Palm Springs, Ca

[Nantzie]

I'm going to be going with my husband to a business conference in Palm Springs, in the Indian Wells area.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if there are any stores or restaurants in the area that have gluten-free food. My husband will be in meetings for most of the first two days, so I'll be on my own to explore and window shop. I'd love it if there was a place I could stop for lunch or something.

I'm also going to be taking Glutenease along. I haven't really tried it much because both my kids are on the gluten-free diet as well. If they're going to suffer through a glutening, I'm going to too. I'd feel too guilty taking something for it that they're too young to take.

I'm going to only try it if I get glutened though. I think it's MUCH more important to do whatever outreach and education I can than to take something that may let a carelessly-made meal slip past me. I wouldn't want someone in the kitchen to think that just because I didn't get sick other celiacs wouldn't get sick either from whatever they did or didn't do.

I figure once I'm glutened, the damage is done. If I can cut down on the symptoms while I'm on vacation, it would be worth a shot.

Nancy

[Lisa]

Sorry Nancy. I could not find anything in my Dining Book. I would suggest that you bring with you some salad dressing and you can find a salad for lunch most anywhere.

Hope you have a wonderful trip.

Lisa

[mmg42]

I just saw this post, while searching for info on places I'll be traveling this summer, and, while it may be too late for Nantzie's trip, there are several good resources for gluten-free shopping and dining out in the Palm Springs area:

1. Clark's Nutrition, in Rancho Mirage on Monterey near I-10, across from the COSTCO has an excellent selection of gluten-free foods, including Glutino and Kinnickinnik breads, bagels and other frozen bakery items; lots of frozen dinners; enough cookie and snack varieties to meet most people's expectations; packaged items and much more, including a deli-type cafe with foods prepared daily (check with them about the cafe items, since this isn't a gluten-free deli, per se, some items may be fine, and others NOT.) gluten-free items are in dedicated areas, as well as scattered around the store. They carry RedBridge gluten-free Beer.

2. Henry's Market, part of the Wild Oats chain, is in La Quinta, on Hwy 111, has a good stash of gluten-free items, and usually has well-marked tags for products scattered around the store; more limited frozen bread/bakery items. They carry Bard's Tale gluten-free Beer.

3. Lifestyle Nutrition Center, in the Jensen's shopping center in Palm Desert, is a smaller store but has a good variety of gluten-free items.

Restaurants

1. Outback Steak House in Palm Desert -- they are supposed to be one of only two Outbacks in CA that serve RedBridge gluten-free beer (Bakersfield was the other, as of early April). I communicated with their corporate office recently, and found out that 136 Outbacks throughout the US were now serving gluten-free beer to go along with their gluten-free menu. Alas, we left town before I had a chance to get back to my local Outback and raise my bottle in thanks.

2. Mimi's Cafe is an easy place to order, and was very responsive to my request for info.

3. PF Chang, in The River Shopping Center, has a gluten-free menu

4. Red Robin Restaurant in Rancho Mirage (very close to Clark's, above) has been safe to eat at, so far. In several visits, they always confirmed they have a dedicated fryer for their steak fries, and use the others for everything else.

Watch out for the Red Robin in La Quinta -- in five visits there, twice I was told they had a dedicated french fryer; twice that it was also used for onion rings when they got busy; and the last time I was there, that poppers and wings were in one fryer, and the other two were used for everything else.

I contacted Red Robin's corporate offices to see if this was an anomaly, and was told that I should check with each restaurant location to confirm whether or not they had a dedicated french fryer. This is a change from their email to me a year or so ago.

5. In-N-Out Burgers (several locations) are doable. I order Protein Burgers (lettuce wrapped), and stress that I have a serious wheat allergy; only once in many visits have I had to send back a suspicious item that looked like it might have been put on a bun and then switched to lettuce. Whether that happened or not, they made me fresh one. Since nothing else is fried there, I always order their french fries.

This is my first post on this forum, and hopefully, I'm doing this correctly. My husband and I live and travel full-time in a motorhome, and have been researching gluten-free products and places all over the US and much of Canada since my celiac disease diagnosis in Jan 2002. We are on a six-month Road Trip we right now.

