Murphy's In Virginia Highlands/atlanta

[floridanative]

Disclaimer: the chef there does not know any more than I told him about Celiac, gluten and safe preperations practices and I did not go over everything, just what I felt was important regarding me having a safe brunch meal there. Since the meals I usually have there (brunch) are gluten free anyway the only thing I had to do was substitute fresh fruit for the muffin that came with my meal. I had e-mailed the chef prior to my visit and he was most helpful, even if he didn't know much at all (if anything) about Celiac. When I ordered I explained to the server that I was allergic to wheat which meant bread so that a muffin could not go anywhere near my plate. I find when places are not trained about Celiac, this works best for me when I already know what is safe and how to modify it if need be. You do whatever works for you, of course. My meal was perfect, the fruit was more than adequate as a replacement for the muffin so I thought they may charge me extra - they did not. The service could have been better towards the end of the meal but we got there before they were on a wait so I felt the server did listen to me when I ordered. Certainly she acted as if this was not the first time she'd had this request. In any case, I never reacted, no bloating and not even a small break out I tend to get (have twice) when I get the slightest bit of cc going on.

As this place tends to use a lot of flour in the dinner menu options I personally would not go there for dinner at this point. IF the chef there gets more people inquiring about gluten free meals, then he may be able to feed us a nice gourmet dinner as well, sometime in the future. From my prior dinners there (on gluten) I remember a lot of gluten in most everything I liked. In sauces for fish, in soups and most apps. As far as I know they bake their desserts and pastries in house.

[dionnek]

Thanks for sharing - always good to know where I can eat (I used to go there a lot for lunch since I work downtown, but not since going gluten-free). It's hard to find good lunch places downtown that will do gluten-free!

[floridanative]

Mmmm....downtown I like Chow Baby but only two sauces there are gluten free. Go when the open. Also R. Thomas has lots of yummy options too. I take my own pasta to Spaghetti Factory and get there early. I only go on days when Ken (head cook) is there. Hes has several gluten free diners there each week, all taking in their own pasta. The sauce I like is gluten-free as is the dressing for salad (sans croutons). The only thing I miss is they awsome cheese bread. Ken came out to meet me and ask about putting salt and oil in the pot for my pasta - I was impressed. I know there are a lot more places but most of my clients are north of town so I don't get down there on a regular basis. If you google gluten free dining atlanta, you will find some good info.