Awesome Gluten Free Dining Experiences

I recently had THE BEST gluten free dining experience ever! I was with some coworkers and we decided to eat at HuHot Mongolian Grill for lunch. I had never been before and was skeptical because it is hard to eat Asian food because of the gluten in soy sauce. The concept behind HuHot is that you create your own stir-fry. This is done by walking through a buffet line and filling your bowl with the desired meat, noodles, vegetables, and sauces. Then you proceed to a large hibachi grill, give the chefs your bowl, and wait as you watch the chefs prepare your meal in a matter of minutes. You can eat as much or as little as you like, which is nice if you don’t like the meal combination you made the first time.

As soon as we were seated at our table, I asked the server if she knew of any gluten free sauce options. She immediately brought me a “Sauce Allergens” sheet to help guide me through the line. I was pleased to see a gluten free noodle option (Pad Thai) and quite a few sauce options. Of course, the meat and vegetables were gluten free. Not only did my awesome server provide me with the sheet, she also told the chefs and the manager about my allergens.

Before I even got to the buffet line to build my bowl, the manager came to speak with me to see if he could bring me anything from the back to avoid cross contamination or get me any additional sauces. Since they had just opened for lunch and we were one of the first people through the line, I let him know I was fine with what was on the buffet.

The chefs were even more impressive. As soon as I got to the grill, the chefs recognized me and confirmed that I was the guest with allergies. I let them know I was gluten free and they cleaned the grill for me. They brought out new utensils and a separate plate to place the utensils when they were not using them to cook. They cooked my meal on the clean grill separately from the rest of the meals and the utensils were only used to prepare my meal.

My meal was delicious and As Good As Gluten! Because I saw how it was prepared every step of the way and the staff was so attentive to my needs, I was confident that everything was safe to eat.

The staff continued to amaze me when I headed up for seconds. The chef remembered exactly who I was and asked how my meal had been so far as he continued with the same grill cleaning process without me even having to ask.

The food was great and the staff was beyond accommodating. I let them know that I will definitely, 100% be back. It can sometimes be hard to eat out when you are gluten free, and some places aren’t always helpful to accommodate our needs. It’s wonderful to find a great restaurant that goes above and beyond to meet gluten free needs. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures. But you can check out HuHot’s offerings here.


My experience at HuHot reminded me of another great gluten free dining experience that I haven’t blogged about before – Taco Del Mar. It is a quick service restaurant that I have eaten at numerous times. They advertise gluten free proudly and are especially accommodating to prepare gluten free meals. They have separate containers of all ingredients (i.e., meats, vegetables, rice, beans, sauces, etc.) that are kept on a different counter than the regular food. The employees wash their hands, change their gloves, use separate utensils, and prepare the meal away from the regular food. The staff is well-trained in cross-contamination and does everything they can to accommodate gluten free diners. The food tastes great and the staff is always friendly when preparing my dishes, which often involves getting out almost every gluten free container they have because I like my Mexican food piled high with everything (i.e., meats, vegetables, cheeses, beans, and all of the sauces I can have). J


Have you had any extraordinary gluten free dining experiences? Where are your favorite places to eat gluten free meals?

Lauren


Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. It's a product I bought, loved, and wanted to share with you!

Pizza Ranch - Gluten-Free Taco Pizza

My local Pizza Ranch now carries gluten-free pizza crust! It's convenient to have two options now in town (Pizza Ranch and Godfathers) when I don't feel like cooking dinner and want to order a quick pizza. What I like most about Pizza Ranch offering gluten-free pizza crust is that I can order ANY of their pizza toppings (as long as the ingredients are naturally gluten-free)! I took full advantage of not being constrained to a basic sausage, pepperoni, or cheese pizza and ordered a Taco Pizza. It was ready in 15 minutes, cost $10, and was delicious!

The thin crust has no gluten-free after taste. The texture of the crust is both crispy and chewy - just the way I like it.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. It's a product I bought and wanted to share with you!

Gluten-Free Dining in D.C.



United States Capitol

At the beginning of June, I had a business trip in Washington, D.C. Since my husband and I had never been to D.C. before, Mike came along with me and we flew in a few days early to see the sights. We both absolutely loved the area and were able to visit a lot of the sights in the short amount of time we had. However, there is definitely a lot left for us to see on another visit or two.

