Gluten Free Eating Outside Philadelphia (main Line)

[hyson]

Here are a few restaurant or take out places we have found for our gluten-free son on and around the Main Line:

King of Prussia -- There's a Melting Pot that has some gluten-free offerings. Also, there's a Ruby's that will do hot dogs and hamburgers without buns and are prepared on a gluten-free surface. (We might have needed them to microwave the hot dogs. Once I explained what kind of preparation we required, they found a way to prepare the hot dog that worked for us.)

Devon/Wayne -- Mom's Bake at Home Pizza's offers a gluten-free pizza. I haven't been in there yet, so I don't know if they offer more than cheese. As the name suggests, this is a take out and bake at home place.

There's an outback steakhouse in the Gateway Shopping plaza that has a gluten-free menu.

Also in that same shopping center, there's a good, fresh mexican chain called Mesa Fresh Grill. They've very kindly prepared their kids cheese quesadillas on corn tortillas and in a clean frying pan with clean cheese from the back. Because my son is not a big meat eater, we haven't asked if they'd prepare their meat quesadillas that way too, but they're very nice. (I also haven't check out what else they prepare on their grills with the meat.) Their chips are corn, but they're fryed in oil with the flour tortilla bowls, so they don't work -- you have to ask them not to include chips with your meal. They serve most meals with black bean and mexican rice, though. Again, my son is not terribly adventurous, so I haven't thoroughly checked these out for preparation, but the ingredients themselves on these items are clean.

Also in Gateway is a Five Guys burger and fries place. The fries are cooked in peanut oil, and nothing else is cooked with them. And these fries are amazing! I also think that the burger buns are not heated on the grill with the burgers, so the burgers also should be fine.

Gateway also has a Trader Joes which has a printed list of all the products in the store that are gluten-free, including some frozen gluten-free waffles and pancakes.

There's also a Whole Foods in Devon, so we've sometimes just grabbed the frozen Whole Foods gluten-free muffins and some coffee and made ourselves at home in their cafe -- they have microwaves in the cafe for customer use.

Frazer -- Another Mesa Grill -- see Devon above.

Exton -- There's a mexican place (I think it's Baja Fresh -- I haven't checked out the new South of the Border place), and they do gluten-free nachos for people. They also have salads and sides. They seem quite on the ball about gluten-free concerns.

West Chester -- one place that disappointed us was the Iron Hill Brewery in West Chester and Phoenixville. They neither have a gluten-free menu, not did they seem at all aware of what they might have that is gluten-free. I think maybe the baked potato was ok. We didn't bring our dining cards here. It's a fun restaurant, and I would think they'd be accommodating if they chefs knew what to look for. I just found the wait staff clueless.

Hope this is helpful to people.