Eating out definitely poses a challenge! Although restaurants are offering gluten free menus and much of this information can be found online, there is always the risk of cross contamination. TO be clear: patients with celiac disease can have an immune reaction with a small amount of gluten exposure and truly need to be extremely cautious. Those who have a non celiac gluten sensitivity, "feel better on a gluten free diet" do not have to go to these extreme measures.
It's Friday night and we are going to grab some Naf Naf (Middle Eastern food): so there is a chart online of their food items, specifying if the food item contains gluten or other common allergens. However, they do mention in the fine print below, that the food can be contaminated.
PF Chang’s has a gluten free menu and they use a separate wok for their GF dishes.
I have spoken to staff at a few local restaurants. Egg harbor tries to prevent cross contamination for their gluten free items. Fiamme in Naperville is better at preventing cross contamination for their GF pizza than their pasta. Nature’s best cafe also makes an effort to prevent cross contamination. However, unfortunately there is no guarantee.
Here are some restaurants that offer gluten free options. CALL ahead of time to see what measures they take to prevent cross contamination.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants-g36422-zfz10992-Naperville_Illinois.html
Most restaurants do not use separate counter spaces, pans, cutting boards, collanders, ovens, etc. to make gluten free foods. Setting up a gluten free kitchen space is hard at home, but even more difficult at a restaurant. Call ahead and talk to the chef at a restaurant before ordering to help answer any questions. If you have celiac disease, you should consider joining a support group. This is a great way to discuss which restaurants are better at offering gluten free food items and which ones may be more meticulous at preventing cross contamination.
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