really stepped up their gluten-free game of late and even hosted a gluten-free fish and chips dinner for the local gluten-free dinner club recently. We were out of town that weekend (last minute plans) so I had to cancel going to the event, but I heard it was absolutely incredible! I'll be enjoying some gluten-free fish and chips at the Alpharetta location soon. It is not on the menu all the time, but if the kitchen is not too busy, they will make it for gluten-free patrons on request. At last check, the gluten-free beer was only available in the Westside and Alpharetta locations and not in Sandy Springs.

The beer in the above photo was from the very first batch of not so great beer. I didn't take a photo of the shot of the new beer which looks like beer. It's not cloudy or orange. It's just terrific! When I contacted the Asheville brewers group about their gluten-free offerings several months ago for my travel piece in Delight gluten-free, they didn't have one yet. Crawford (the Brewmaster) at 5 Seasons Brewing has done himself proud indeed!