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Are we allowed to mention the name of a restaurant on here? It is a great family Italian place in Sharon PA that serves both regular and an extensive gluten free menu. I don't want to break rules. If you are interested, and it is not allowed to be posted, PM me.
I just found out about the place, and the fact that they prepare the gluten free foods in a separate room. The food is wonderful...pasta, pizza, sandwiches,,,,,even a bakery.
I hope you are lucky enough to have a similar place near you. This is not a chain.
I don't see why you can't list it....
TTFN - Pud
www.ferraraatasteofitaly.com
Ferrara's A Taste of Italy
1208 Hall Avenue
Sharon PA 16146
Great menus (Gluten Free, plus regular.) Whole family eats together, safely.
Wow!!! That's great to know!!! I have a sister that lives in Hermitage not far from there!!!!!
So, have you had the opportunity to try it yet?
Olive Garden serves a penne pasta with marinara sauce that actually brought me to tears of joy!
They get it shipped in, pre-packaged to make sure it does not get contaminated with anything in their kitchen.
There is also Black Bean soup at Panera's that is wonderful and GF. On their menu every day too.
Eating out can be a nightmare since some places just don't understand and some have down-right lyed to me and I found out the hard way.
I appreciate places that meet the needs of a growing population.
Applebees' offers a GF menu of sorts.
Robin's also has a few GF menu items.
There are even pizza places popping up that have a GF pizza on their menu.
Type in Gluten Free restaurants and you will get a listing and can check for your area.
Tippy
Thanks. By the time I eliminate fiber and seeds, the marinara and beans are eliminated also. Hopefully I will be able to reintroduce those things back into my diet. Meanwhile, Dairy Queen ice cream is good.
There are actually a ton of restaurants that have gluten free menus or are well-versed in how to help someone. There is a helpful website called gfregistry.com or just search for gluten for and a city. I find stuff all of the time. I have much better luck now than 5 years ago in finding ways to eat out. I still don't do it often, but at least I know there are places that I can do so safely. Very rarely have I gotten sick from a restaurant that actually has a gluten free menu, so I try to stick to that. Happy Dining to all!!!
Thanks renin, the ones listed as having GF menu's are 50 miles or more from me, but I agree, if they specifically have a gf menu, I have been usually OK. I also have a Triumph restaurant guide which is very helpful, especially on long trips where it is inconvenient to store/carry food.
The chains, and others that do not have a specific GF menu give me much grief. I tend to cook at home because I am afraid of getting sick in public. (I react relatively quickly, like 15-20 minutes.)
cookie
I have a true story to share. I have a friend who has similar allergies to mine and is gluten intolerant as well. She just told me this today....
They went on a trip to see family and the whole bunch went out to eat at a small chain Italian restaurant where she ordered off the GF menu. She told me it's a "fine dining" sort of establishment.
The waiter wrote all the details down on her order for chicken Marsala (sp?)....They got their meals and she was done with her chicken when the manager came to her table with a "to go" box with a 'repeat order' and apologized up one side and down the other. It turned out that the cook made a mistake and the chicken breast she had already eaten was breaded!
He said she would not have to pay for her meal and my friend asked him if he was going to pay for her trip to the ER too.
I'm telling you, I would have been freaking out!
I know there are getting to be more choices and more restaurants that are meeting these needs but this is exactly what I'm afraid of. When I eat at home I KNOW what I'm eating.
I went to a chain restaurant in August, ordered a bacon cheese burger, no bun. My usual waitress has a GF nephew, so she knows to tell the cook about separate grill, etc, and relayed the info directly to him. When the meal got there, the bacon was not on it. They were busy, so I told her to forget it. She was adamant that I get my order, so ran back and mentioned the bacon. I will admit, the bacon was delicious. Unfortunately, in order to speed up the order, he deep fried the bacon in the same oil as all the glutened products.
An hour later, I knew my gut was inflamed from gluten. Four hours later, I was at the doctor because the inflammation triggered an episode of diverticulitis. It took 3 rounds of antibiotics, and more than 2 months to recover from 3 slices of bacon. No, I haven't been back. But to be fair, at a busy time, I do not know if the waitress specified to the chef that it was to be GF bacon when she reordered. So, this was a series of errors and oversights. Typically I don't eat out during busy times. And bottom line...I should have suspected it was deep fried because it came back so soon, and did not look microwaved.
It is scary. And yes, I also prefer to cook at home. When we travel, we usually get a suite with a kitchen.
Honestly, I wouldn't worry so much about eating out, especially if the restaurant has claims that they have a gluten free menu. This is taken quite seriously these days.
I am by no means saying that people don't make mistakes, as it happens daily. I am very careful about starting to eat my food before investigating it all first. I have had problems here and there with dining out, but it also doesn't make me fearful of eating out. There are SO many places these days that can help and have special menus. Usually, if I know I'm going somewhere I do some research online and/or call places. I have found TONS of places to eat out by doing some research and it's been few and far between that I really get sick and I get sick REALLY easily. It's always a toss up, but the idea of always having to eat at home is not fun or realistic. Sometimes what I do is just research what restaurants are in the area of where I am going. Then, I look them up individually on their own website and see if they have an allergy menu. 9 out of 10 times they at least have their own website these days, and if I can't find an allergy menu, I look under the FAQs, and if I still can't find anything I send an email. It works every time. People always get back to me.
Before I travel, I gather gluten-free restaurants and post them on the website glutenfreeandfrugal.com, just in case you want to see which restaurants support the GF community.
Just because you have to live a life restricted by food allergies doesn't mean you have to restrict your life.
coo_kie, we belong to a support group, TACA, and through their resources the following places also are alternatives if put in a postition to eat out.
http://www.tacanow.org/family-resources/restaurants-bakeries-serving-gfcf-fare/
Hope the resource is useful.
KD