Eating Out

[kari]

a lot of these posts have mentioned that if you eat at a nicer restaurant, you're more likely to have a good experience and get out of there un-glutened. i agree with the fancy restaurant thing. so much so, that i had to post a new topic about it. i've worked in restaurants for years, waitressing and bartending, and with the schedule you keep in that business, most of my friends are also in the restaurant business also, as chefs, bartenders, etc. and yes, we spend too much time at work so we tend to stay up late into the night talking 'shop talk' discussing food/food issues/preparation/menues, etc.

I recently started dating a sous chef at a teeny tiny super fancy restaurant. we went away together after he had only known me for a few weeks, and i had never brought up the gluten thing, he just knew i was 'allergic to beer' (when you work full time in a restaurant your 'hanging out' hours are usually late night when the rest of the world is asleep so it made sense that i'd never been in an eating situation around him. anyway... long story short... we're away in another state and he asks what i usually eat, since we're headed to the grocery store... and i start my long explanation by "well, you know how i can't drink beer? it's because - " and he cuts me off, and says "gluten? i know how to deal with that. i'm actually kind of excited about that. it'll make cooking more interesting.don't worry about a thing, i'll take care of the food for the week." i was dumbfounded. and he told me how he was at work the other day and got a phone call from a woman saying she had a gluten intolerance and could she eat there. he said 'yes, no problem, just tell your server when you come in' and was about to hang up the phone. she asked if he even knew what gluten is anyway, and he said 'yes, i'm a chef. it's my job to know what it is. and even if i didn't know what it was, i'd have looked it up before you came in and made sure i got it right.' apparently he had looked it up, with his boss, and they knew more actual science and information about gluten than i did!! needless to say, we didn't eat out once on our vacation, but he cooked the most amazing gluten free meals all week that i have ever had! no super expensive health food gluten free stuff, just regular, normal food from the little grocery store around the corner, and he whipped up gourmet meals out of it. i usually just fend for myself foodwise and cook up some rice and veggies or snag a plain baked potato at work if i'm not busy. since going gluten free i had forgotten what it was like to eat a balanced, normal meal and have it taste really really really good, and not have to worry at all about whether it would make me sick.

moral of the story - nice restaurants have chefs that know how to cook, love food, love knowing about food, and probably know just as much about your gluten intolerance as you do. in my opinion, the most important thing is making sure you get the server to communicate clearly to the chef if you don't talk to him yourself, and if you do - you should be fine.

and on a sidenote, since i've read a lot of replies from people worrying about have their food spit in, i have to say i have never ever once witnessed a meal being spat in at any restaurant i have ever worked in ever. not ever ever ever. that's really not something that actually happens, so don't worry about sending your food back. if anything, when a cook gets a plate back, they're annoyed with the server for not making sure that it was ordered correctly so that they could have made it correctly the first time around. they're never annoyed at the customer unless the customer is blantantly and unexcusably rude, demeaning, or otherwise obnoxious. which everyone here has the common etiquette and sense not to be, since rudeness has nothing to do with gluten.

[teebs in WV]

Nice post - thanks for sharing.

[mouse]

I agree with Kari. I don't work in the restaurant field, but I have had some wonderful expierences with chefs. Bronchbux, tired of doctors and I were eating at Kokomo's for the first time and the chef came out and was all excited about cooking 3 gluten-free meals for us. He also created a gluten-free desert and we had not ask for one. It was fabulous. I think that for some chefs our particular diet allows their creative juices to flow. I have had several chefs who have come out to see me and go over the menu and how they could change it, etc. I have had one at our local PF Changs that tells me to call before hand so that he can create something special for me that leaves out my allergens.

[powderprincess]

Great post Kari. Thanks for sharing and I am happy you ate so well!

I've never been taken such good care of than at one of the better restaurants I have eaten at, since going gluten-free. They told me how they would prepared it and it was even better than I would have thought of! (With the exception of my fabulous husband who makes gluten-free vegan food for me even though he can eat anything).

[megzmc3611]

Great post Kari. Thanks for sharing and I am happy you ate so well!

I've never been taken such good care of than at one of the better restaurants I have eaten at, since going gluten-free. They told me how they would prepared it and it was even better than I would have thought of! (With the exception of my fabulous husband who makes gluten-free vegan food for me even though he can eat anything).

Do you mind my asking which restaurant you are referring to? I am also in MA and am always looking for new, safe places to eat out!

Thanks!

[Nancym]

Hmmm... you might have just made Chefs much more appealing as dates! Now, where can I find me a chef?

[kari]

Do you mind my asking which restaurant you are referring to? I am also in MA and am always looking for new, safe places to eat out!

Thanks!

powderprincess, which restaurant are you talking about? i'm in ma also

and yes, nancy m... i think i've officially decided chefs are appealing as dates. i'll have to stick to chefs from now on in my dating endeavors

[Sissy]

Kari, I hope that this wonderful, thoughtful man was rewarded tenfold. This relationship sounds like something interesting...always nice to have someone who is understanding, but the bonus is that he cooks too. Sounds like a keeper to me. Sissy