Eating out ...

It's inevitable, the day will come that you don't feel like making a meal - you just want to eat out...you want to sit down in a restaurant and be waited on.  It used to be such a carefree and easy experience - decide what you're hungry for, find the closest restaurant that fits the bill, get a menu and pick what sounds the best!  I will admit eating out has me...it's hard to sit in a restaurant and smell the wonderful aroma of gluten laden foods...it's hard to watch the food go by and even harder to sit down with others and watch them order something that just a few years ago I too would have never thought twice about ordering.

I must say, we don't eat out much at all any more.  I'm sticking with my theory that when it comes from my house, and I've been in control of the ingredients we are all going to feel much better.  However, I do enjoy the social aspect of eating out and have such fond memories of great food - and so therefore do venture out on occassion to find the best GF options out there!

Here's what I've found:

• Mexican food is generally a great starting point.  Be sure to avoid flour tortillas and you will likely find a nice variety of menu options.  I have eaten at many different places and never had a problem.
• Google 'gluten free restaurants ____' fill the blank in with the city you are eating in.  I have found that big chains - BJ's, Red Robin, PF Changs, The Outback Steakhouse and such are coming around with decent GF menu options.
• Check with your favorite quaint little places ahead of time.  Amazing what a simple phone call will provide.  Just this past weekend I was headed up to Anacortes with some friends.  My favorite deli resides on Commercial St. in Anacortes.  A quick phone during the week allowed me to give them a heads up, and in turn they made sure to have GF bread on hand.  They were great and knew which menu items were safe and which to avoid.

Once you are there be sure to tell everyone who will have any remote contact with your food that you are gluten free.  I tell the person seating us, the wait staff and ask again when my food comes 'is that gluten free?'.  Recently, I had an experience where the wait staff was certain a food was GF, and then upon the manager bringing my salad and I asked again about the bbq sauce dressing being GF - she hesitated, said she was unsure and then back my salad went...not going to chance it.

I really do think there are lots of places open to the idea of serving GF menu options and I think that as time goes on we will see that really they have no choice :)