First gluten free restaurant experiences

During my trip to FL I had no choice but to eat out. GlutenFreeRegistry.com turned out to be an invaluable resource for locating restaurants and gluten free menus. Ironically, I didn't get sick at all in FL, but became ill dining out for the first time after returning to PA.

Woody's Bar-B-Q

Meat, meat and more meat. It's hard to go wrong with meat. There are several gluten free sides to complement your plate of meat.

Outback Steakhouse

I was impressed with the staff at Outback. They had a physical gluten free menu and asked me a lot of questions to make sure they were preparing the food properly. I was not expecting that level of service.

IHOP

The server seemed to have a working knowledge of gluten free and talked with the chefs about my omelet. It was stuck with a colored toothpick to prevent it from being cross-contaminated in the kitchen or while being served.

Chili's

The server printed out a gluten free menu for me upon arrival and the manager came to the table to check in with me. Good salad. No problems here.

Macaroni Grill

Back in PA, I had a salad at the Macaroni Grill. They had a physical gluten free menu. The server seemed very conscientious, asking clarifying questions as to whether I was merely eating gluten free or if I had issues with gluten.

I've since read that some restaurants will not go the extra mile to prevent cross-contamination unless you specifically state that you have gluten issues -- even if you are ordering from the gluten free menu.

I made it clear that I had gluten sensitivity and ordered a Market Chop Salad. Everything else I ate that day . . . mainly yogurt . . . came out of my own kitchen and was prepared by my own hands.

Later that night I developed a persistent headache and my stomach did not feel right. The following day I was hit with the fatigue and nausea that had been a daily part of my life until I went gluten free in the last week of June. It took two and a half days to get back to normal.