While most nights I make dinner for our family, there are nights when we are busy or I’m just tired.  I know our family is going to have a lot more of these nights coming up when our new baby girl arrives in February.  So, what does a gluten free family do when they want take out?  Here is a list of options I’ve found that work for us.  These are chain restaurants, so if you are worried about cross-contamination I’d talk to the people at your local restaurant about what they do to prevent it.  Even our dairy and egg allergic son can eat at a couple of these places.

CHIPOTLE

Our family probably eats at Chipotle more than any other restaurant.  They are very allergy friendly.  If you ask, they’ll change they’re gloves for you so the flour tortillas they’ve just touched won’t contaminate your food.  Most things on their menu are gluten free other than the tortillas.  I avoid the cheese and lettuce as well because the servers use their gloved hands (which have touched tortillas) to handle these items.  For Jacob, we avoid the sour cream and cheese as well.  We usually get a side of chips and guacamole which are also delicious!

Here’s a link to Chipotle’s allergen information:  http://www.chipotle.com/en-US/menu/special_diet_information/special_diet_information.aspx

LARKBURGER

Unfortunately Larkburger is currently only located in Colorado, but we love it!  They have gluten free hamburger buns, their fries are cooked in dedicated fryers and they are also very allergy friendly and the staff is usually very helpful.  Their gluten free hamburger buns do contain dairy and egg so for Jacob we just get him a hamburger patty wrapped in lettuce no sauce, a side of french fries, and one of their tasty fresh squeezed lemonades.  Angie, when you come to visit we can go here!

Here’s a link to Larkburger’s allergen information:  http://www.larkburger.com/menu/allergen-info

CHIC-FIL-A

We’ve only eaten at Chic-fil-a a handful of times, mostly because there is dairy in almost every item on the menu – so Jacob doesn’t have many options here.  However, we do stop by every once in a while to get french fries which are allergen free… also I think they are the best thing at Chic-fil-a.   I would double check with your Chic-Fil-A to make sure they use a dedicated fryer for the fries.  We’ve been to a couple of different locations and they both did.  I’ve also had their chicken garden salad with no issues… make sure to check the things they give you on the side for wheat though, mine came with sunflower seeds in a packet that had wheat as an ingredient!

Gluten free info:  http://www.chick-fil-a.com/#gluten

Allergen info:  http://www.chick-fil-a.com/#allergies

WENDY’S

We’ve only eaten at Wendy’s a few times since my diagnosis, but they have a pretty decent gluten free menu for a fast food place.  We haven’t ever tried to get Jacob anything there.  I’ve ordered the chili, a sour cream and chive baked potato, and a frosty.

Gluten free info:  http://www.wendys.com/food/pdf/us/gluten_free_list.pdf

OUTBACK STEAKHOUSE CURBSIDE TAKE-AWAY

Outback Steakhouse is not exactly fast food, but when you call in and just go pick up it up, it’s close enough.  We eat this pretty frequently, they are limited on dairy free options here so we just usually fix Jacob something separate when we get this for dinner.

http://www.outback.com/menu/pdf/glutenfree.pdf

P. F. CHANG’S ONLINE ORDERING

Again, P. F. Chang’s is not exactly fast food, but they also offer online ordering, and have a great gluten free menu.  I haven’t found where P. F. Chang’s publishes their other allergens, so we don’t order Jacob any food from here either.

http://www.pfchangs.com/menu/ – click on the gluten free tab.

Remember to talk to your local restaurant about how they handle gluten free cooking.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 12th, 2011 at 12:24 pm and is filed under gluten free. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.