We'll be traveling through MS, GA, Washington DC, central KY, Nashville TN, Joplin MO, parts of KS, Minneapolis, Mt. Rushmore area, Glacier Park MT, Spokane WA, Portland/Eugene/Florence OR, the San Francisco Bay Area -- and a few other stops along the way. I have places I'll be checking out in each location, as well as what I already know from earlier stops in many of them.

I'll post more info about the Palm Springs CA area, Phoenix AZ, Austin TX, soon. I'll also post info about products I've found that I really love, and survival tips I've learned along the way.

Michele

I'm going to be going with my husband to a business conference in Palm Springs, in the Indian Wells area.

I'm just wondering if anyone knows if there are any stores or restaurants in the area that have gluten-free food. My husband will be in meetings for most of the first two days, so I'll be on my own to explore and window shop. I'd love it if there was a place I could stop for lunch or something.

I'm also going to be taking Glutenease along. I haven't really tried it much because both my kids are on the gluten-free diet as well. If they're going to suffer through a glutening, I'm going to too. I'd feel too guilty taking something for it that they're too young to take.

I'm going to only try it if I get glutened though. I think it's MUCH more important to do whatever outreach and education I can than to take something that may let a carelessly-made meal slip past me. I wouldn't want someone in the kitchen to think that just because I didn't get sick other celiacs wouldn't get sick either from whatever they did or didn't do.

I figure once I'm glutened, the damage is done. If I can cut down on the symptoms while I'm on vacation, it would be worth a shot.

Nancy

[Nantzie]

I totally forgot I posted this . A belated thanks to Lisa for looking this up for me. I must have been foggin'. The hotel was really nice and accomodating, so I didn't need to eat anywhere else.

I did use my Triumph Dining Card for the first time ever walking into a restaurant, but only because my husband was hungry when we went shopping. I could have waited no problem. We went to Tommy Bahama's Cafe. The waitress was so nice and took the dining card back to the chef. I wanted either the Grilled Asparagus or the Coconut Rice. The chef said the grill might be contaminated, so I got the rice. I'd never gone to anywhere off the street since being gluten-free, so I was happy just to have been able to get through it. Unlike here, in real life I'm usually pretty shy.

Thanks Michele for posting your information about the Palm Springs area. You did it perfectly by the way. Tons of good information.

Your Road Trips sound like so much fun. Keep us posted here about what you find on your adventures. Traveling can be challenging, so your experience with this will be great to hear about. There's always someone asking for advice on traveling. You could offer a lot of experience in that area.

Welcome to the board.

Nancy

[mmg42]

Glad it helped, Nantzie, and that I didn't commit a major faux pas with my post. We're in Jackson MS today, with an iffy wifi connection, so I'll have to wait a bit to update my posts. I'll be adding more info about Palm Springs CA, Phoenix AZ, and Austin/San Antonio TX soon. I'm also waiting for answers to some questions I posed to a couple of companies who make yummy stuff.

Michele

I totally forgot I posted this . A belated thanks to Lisa for looking this up for me. I must have been foggin'. The hotel was really nice and accomodating, so I didn't need to eat anywhere else.

I did use my Triumph Dining Card for the first time ever walking into a restaurant, but only because my husband was hungry when we went shopping. I could have waited no problem. We went to Tommy Bahama's Cafe. The waitress was so nice and took the dining card back to the chef. I wanted either the Grilled Asparagus or the Coconut Rice. The chef said the grill might be contaminated, so I got the rice. I'd never gone to anywhere off the street since being gluten-free, so I was happy just to have been able to get through it. Unlike here, in real life I'm usually pretty shy.

Thanks Michele for posting your information about the Palm Springs area. You did it perfectly by the way. Tons of good information.

Your Road Trips sound like so much fun. Keep us posted here about what you find on your adventures. Traveling can be challenging, so your experience with this will be great to hear about. There's always someone asking for advice on traveling. You could offer a lot of experience in that area.

Welcome to the board.

Nancy