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Branching Out at Gluten-Free Restaurants

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 2 Comments

I talked a little bit in my last post about loyalty to companies that do gluten-free well and have good business practices. Not only do I stick with companies that I know I can trust, but it seems that I stick with a certain food or menu item as well. With all of the restaurants out there now offering a wide variety of different gluten-free foods, I really need to branch out.

When I visit certain restaurants I tend to stick with the tried & true instead of trying something new.  I have been working to try & branch out lately at my favorite gluten-free dining establishments.  For example, when dining at Moe’s earlier this week I had a chicken & rice bowl, and the next time I was there, I had a salad topped with chicken and a multitude of other toppings.  When I went to Bonefish Grill, I had my Chilean Sea Bass “Lily Style”, which is the topping from Lily’s Chicken on the sea bass instead of the Chimichurri sauce that I always get.  The “Lily Style” includes spinach, garlic, artichoke hearts, and a lemon butter sauce.

One of the places that I have found it the hardest to branch out is P.F. Chang’s.  Though they probably have one of the largest gluten-free menus, I always end up getting the same exact thing – Singapore Street Noodles.  I should know from past experiences, it is rare that I will try something new & not like it, so why not give something new a try?  It isn’t like we gluten-free eaters don’t have choices these days, right?  I feel like it was just a few years ago that I was lucky to be able to get a plain salad, baked potato & dry piece of fish or chicken to eat out safely.

Last night we went to P.F. Chang’s and I did it – I branched out – I ordered the Steamed Salmon with Ginger and a side of Sugar Snap Peas with Garlic.  I can’t tell you how wonderful this meal was!  The salmon was so tender, perfectly cooked, and had an amazing flavor.  I would absolutely recommend this meal if you like to eat salmon.  To see the gluten-free menu, click here.  And, last, but not least, once you have eaten a healthy meal of salmon & veggies, splurge on the amazing Chocolate Dome!  I can’t get the pictures to upload from my phone right now, but I will share one with you from a few years back in 2008.  This shows how happy my son is that he can get a gluten-free dessert.

Do you have a habit of sticking with one dish when you dine out or do you branch out & try new things?

Moe’s Southwest Grill Gluten-Free Menu

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 6 Comments

“Welcome to Moe’s!” Those words were sweet music to my ears when I walked into the door. We don’t have Moe’s in Columbus, so when I visit my sister in Atlanta, there is at least one visit to Moe’s on the agenda. We do have Qdoba & Chipotle, but there is something about Moe’s that warms my heart (and it isn’t just the jalapeno peppers). First, let’s get to the details:

Official Website Menu Information: Moe’s Southwest Grill Gluten-Free Menu
Location Finder: Find a Moe’s Southwest Grill Location Near You

 

Moe’s Southwest Grill Gluten-Free Menu

Tortillas & Chips:

Be aware that they do use common fry oil for all of their fried items, so some cross-contamination may happen.

  • Fried Corn Chips
  • Crispy Corn Taco Shells

Proteins:

  • Chicken
  • Fish
  • Ground Beef
  • Steak
  • Tofu
  • Pork

Beans:

  • Black Beans
  • Pinto Beans

Toppings:

  • Black Olives
  • Cheese
  • Chipotle Ranch
  • Cucumbers
  • Guacamole
  • Jalapenos
  • Lettuce
  • Queso
  • Rice
  • Salsa, Kaiser, or El Guapo
  • Sour Cream
  • Southwest Vinaigrette
  • Fat-Free Salsa Vinaigrette
  • Veggies
  • Tomatillo Salsa
  • Pico De Gallo
  • Corn Pico De Gallo
  • Hard Rock N Roll Sauce
  • Baja Chicken Enchilada Soup

Moe’s Southwest Grill Review:

I love the menu & the names of the dishes! Some of the choices include Homewrecker, Art Vandelay, Close Talker, and Joey Bag of Donuts. I have had the Close Talker – lettuce, choice of meat, beans, shredded cheese, pico de gallo, cucumbers, black olives, and your choice of dressing -the Southwest Vinaigrette is awesome – and the Chicken Rice Bowl.

The entire menu, with the exception of the chips and tortillas, is gluten-free at Moe’s. Last year when I went to Moe’s, I brought in my own chips and the manager even gave me a basket to put them in. The ingredients are fresh & Moe’s never uses microwaves, MSG, freezers, animal fat, or lard. More about Moe’s and their mission:

The first Moe’s restaurant opened in Atlanta, GA on December 1, 2000, and offered burritos, tacos, quesadillas, nachos, salads and fajitas. Guests could choose from over 25 fresh ingredients including grilled chicken, steak or tofu. There were meals just for kids, beverages just for adults, and free chips and salsa for all guests to enjoy with every meal. To demonstrate their commitment to freshness, Moe’s has never used freezers, microwaves, animal fat, lard, or MSG. Over the years, Moe’s has added ground beef, pulled pork, bacon and Junior burritos to the menu and has featured popular limited time offers like the Chicken Club Quesadilla and Phil E. Burrito.