The White House - South Facade

We also enjoyed a lot of really, really delicious food in addition to visiting the sights and me working! I took tons of pictures of the sights, but unfortunately only took a few food pictures. It was incredibly easy for me to eat gluten-free every single place we went. A few of our favorites were:

• Jaleo - the first critically-acclaimed tapas restaurant of renowned chef, José Andrés. Jaleo has an extensive gluten-free menu, in addition to a very knowledgeable waitstaff and chef who assured us every single tapas plate brought to our table was gluten-free. We had delicious appetizers, drinks, and main courses. But, the most delicious dish I had was dessert! Olive oil sorbet with grapefruit ice and candied grapefruit rind. I'll definitely be in my kitchen trying to recreate this amazing dessert!
• Oyamel - this is another restaurant by chef José Andrés that features antojitos — Mexican small plates. The restaurant also has a dedicated gluten-free menu. Everything we ordered was also delicious (including tequila sorbet for dessert), but my favorite was the seared house cured pork belly taco with tomatoes, chiles, pineapple, onion, and cilantro.
• The Liberty Tavern - we had a great dinner here with two of my relatives that live in Arlington. I loved the comfortable atmosphere, historic building, and the delicious Amish chicken I had for dinner.
• Open City - we ate here quite a few times because of the convenient location by our hotel, great food, and vast gluten-free menu. They also serve gluten-free pizza, and Wednesday is their GF Pizza Party - half off GF pizzas! I had two gluten-free pizzas - Big Valley (pulled BBQ chicken, smoked gouda, and scallions) and Calvert Street (roasted corn, bacon, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, and jalepeño cream). The crust was fantastic and the pizza toppings were delicious. I also had an amazing gluten-free dessert - Flourless Chocolate Cake layered with sweet Marscapone cheese. I managed to take a few food pictures at Open City:

Calvert Street Gluten-Free Pizza at Open City



Flourless Chocolate Cake with Marscapone at Open City

• Red Velvet Cupcakery - a quality cupcakery with delicious cupcakes, good business morals, and vegan/gluten-free cupcake. I had the Black Velvet Cupcake - the vegan/gluten-free chocolate cupcake was delicious, light, and very moist!

Black Velvet Vegan/Gluten-Free Cupcake at Red Velvet Cupcakery

Lincoln Memorial

Washington Monument

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington Cemetery

All opinions expressed in this blog post are mine. We paid for all of our meals/desserts; this is not a sponsored post.

Oprah, Oprah, OPRAH!!

I'm back from an absolutely wonderful trip to LA with my mom! I won tickets to Oprah's Ultimate After-Oscar Party 2011 and am finally able to check "Go to the Oprah show" off my bucket list. Oprah's show at The Kodak Theatre in Hollywood was seriously awesome, awesome, AWESOME!! There was so much energy and excitement in the room. There were quite a few celebrity guests and Oscar winners on the show, but I especially loved Anne Hathaway's segment and Katy Perry's surprise performance - and, of course, OPRAH! 

Being from the snowy and cold midwest, we enjoyed soaking up the sun and the warm weather. 

We also had no problem finding gluten-free dining options in the LA area. Every single meal we ate was fantastic! I have to share one dinner we had with you; it is the best GF pizza we've had so far in our GF journey.

This is Pizza Fusion's Four Cheese & Sundried Tomato Gluten-Free Pizza. Thin and crispy gluten-free crust topped with tomato sauce, goat cheese, mozzarella, provolone, parmesan, sundried tomatoes, roasted garlic, and fresh basil. YUM and definitely as good as gluten! In addition to the amazing GF pizza, what I love about Pizza Fusion is that they use healthy organic ingredients and are committed to operating a sustainable business. The also have GF brownies and multiple GF beer choices. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for other Pizza Fusion locations in my travels.

Godfather's Pizza - GF Sausage Pizza

Our local Godfather's Pizza serves gluten-free pizzas. Mike and I went for pizza at Godfather's after church this afternoon, and I ordered a GF Sausage Pizza. It's about $10 and they have other varieties (cheese, combo, all-meat, hamburger, and pepperoni). The pre-made pizzas are shipped to each Godfather's location. And, they can't add any additional toppings to the pizzas as it is part of their agreement to serve GF pizzas and ensure there is no cross contamination.

I love thin-crust pizza and I think Godfather's GF pizza is great - thin yet still fluffy crust. It really does taste as good as gluten.