The Challenges of Eating Out Gluten Free: Our Tips and Recommendations

Eating out gluten free or finding a restaurant with a gluten free menu can be somewhat of a challenge to newly diagnosed celiac patients. In my son’s Nick’s case, early on he had a difficult time when we went out for dinner. He would often get frustrated and at times wouldn’t even want to go when we did decide to go out and eat.

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The two main concerns that we had about eating out gluten free at the beginning of this process were:

1. - Will they have anything that Nick can eat?

2. - If so, what is the risk of cross contamination with common cooking surfaces or cooking preparation?

These two concerns have become less and less of a concern over the past several years. Again, as awareness and education of celiac disease becomes more and more present, we have noticed more and more gluten free menus popping up at restaurants, especially at some of the national chains. This is good news to celiac patients.

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Based on our experiences of eating out gluten free at various restaurants the past 8 years, we want to share are our own tips with you before deciding which restaurant to choose:

*Check to see if the restaurant has a gluten free menu. (Click here to see our restaurant listings that have GF menus) If not, call the restaurant in advance to ask if they can prepare something gluten free. Be sure to specifically discuss the risk of cross contamination as they may or may not be aware of these. We have done this a few times and we never had a problem calling in advance.

*If the restaurant has a gluten free menu don’t assume that they are preparing the food in a separate location. Ask you wait server to confirm this.

*Don’t be afraid to ask questions about other prepared food that you think may be gluten free like mashed potatoes – are they a mix or from real potatoes? Is the cooking oil for french fries only for the fries nothing else? Does the salad have croutons on it?

*If you go to a steak house and order a steak, make sure you ask of the meat has not been marinated. Some steak houses marinate their meat, especially the high end restaurants and most marinate sauces contain unsafe gluten ingredients. We found that most of the national food chains like Outback and Texas Roadhouse are usually safe.

Below is a short list of some of our favorite “national” gluten free restaurants:

PF Changs China Bistro They have a separate gluten free menu. Chinese food as always been one of Nick’s favorite and until PF Changs came along; there were no gluten free Chinese choices except for plain white rice. The servers and the wait staff were very knowledgeable about celiac disease and gluten free diets. They were extremely helpful and we definitely will go again.

Outback and Texas Roadhouse – Steaks are usually non-marinated and gluten free. There are plenty of gluten free side orders like baked potatoes, vegetables and salads. Nick also has eaten grilled shrimp skewers and again we just asked the wait server to check with the chef about not adding anything to the shrimp and to grill on a clean surface. It has never been an issue.

Other places like Applebees, Chili’s and The Olive Garden have all been safe places for Nick to eat out gluten free. Again, talking to the staff is the key.

For breakfast we have always had good luck at IHOP (International House of Pancakes). Nick usually orders bacon and scramble eggs or ham and cheese omelets.

However a WORD OF CAUTION when eating at an IHOP!!. We found out that they usually will add wheat flour or a wheat mix to their eggs to make them fluffy!!!

Make sure that you ask them to prepare the eggs straight without any added mixes and to prepare them on a clean separate surface. Again, we never have had a problem asking the staff at IHOP to do this and Nick never gotten sick eating there.

What about eating at fast food restaurants? Unfortunately, there still are not many options because most do not have gluten free hamburger buns and most prepare food on similar cooking surfaces so gluten contamination is very risky.

Nick has found only two gluten free fast food restaurants that he can safely eat gluten free products:

*McDonald’s French Fries We have been informed by numerous sources that the fries at McDonald’s are always cooked in their own cooking oil and never shared. We have been told it is a policy of the restaurant. Nick has never had a problem eating McDonald’s french fries.

*Wendy’s Baked Potatoes* Never any problems. However anything other than cheese or broccoli on top may contain gluten like chili etc..

As stated above, more and more restaurants are carrying gluten free menus and therfore, eating out gluten free is becoming a litte easier. For your convenience, we have researched several popular restaurants that carry gluten free menus. Click here to see our list!

What Are Your Favorite Gluten Free Restaurants?

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