Food quality, safety and customer service are no joke, but aside from that, Moe’s tries not to take itself too seriously. For fun, the folks at Moe’s gave each menu item a unique name like The Funk Meister taco, Homewrecker burrito, Billy Barou nachos, to name a few, just to keep things interesting.

And the music at Moe’s is also a good conversation starter. If you listen closely to the tunes playing at any Moe’s restaurant, you’ll notice all of the songs are performed by dead musicians. Songs from Barry White, Johnny Cash, and most recently, Michael Jackson, have been added to the original play list to honor the sweet sounds of the artists who left us too soon.

Above all, the food tastes great. I wish there was one close to us, but the closest is almost 100 miles away. Do you have a Moe’s close to you?

As always, when dining out gluten-free, do your due diligence and make sure the staff understands your needs. There are very few restaurants that are 100% gluten-free, so cross-contamination is always a risk. If you don’t feel comfortable with what you are hearing from the staff, perhaps it is best to dine elsewhere.

For information about other gluten-free restaurants menus, check out our gluten-free restaurants page.

Tip: Avoid Dining Out at Peak Times if Possible

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff Leave a Comment

We eat out as much as we did when I could eat gluten, but just like we did in the past, we tend to visit our favorite places and choose to venture out to new ones pretty infrequently. I enjoy trying new places when meeting friends for lunch. We usually go early or late, avoiding the crunch time for the kitchen staff and servers. This way, we feel like there is a better chance our meals will be prepared and served safely.

As a general rule, we don’t usually go out to eat on Saturday night. That is because everyone another person in Atlanta goes out that night and there is no way to beat the crowds unless we go to dinner at 4:30 pm. One day I might be thrilled to enjoy early bird specials, but I’m not there yet.

For some reason, I had a hankering for a steak at Ted’s Montana Grill last weekend. The weather here was gorgeous and we could have easily saved money and grilled our own steaks at home. But the truth is our steaks are never as good as those we get at steak houses. I assumed that as long as we arrived plenty early on Saturday, I should be able to get a safe meal at Ted’s.

We were seated at 5:50 and the restaurant was not on a wait. It was busy, but not overly so, and not as much as it would be an hour later. It turned out that we were seated at one of two tables with a clear view of the kitchen. We both ordered our meat medium well so of course, it took a while to complete our ticket.

My husband always enjoys watching the kitchen since he used to cook for a living. Finally, two plates that looked like they could be ours were placed on the counter for pick up. Before the ticket was put with the plates, the expeditor dressed them. That meant the plate with the steak got a roll. My husband saw the roll get tossed onto the plate and said “I hope that’s not our food”. In a flash, the line cook looked at the ticket and swooped in and threw the roll into the trash. It had been on my plate and my meal was served as if nothing had happened. Needless to say, I did not accept it. I asked for a new baked potato and for the steak to be taken off our bill. I was not in the mood to wait for another steak to be prepared by that time.

We witnessed a little pow-wow with the expediter and manager and the latter appeared at the table to apologize for the mistake. She offered to have some chicken grilled for me, presumably because it was much faster to cook than a medium-well steak, but I declined the offer. I did not have a lengthy conversation with her about what happened because, by the time this happened, the place was crazy busy and very loud. I would have had to yell in order for her to understand what I was saying. Instead, I sent a complaint to the corporate office.

We were charged for my drink and my husband’s meal. The salad and potato I had were comped, but I would much rather have had my steak. I left the restaurant annoyed and disappointed. I was disappointed with the staff at Ted’s and annoyed with myself. It was too busy for them to take the time to prepare my food safely and for that part, I take some responsibility. But when they messed up, someone should have known not to serve my food as if the bread had not been placed on my plate, touching my steak. That part was Ted’s bad – not mine.

Clearly, the staff at our location needs to brush up on gluten-free service and be told why people order off the gluten-free menu. Maybe a color-coded plate system would be feasible there. It’s no problem that people make mistakes, but it’s a huge problem when whoever does it pretends it never happened when it comes to serving allergen-free meals. Would I end up in the hospital if I’d eaten the meal presented to me? No, I would have just been doubled over in pain and wondered what they did to mess up my food.

In the end, I made a poor choice and paid for it. While I did not get sick and I’m very grateful we sat where we did that night, I’m not sure how I feel about going to Ted’s again. One thing is for sure, we will not be going back on Saturday night and will do our best to avoid dining anywhere on Saturday night unless at a gluten-free restaurant or on vacation. This choice increases the chance that I’ll be served safely and is respectful of the staff at places trying hard to serve our market.

Review: Carino’s Gluten-Free Menu

Last Updated on by the Celiac-Disease.com Staff 1 Comment

When I first heard that Carino’s had a gluten-free menu, I called the location near us to inquire about it. The first person I spoke to said they did not have a gluten-free menu (after I explained what that was). I asked for a manager who had barely heard of the words ‘gluten-free’ and he said that although corporate had something about that on the website, they didn’t actually have a gluten-free menu there. He was very nice and apologized for the confusion.

