Eating at a Restaurant as a Celiac

Learning how to eat as a Celiac has a dramatic learning curve. I remember when my husband was first diagnosed and told to "avoid" gluten. That didn't seem too difficult I thought- no more bread, pretzels, cereal etc. Little did I realize that it isn't as clear cut as that. There are mystery ingredients: caramel coloring, food starch,extracts and more. To add the the problem, there are shared-use problems like the time I left crumbs in the butter dish or when my mother-in-law served my husband pasta sauce only to remember hours later that she had dropped a meatball and quickly fished it out. Both times my husband ended up quite ill. Sorry Tom.

As the wife of someone with Celiac Disease, it can be difficult because I can eat whatever I want, and he can not. I must admit there have been many times when I became annoyed when we couldn't eat at a certain restaurant because he didn't feel comfortably with the menu.
Despite the numerous issues with eating out at restaurants, we still manage to eat out often. Here are some of the places we've eaten- successes and dismal failures.

Restaurants- Safest Menu Items- Contamination Issues-

1. Baja Fresh- Original Corn Taco Deep Fryer is shared/ staff has limited knowledge of gf cooking

If you are very sensitive this is not a good place to go. We still go here sometimes, but we heve to diligently watch them prepare the food.

2. Outback Steakhouse- Ask for the GF menu Make sure you specify GF when you order.

This restaurant seems to take precautions when preparing dishes. We've haven't had any trouble, and they even have a GF brownie option. Yum.

3. Charlie Brown's- Ask for the GF menu We've had nothing but problems eating here.

They claim to have GF foods, but the cross-contamination seems to be a problem. We live in NJ and have eating at several NJ Charlie Browns, and my husband has always had some trouble as a result, ranging from mild stomach upset to Dermatis Herpetiformis rashes to severe days long diarrhea. Eat there at your own risk!

4. Carrabba's Italian Grill- Ask for th GF menu Make sure you specify gluten free. They accidentally put croutons on my husband's salad. Admittedly we have only eating here a few times but didn't have any trouble.

5. Cheeseburger in Paradise- Ask for the GF menu. Make sure you specify glten free. Although they have gluten free options, they are a little boring if you want something other than a bunless burger or a salad this is not the place for you.

6. Burger King- Tendergrill Salad Believe it or not, I haven't had any trouble when ordering this salad. It is my stand-by when are down the shore and don't want to spend a fortune. Don't let yourself be tempted to eat the fries. No matter what anyone says they always hurt my husband's stomach.

7. On the Border- Ask for the GF menu Don't waste your time on this place. They hardly have GF food on the menu. You can eat salsa but not the chips. What's the point.

I hope this gives you some ideas about where to eat. It's no easy task. One word of advice: Don't be afraid to be a little annoying when it comes to how the food is prepared. Also, say allergy, not intolerence. It makes them a little more careful about how they handle your food.

Happy Eatings,

Kim

Miller's Gluten Free Bread Co.

http://www.millersglutenfree.com/