New Celiac Looking For Safe Restaurants

[hrly169]

Hi, this my first posting. I have just recently been diagnosed with celiac disease. I have been able to take the gluten out of my home but I am concerned about eating out. As im sure you all know it's important to be able to go out to restaurants with friends but I have heard so many horror stories about cross contamination that I'm quite scared.

How do you avoid being cross contaminated? Is this something anyone else is concerned about or just me?

I've also heard that chefs and staff are usually not that helpful. Is this true?

Any advice would be awesome. I am just really scared about eating out because I have felt horrible for so long and do not want to put myself in that position again if I don't have to.

Thank you so much

[Juliebove]

It really depends on the restaurant. Some chains have gluten-free menus. Like PF Changs, Outback, Chilis and a few others. You'll notice in other posts that people do in fact get glutened sometimes at these places. I haven't tried them because daughter and I have additional allergies. We don't have celiac, but she is allergic to wheat and gluten.

We find we do better if we avoid chain places. Exception being Shari's. A local chain. They have a book in the back that lists all the ingredients in the food. There is little we can eat there and daughter isn't thrilled with the choices but it is always an option if we are out somewhere.

We go to a few Mexican places and other places where they cook most of the food from scratch. We get to know the wait staff and I always make sure to tip well. We tend to eat the same exact meals each time and they usually remember us. At one place, the waiter just says, "You want the usual?" We get our food very quickly and we've never had a problem with it.

You just have to be very clear when you explain what the problem is. I have found that asking if the pork chops are breaded is very meaningless. I don't know what they think that means, but twice I've gotten breaded pork chops after I was told they were plain with nothing on them. Sometimes they don't understand that they can't just yank off a bun or pull off the croutons. Salads are one thing I am very leery about. Not only is there croutons that might lurk (have found them in the middle of the bowl), but also cheese (dairy allergy) and seeds or nuts that might be on there. Once there was chopped egg! We are both allergic to egg. When ordering salads, I have asked for just the vegetables and a slice of lemon and nothing else. I've still gotten the cheese and eggs and seeds or whatever. Or they give me just plain lettuce with no carrots, tomatoes, onion, or whatever normally comes on the salad.

Some restaurants offer things on the kid's menu that are not on the adult menu. Like sliced cucumber or baby carrots. Since I do have a kid, it is easy for me to get these things. And I find they are safer than a salad. Unless they drip Ranch dressing on them.

[curlyfries]

I think I can safely say that we are ALL concerned about CC in restaurants. Some so much so that they never eat out. Juliebove is right when she says you have to be clear what the problem is. The problem isn't usually that they are not helpful, but that they just don't know enough about it. You can't be too embarrassed to go into detail.

I find it is helpful to look up restaurant menus on-line, then call ahead and ask to speak to the chef or the manager----preferrably early in the day when they are not busy. Higher priced restaurants are easiest because the chef will alter any recipe to suit your needs.

My in-laws once took us out to eat at a family style restaurant and I couldn't call ahead. I talked to the manager and after he talked to the chef, found that there was no way they would be able to cook my food separately or without their flavorings. he really tried to find something I could eat...even going so far as to try to get me something from a nearby restaurant, but it was closed. He did however, fix me a nice salad and was very apologetic.

My boss took all employees out to lunch recently and I was half expecting to go only for the socializing, not the food. When we got there I learned that everyone was to get the same meal....Barbequed chicken, baked potato and green beans. I had googled the restaurant on this forum beforehand and learned that I wouldn't be able to have any of their meat seasoned, the potatoes are coated in bacon fat, and the green beans were also a no-no. So when I arrived I asked to speak to the manager. I got him to fix my chicken plain and cook it on top of foil, he microwaved the potato ( I even got a sweet potato instead of baked--personal preference) and he replaced the green beans with mixed veggies. He was VERY nice about the whole thing.

So.....do your research (I have a binder full of restaurant and fast food menus, many with gluten free options), call ahead when you can, talk to a manager or chef, be very specific (needs to be cooked in a separate pan or on foil, no bread or croutons can touch or be prepared near your food, etc. etc.), and let them know that you can become very ill if , for example, they forget to prepare your salad without croutons and think they can just remove them. I also bring a small container of my own dressing. I also am very sweet and apologetic for being such a bother.

I don't eat out often, and I must confess I haven't attempted fast food, yet. But so far I have found the staff extremely helpful, although the wait staff are often clueless, bless their hearts

One last thing.....read as much as you can on this forum. You learn so much.......it helps you to ask informed questions, like "Do you spray your meat with Baker's Joy to prevent sticking or add pancake batter to your scrambled eggs to make them fluffier?"

[tom]

One site w/ gluten-free restaurants is Open Original Shared Link