Recently, I called the same location of Carino’s again and without skipping a beat the person who answered the phone cheerfully said they had a gluten-free menu. Just because a place has a printed gluten-free menu doesn’t mean that the people working there understand what gluten is or how to safely serve gluten-free customers. The only way to find out how well a restaurant does with gluten-free service is to check it out. The knowledge level of the staff can vary from location to location which is why we tend not to dine out at large chains that often.

The gluten-free menu at Carino’s is pretty small, but the items on it are fairly interesting. There is even something that is not that easy to find when dining out – a gluten-free soup. After reviewing the menu, I knew immediately I had to order the Roasted Garlic Potato Soup. The Lemon Rosemary Chicken won out over the Grilled Citrus Balsamic Salmon for my entrée.

For some reason, the soup normally comes with croutons in (or on) it so you have to order no croutons when ordering the soup on the gluten-free menu at Carino’s. There are actually chunks of potato in the soup that are about the size of croutons so I paid  close attention when eating it in case a mistake was made it and croutons somehow made their way into the soup. The good news is that none did and the soup was absolutely delicious!

My entrée was very good and flavorful, but the soup was the star of the show for me. The next time I go, I’ll probably order a Caesar salad (sans croutons) and soup and call it a day. My husband ordered the Italian Pot Roast which was gluten-free and I tasted it. He loved it and I did not. I don’t like pot roast with a tomato flavor, but for those who do; this dish is a good option. The meat was super tender just as pot roast should be.

Carino’s worked with the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America to create their gluten-free menu. With so many places jumping on the gluten-free bandwagon lately, knowing a place has worked with GIG’s restaurant certification program (GFRAP) is much more important to me now than it used to be. From pizza places telling me they have gluten-free pizza, but they don’t know what toppings and sauces are gluten-free (or that those things could contain gluten) to dessert places telling me their key lime pie is gluten-free if I don’t eat the crust, it’s clear that safe gluten-free options are not clearly understood by many places that claim to have them.

Our meal at Carino’s was a decent value, coming in for around $40 for one soup, one salad, a glass of wine, two entrees and one dessert. For the record, the bread pudding didn’t impress my husband who I consider a bread pudding expert. The only gluten-free option was ice cream with chocolate syrup, caramel sauce or amarena cherries which I wasn’t even slightly tempted to order.

Review: Gluten-Free Scratch Bakery

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It seems like every week there is something new and exciting happening in the Atlanta gluten-free scene. Sometimes local businesses contact me to tell me about a new product they’ve introduced or about a new gluten-free menu at a restaurant. However, some tidbits of gluten-free news I literally just stumble into. Such is the case with Scratch Bakery in the Metro Atlanta area. The bakery owner, Amy, was kind enough to sell me a small gluten-free nosh box so I could review several of the gluten-free items she bakes. Please note that such a box is not currently available for purchase.

First up for review were the brownies. The Honeybee Brownies are very rich and very chocolatey. My husband preferred those more than the Cinnamon Pecan Blondie – which was my favorite of the two. The cinnamon flavor is actually subtle and the blondie is egg and dairy free as well. Each version was quite good and had a cake-like texture. There was no odd taste or aftertaste to either one. Neither had a hint of bean flour or the grainy taste that sometimes accompanies lower-quality gluten-free baked goods. The texture was really nice and I doubt any gluten-eaters would know they were gluten-free unless someone told them so. Heating the brownies/blondies up a little and adding ice cream takes them to a whole new delicious level, by the way.

My nosh box included three types of gluten-free cookies. Our least favorites in the bunch were the Chocolate Chipsters. The cookies were not bad, but there was some flavor I could not pinpoint that I wasn’t in love with. The cookies were very soft in texture which is something I’m always on the lookout for. Also in the box were two different types of ginger cookies. My husband loved the crunchier White Chocolate Ginger Crips and I much preferred the super strong flavored White Chocolate Ginger Chunkers. We didn’t think the white chocolate chips were needed in either ginger cookie, though they didn’t detract from the taste in any way.

Other gluten-free goodies from the bakery include Better Bananamagic Bread, Smacaroons, and two other versions of Chipters cookies. Scratch Bakery does not presently have a storefront and gluten items are made in the bakery. The owner is sensitive to cross-contamination issues as she knows people who can’t eat gluten and that is how her gluten-free goods came to exist. Obviously, everyone should eat items they feel suit their personal needs best.

There are several gluten items in the Scratch Bakery line that I think would be fairly easy to convert to gluten-free. Both quick pieces of bread and scones are easy gluten-free items to make. I use unsweetened applesauce in all my quick bread, but it’s not needed for scones. I just use regular recipes and sub either Pamela’s Baking Mix or Jules gluten-free flour for the wheat flour. Whatever Amy makes is likely to be very tasty so I hope she continues expanding her gluten-free product line. Scratch Bakery offers online ordering and there are a couple of delivery options for local orders.