GF Social Life, Focus on Ingredients

So you are going out with friends. It is not your choice of locations, so you cannot research it first, and when you get there you discretely ask for a Gluten free menu and the hostess looks at you like you have 10 heads… Manager…. busy, now what?!?

No worries, you got this. Read the menu. Do not just look at the names of the dishes, read the ingredients… Start with the Appetizers. There is very little chance that you can eat anything on the appetizer menu, but look for items that are not fried, not breaded, and no cream sauce. Even shrimp cocktail can be suspect because of the sauce. You can ask for the shrimp cocktail with the sauce “on the side” and enjoy the shrimp. Some Asian restaurants have a skewered chicken with peanut sauce, one of my favorites. Ask the servers to check with the kitchen that it is gluten free, if so enjoy!

Salads are generally safe, look for ingredients such as tortilla strips (ask the server if they are corn or flour strips and if they fry them in house, if they fry in-house, skip the tortilla strips, corn or flour). No croutons, “cheese croutons” “that is generally cheese breaded and fried) and no fried onion straws. Candied pecans can also be made with gluten. You can ask, but if they come in premade they will need to look at the ingredients on the box, I learned that one the hard way! Choose salads that have fresh ingredients that you can eat. Ask about dressings and if in doubt ask for the olive oil and vinegar.

For the entrée, items that are marinaded, sauced, fried, and battered are all problem items. Some sauces, sauce béarnaise for example may be safe, ask. The marinade can have soy sauce and soy sauce has gluten in it unless it is the gluten free version. Ask. The easiest way to eat safe is to choose whole grilled meats (steak, chicken, fish, seafood) baked potato with butter and sour cream on the side and vegetables that have been grilled or sautéed. That being said, some restaurants use a signature sauce on everything. Longhorn steakhouse uses a lemon butter on everything. Ask for your with out the lemon butter. That is true for seasonings also. When I worked for Sysco foods, I took a customer to the plant to meet with our chef. He was happily seasoning everything with what he said was one of his favorite seasoning blends. I asked to see the container in the top 5 ingredients…wheat. Should you be in a restaurant that understands the gluten free diet, they will know if their seasoning has wheat in it, should there be any doubt, as for no seasoning and use the salt and pepper on the table.

Desserts are rare. Outback Steakhouse has Thunder Down Under that is gluten free and PF Changs has a wonderful chocolate gluten free desserts. Tell them you are gluten free at the Melting Pot and you will not feel deprived at all! Generally speaking thought, most places are not going to have desserts that are gluten free.

Sometimes even with the best planning there doesn’t seem to be anything on the menu that you want. It is a good idea to bring something with you to snack on after, or eat before you go and a dinner salad is enough. Being prepared is always the best defense from being glutened when dining out